"You need to prove that the national team coach doesn't just talk about you like that"

Even in winter, the Khimki football club seemed to be the main candidate for relegation from the Russian Premier League. This was due to financial problems in the form of salary arrears to the team for several months, due to which the RFU Dispute Resolution Chamber imposed a ban on the Moscow region team to register newcomers. In addition, in December, law enforcement agencies detained the investor of "Khimki" Tufan Sadygov. He was released on bail in January.

Nevertheless, Franck Artiga's team is successfully conducting the spring part of the season. She scored seven out of ten points in the first four rounds after the winter break. With eight rounds to go, the club is in 11th place with a four-point gap from the transition zone. If Khimki does not lose to Dynamo Makhachkala on Sunday, they will further increase their gap from competitors. In an interview with Izvestia, Nikita Kokarev, goalkeeper of the Moscow region team, explained the team's spring results, commented on the words of Vitaly Kafanov, goalkeeper coach of the Russian national team, about his possible call-up to the national team and spoke about his relationship with Matvey Safonov and another group of goalkeepers with whom he worked in the Krasnodar system.

"It doesn't matter if we go up against Zenit or Paris NN, we have to win"

— How is Khimki successfully spending the spring despite all its financial problems?

— To be honest, I do not know what specific problems you are talking about.

— About the talk about salary delays, about the December detention of Tufan Sadigov.

— Well, that's just talk. It's up to you to talk about it, that we have some kind of problem. We go out on the football field and prove everything there. We are proving there that we are Premier League players, that we must meet this level. It doesn't matter what kind of conversations are going on around us.

— And even if the talk about salary delays is true, it doesn't affect anything either?

— Well, we see everything on the football field. Everything is fine.

— Khimki is successfully playing with direct competitors in the struggle for survival this spring — they defeated Fakel (1:0) and Pari Nizhny Novgorod (2:0), drew with Akhmat (1:1). Is there a special mood for such matches?

— The attitude for every match is to win and earn three points. And first of all, to protect yourself as much as possible, and then look at the top of the table and try to climb there.

— You still have matches with direct competitors ahead of you — a trip to Dynamo Makhachkala and a home game with Krylia Sovetov. Even these games won't have a special character?

— I'm telling you, every match has a special character. It doesn't matter if we go up against Zenit or Paris NN, we have to win.

"We've put ourselves in this position, and we're going to get out on our own"

Khimki football player Alexander Filin — about the struggle for survival in the RPL, debts at the club and an oversupply of players in the first part of the season

"Let's do it without Matvey Safonov, please"

— Did you make your RPL debut in September and haven't given up a place in the base since? Why did you gain a foothold at this level so quickly?

— I think I'm proving everything on the training field. What's the other way? If I wasn't worthy, I would have played a different goalkeeper. But the coaches see my work and choose me.

— How does the RPL differ from the first league, in which you played for Arsenal Tula last season?

— The speeds have slightly changed. Everything else is the same. Football is the same everywhere — 11 by 11 players on the field, one ball. And we're playing against each other. In RPL, it's just that the speed is a little faster.

— How did the transition to the Premier League level affect you personally?

— You have to think faster.

"Just thinking?" Or move too?

"Just thinking. You should already be able to move.

— You are a graduate of Krasnodar. Can you explain why so many goalkeepers who have gained a foothold at the RPL level, like Matvey Safonov, Stanislav Agkatsev, Evgeny Latyshonok, Denis Adamov and you, come out of his system?

— A good system, good coaches — you can open the website of Krasnodar football club, goalkeeping coaches (there is a separate tab there) and you will see all these people. They are the same there now as in my time (the list of Krasnodar Academy coaches on the club's official website includes senior goalkeeping coach Dmitry Klimov, goalkeeping coaches Evgeny Gorodov, Nikita Krivulya, Oleg Belyakov, Roman Mammadov, Nikita Egyazarov, Vyacheslav Kiryushin, Igor Filchenko, Pavel Tarasov. — Ed.).

— Did you talk to Safonov, Agkatsev, Latyshonk and Adamov at Krasnodar?

— We have the same system.

— But there is still a four-year age difference with Safonov.

— The teams are still about the same in the system when you get to adulthood. Krasnodar-2, Krasnodar-3, youth team, main team. When you join these teams, you still cross paths with the goalkeepers who are already there.

— How do you like them as people? Do you particularly maintain friendly relations with anyone?

— Wonderful people. We communicate well with everyone. If I need any advice or have any request, I think they will never refuse.

— Have any of them already had a reason to ask for advice?

—No, not really. We just correspond. We can congratulate someone on something, support each other - these are normal things.

— Are you following Matvey Safonov's debut season at PSG?

— Let's avoid Matvey Safonov, please. Stas Agkatsev said in his last interview that 95% of the time he talks to journalists about Matthew. So let's do it without him.

— This is the first time I've asked you about him.

— This is your first time. Other journalists will ask for the first time. This is not the first time it will happen together.

"Playing for your country is a special story"

Russian national football team player Anton Miranchuk — about the match with Zambia, Dzyuba's record and Glushenkov's hat-trick

— The goalkeeper coach of the Russian national team, Vitaly Kafanov, said in March that he was watching you, and named you among those who could be called up to the national team. Has he discussed this with you?

— He didn't talk to me personally. But it's nice that the goalkeeper coach of the national team speaks about you like that. I need to continue to prove that he's not just talking about me like that.

— It may be a strange question, but would you be interested in joining the Russian national team if you have to play matches against rivals such as Brunei and Grenada?

— A really strange question. This is the Russian national team. If there is a call, then it is impossible to refuse it. It seems to me that only decent people, decent players, are invited there.