"Two clubs played for the national team against Iran — Rostov and Lokomotiv

Last week, the Russian national football team won a friendly match against Iran in Volgograd (2:1). And on Tuesday they will meet with Bolivia in Moscow. For the game against the team from the Persian Gulf, the head coach of our national team, Valery Karpin, released a defensive line of players with whom he worked at various times in Rostov: Alexander Silyanov (who left for Lokomotiv Moscow in 2023), Maxim Osipenko (who joined Dynamo Moscow in June 2025, where he is now Karpin works), Viktor Melekhin and Ilya Vakhania (both continue to perform at Rostov).

In an interview with Izvestia, Vakhania told what it was like to play in such a combination, assessed the level of the national team's rivals for the autumn matches, and also shared his impressions of going to the museum of the Battle of Stalingrad.

"It was more difficult in September with Jordan and in June with Nigeria"

— For the match against Iran, Valery Karpin released a defensive line in the starting lineup, all the players of which he once played in Rostov.

— Yes, but still, the four of us have never played for the club together. Sasha Silyanov was at Rostov even before I arrived there. Although Silya and I played in the youth national team. Well, there was also Danya Glebov ahead of us, who also belongs to the "Rostov" of Karpin's time. So, in fact, two clubs played for the national team against Iran — Rostov and Lokomotiv (smiles).

— Did this affect the interaction with the same Silyanov and Osipenko, who left Rostov for Dynamo in the summer?

— Yes, despite the fact that I haven't played with Max for several months now, and I haven't played with Silya for several years, it feels like we still remember how to interact with each other. I'm not even talking about Melekhin, because we're still both at Rostov. So that's a plus.

— Is Iran your most difficult opponent during your time playing for the national team?

- no. I think it was more difficult in September with Jordan (0-0) and in June with Nigeria (1-1).

— What made it possible to win against Iran?

— We tried to be on the ball all the time and play football. And when the opponent had the ball, on the contrary, they interfered with him. Hence, it turned out that a large number of chances were not allowed to be created by the opponent, but they themselves created a lot of them.

— Iran ranks 21st in the FIFA rankings. Did the game feel like it was a team of a level close to the top 20?

— It's hard to say. I haven't played with other teams of this level or with teams from the top 20. But it feels like a very good team.

— Many people praise the RFU for finding good opponents for the Russian national team in advance this summer, rather than weak teams like Grenada, which you played against in March. Is the level of such matches as with Iran very different?

— Of course, the 100% level is different. He's much taller. And Iran, Qatar and Jordan are much more difficult to play with.

— In comparison with the RPL clubs, where would you put the Iranian national team?

— I think the level of performers at the top of the RPL is higher. The first part of the table is exactly higher. But compared to a number of middle peasants, Iran and Jordan will be a little stronger.

— You have not yet played for the national team in front of more than 40 thousand spectators who gathered in Volgograd for the match with Iran. Are the emotions special from such an experience?

— Yes, of course. When we went out for the pre-match warm-up, the whole stadium roared. It feels really cool. And it was felt the whole game.

The Battle of Volgograd: how Russia beat Iran

The goals of Vorobyov and Batrakov brought our team victory over one of the strongest opponents in recent years.

— The day before the match with Iran, the Russian national team visited the museum-exhibition in Volgograd in honor of the Battle of Stalingrad. What are your impressions?

— Excellent. To be honest, I really like all these activities in the national team, which are constantly conducted by the RFU. On May 9th in Moscow, we went to one of the museums dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. Very informative. I probably wouldn't go to places like this in my normal life. But then I visited this museum in Volgograd and I am very happy about it.

"We went to the national team, got distracted from the championship, and after that everything went wrong"

— The airport in Rostov-on-Don is still closed due to its proximity to the free zone, but recently it was opened in Krasnodar for the first time since February 2022. Did it help your team a lot considering the proximity of the cities?

— Yes, we already took advantage of the opening of the airport in Krasnodar when we went to the last exit to Orenburg (1-0). The first time we flew there from Krasnodar. Of course, it's great when the road is two hours shorter than to Stavropol, from which we used to fly all the time. It was also great when we flew to Makhachkala for the cup match before Orenburg — we only had to fly there for an hour from Krasnodar. It was probably the shortest trip I've been in Rostov since the summer of 2023. — Izvestia).

— And how exactly did the departure time decrease by two hours?

— If it was necessary to go to Stavropol somewhere around 5-5.5 hours, now we are going to Krasnodar 3-3.5. This makes recovery much easier.

— What is the reason for Rostov's recent successes? You've had a bad start to the season, but you haven't lost in the last six league matches and you've moved up from 15th to 10th.

— To be honest, nothing much has changed for us compared to the beginning of the season. We just started the championship with away games against two very strong opponents — Dynamo Moscow (0:1) and Zenit (1:2). We couldn't get any points there, although we could have at least drawn. After that, we fell into an emotional pit. It was hard because the bad start put pressure on. Then, in early September, we went to the national team, and everyone somehow got distracted from the championship. After that, everything went wrong. So I can't say that anything has changed for us, it's just that we've started to get more lucky.

Balls are ready: how is the Russian national team preparing for the upcoming matches

Our players and coaches are preparing for difficult confrontations.

— After all, you had a difficult calendar during the unbeaten streak: away to Loko (3:3), home matches with CSKA (1:0), Baltika (0:0) and Krasnodar (0:0).

— It's usually on this calendar that you score the most points (smiles).

— By the way, did I correctly include Baltika in the list of difficult opponents? Or is it the same average guy, no stronger than Rostov, who just got a lot of points at the start out of emotion and luck and will continue to drop closer to your tenth place?

— A good team, which is hard to play against. And whether she will go down to the middle of the table, we will see at the end of the season.

— Can Rostov prolong the current unbeaten streak and return to where it was in previous seasons, confident of being in the middle of the table or fighting for medals?

— I would like to. In principle, we are planning this. I don't know if it will work out or not. But we will do our best for this.