"I really hope that in 2026 we will be allowed to participate in official tournaments"

Last week, the Russian national football team completed the year 2025 for itself, having played its last two matches. In St. Petersburg, Valery Karpin's team finished in a draw with Peru (1:1), and then lost to Chile (0:2) in Sochi, suffering their first defeat in four years.

The match with the Chileans on the defensive flank was fully played by CSKA player Danil Krugovoy. In an interview with Izvestia, he appreciated the meeting, summed up the results of the outgoing year for the Russian national team and shared his expectations for the upcoming Moscow derby with Spartak next weekend as part of the 16th round of the national championship.

— It is clear that you are unhappy with the result of the match against Chile. And the quality of the game?

— I don't think we played a bad match, we played weak football. In my opinion, we played well, created chances in attack. But in the first half, they couldn't crack the Chilean defense, and it didn't work out very well in the last stage of the attack. The second half was more open, but we couldn't score. In general, I would like to note that we played against a very worthy opponent. I think Chile is one of our strongest rivals in recent times. And yes, we lost to him, conceded two offensive goals, but we looked good against his background.

— What are the overall results for the Russian national team in 2025?

— If you don't take these matches against Peru and Chile, we've been looking good all year, scoring a lot of goals and winning. Even the 1-1 draw with Nigeria, in my opinion, was good in our performance against a fairly strong opponent. It's a pity that they didn't make it to victory. And I especially liked the away game with Qatar (4-1), both in terms of the result and the quality of the game.

— Do you believe in the disbandment of the Russian national team in 2026?

"I can believe it. I can't influence it in any way. I hope that this will happen next year. I really hope that this will happen and we will be allowed in.

— Does it make life more difficult for CSKA players that for the second training camp in a row, Valery Karpin releases all the army men in the starting lineup for the second matches, and representatives of rivals in the upcoming RPL derbies for the first ones, as a result of which they get three to four days more recovery time?

— No, it doesn't have any effect. We have enough time to recover.

— In other words, the October defeat by Lokomotiv (0:3) was not affected by the fact that you, Diveev, Lukin, Oblyakov and Kislyak played in four days for the derby against Bolivia (3:0), and only Dmitry Barinov and Alexander Silyanov took the field from Loko, whereas Were Alexey Batrakov and Dmitry Vorobyov sitting on the bench and playing only three days earlier against Iran (2-1)?

— I do not know why you are looking for a reason in our defeat in the RPL in those games of the Russian national team that took place before that.

— Vorobyov and Batrakov, who scored the decisive goals against CSKA, had four more days to recover from the national team's games than you and all the other army teams. Now in November, if we take Spartak players, Nail Umyarov played the first 65 minutes of the match with Peru (1-1), came on as a substitute in the middle of the second half of the match with Chile, and Ruslan Litvinov appeared only at the end of the game with the Chileans. You, Diveev, Lukin and Kislyak almost completely played out the second meeting, Oblyakov was replaced early only due to injury.

— We have a whole week between the match with Chile and the Spartak derby. I think that's enough to recover and prepare for the game.

Escalated with Chile: the Russian national team lost for the first time in four years

Our national football team has ended its unbeaten streak.

— What do you expect from the upcoming Spartak derby?

— An interesting and challenging game. And victories, of course.

— Were you surprised by the change of the head coach at Spartak before the derby with you?

— Yes, I was surprised. In principle, when a team does not have the best results, a change of coach is a normal phenomenon. This is not the first or last time this has happened. But the fact that Stankovic was fired after two consecutive wins surprised me.

— Will this change of coach affect the derby with you?

— And how?

— Usually there is a shake-up and improvement of results in the team in the first match after the change of the head coach.

— Well, let's see. We haven't reached the club yet, and you're already attacking with questions about the derby.