"I'll rate the last part of the season by eight and a half points"

The Russian football season will take a winter break next weekend. RPL clubs will host matches of the 18th round of the national championship. These games will be their last in 2025. The central meeting will be the confrontation between the two leaders of the tournament and the most successful teams of the year — the reigning champion Krasnodar will host the current Russian Cup winner CSKA Moscow. That trophy and the bronze medal of the championship in the spring under the previous head coach Marko Nikolic were helped by the army's flanker Danil Krugovoy, who, after the unexpected summer departure of the Serbian specialist, revealed himself vividly under Fabio Celestini, who replaced him. With him, the red and blue won the National Super Cup, and now they are second in the championship and fighting for the championship, lagging behind the leading Krasnodar by only one point.

Krugovoy himself, who usually played in defense and holds this position in the Russian national team, now plays more in attack as part of CSKA, which allows him to have the most productive season of his career. In an interview with Izvestia, the 27-year-old football player appreciated the outgoing year for himself and the club, commented on the departure of the head coach of the Russian national team Valery Karpin from Dynamo Moscow, explained why the Army team are among the leaders, and told the secret of his decisive assist from the corner at the end of the second leg of the spring semi-final of the Cup of Russia againstZenith".

"It would be stupid if we didn't score points"

— Although CSKA still needs to play one match before the winter break, can you evaluate the team's results in the last part of the season now?

— Yes, in general, it's good, I think we spent this segment. On a ten-point scale, he would give us eight and a half points. CSKA has not scored as many points in the championship in ten years, as many points after 17 rounds as this season.

— How was it possible?

— We are a united team, we play for each other. We realize the moments that we create. In general, we have a very good atmosphere within the team. It would be stupid if we didn't score points. I am glad that in the autumn we won very difficult matches, where not everything turned out the way we wanted. But there have been a lot of hard-won victories in the last month, like over Krylia Sovetov (1:0), Pari Nizhny Novgorod (2:0), Dynamo Makhachkala (1:0), Orenburg (2:0), plus they pulled out the cup clash with Makhachkala (0:1; 2:1, on penalties 5:4). This is just the result of our unity, atmosphere and good implementation of moments.

— It is usually thanks to such hard-working victories over teams from the bottom half of the table that championships are won. Can we say that we have made a good reserve for gold?

— Well, yes. The same last match against Orenburg was very important, it was necessary to win. And I'm glad that we did it, even though the game was difficult. But we must also defeat our direct competitors. The main thing now is to win the next match against Krasnodar, so that we can go on a very positive winter break. Moreover, if we win, we will become the leaders of the championship until spring. You don't even need to tune anyone in our team to Krasnodar.

— What do you expect from this away game with the reigning champion and the RPL leader?

— There will be a completely different football than we had in the same match with Orenburg. Both our teams and Krasnodar are very open. It will be an interesting meeting. We have already drawn with them at home in the first round (1-1). Let's hope that we'll realize our chances and win away.

— It has been almost three months since the airport was opened in Krasnodar, which has not been functioning since February 2022. And for the first time in four years, CSKA will take advantage of the opportunity to fly there directly instead of traveling part of the way by train. Will this make it much easier to prepare for the game?

— Of course, it will be easier. It's still better to fly there and play the next day than to take the train for another day before that.

"At the moment, Akinfeev is the best goalkeeper in Russia"

Dynamo Makhachkala goalkeeper David Volk — about playing against the legendary army soldier and fighting for survival in the RPL

"We didn't talk about club stories in the national team"

— You played a friendly match against Chile in mid-November for the Russian national team (0:2). Two days after him, the head coach of the national team, Valery Karpin, left a similar post at Dynamo Moscow, citing the need to focus on the national team. When you had been under his command for more than a week before, did you feel that he was emotionally exhausted because of the combination?

- no. Georgich is a professional. And he didn't show it. When you're in the national team, you're in charge of the national team. And you don't think about the club. And when you're at Dynamo, you're in charge of Dynamo. That's why we didn't talk about club stories in the national team. So only Valery Georgievich himself could know and appreciate how much this combination influenced him.

— You were also called up by Karpin to the national team when he was the relieved head coach. Was he somehow different from himself in comparison with the periods of combining this work with Rostov and Dynamo?

"I wouldn't say that. It was all the same. Nothing has changed.

— Since the match with Krasnodar will be your last until spring, can you sum up the results of 2025 for yourself?

— Everything is obvious here: winning the Cup and the bronze of the championship in the first half of the year, the fight for both trophies now, this season. I am very pleased. I am especially pleased that CSKA is successfully competing and claiming trophies.

— How would you rate your chances of winning the championship?

— I don't want to evaluate any chances. We are going to Krasnodar to win. And we will do everything for this. And then in the spring we will continue to fight for the final success.

"Changing coaches is not news for our football"

Torpedo football player Alexey Kashtanov — about the personnel leapfrog at the head of the team, the struggle for survival in the first league, the specifics of the tournament and the reasons for Baltika's success in the RPL

"I've discovered a new position this season"

— Do you think it was not for nothing that you decided to leave Zenit last winter? And even six months of playing for Zenit-2 in the Second League, where you were exiled by the leadership of the St. Petersburg club, were you not in vain?

— Well, I never regret anything. I think it's clear now that it wasn't in vain. I really like being at CSKA and playing. This season I discovered a new position on the offensive flank. Some things work out, some don't. But I will try to continue to benefit the team.

— So far, one of the most mysterious episodes this year is called your decisive assist to Tamerlan Musayev in the spring return cup match with Zenit, when that corner was originally supposed to be served by Abbosbek Fayzullaev, but Igor Diveev ordered you to go to the flag. How did this happen in the first place?

— Initially, there were two options — Abbos or I had to serve. Vanya Oblyakov could have done it, but he had been replaced by that time. And it's more convenient for Diveev when the transmission is outgoing rather than incoming. That's why he told me to serve. And without thinking, I just put the ball down, ran up and served.