"I am very happy in Kazan and I want to stay"

In the spring, Rubin Kazan beat the two leaders of the Russian championship at home — Krasnodar (2:1), which is in first place, and Moscow Lokomotiv (2:1), which occupies the third line. The team suffered the only defeat in this segment away from Dynamo Makhachkala (1:2). These matches were the first official ones for Rubin under the leadership of the new head coach Frank Artiga, who was appointed in January.

In an interview with Izvestia, Kazan defender Konstantin Nizhegorodov summed up the results of the starting segment with the Spanish specialist, explained why one should not attach much importance to the defeat in Makhachkala, and spoke about signing a new contract with the club.

— How do you explain Rubin's spring successes in matches with the leaders?

— I don't know what to say. We prepared well at the training camp and carried out high-quality preparatory work. All of this together affects the results. We try to show a good game. And our fruitful work leads to victories. The team is working, it's working well — that's the result.

— What has changed in the team's game and training over the winter under the new head coach Frank Artigue?

— There is nothing particularly drastic. The main thing is that everyone is happy about the victories. I just had a good preparation at the training camp, first of all physical.

— Rubin excelled in the matches with the leaders, but lost to Dynamo Makhachkala — can we say that it is more convenient for the team to play with the favorites?

— It seems to me that the match cannot be compared at all. I do not know how the game looked on TV, what the picture was, but there was non-football weather in Makhachkala. It was impossible to play. Everything was determined by who would be more lucky. Makhachkala was more lucky in that match. And now we have two home wins — over the national champion Krasnodar and over Lokomotiv, the team fighting for the championship. I wish there were more such victories. And I would like to thank the fans who came to our matches. It's very nice to see them in the stands.

— So are you able to beat outsiders from a position of strength?

— It is clear that we want to continue our winning streak, but we are moving from game to game. We are preparing for every opponent and we want to win every game.

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— Rubin is in the middle of the table, relegation from the RPL is no longer in danger, while the fight for medals is far away. How do you find the motivation to keep fighting in every match?

— A professional athlete does not need to look for motivation. We work to win. Every professional athlete wants to win. We are looking at the standings — both the bottom and the top. We understand that if we hadn't scored points in the matches against Krasnodar and Lokomotiv, we wouldn't have won against them, then we would have been fighting for survival at the bottom. But you see, thank God, we've won two matches and we're already fighting at the top, looking up to see how much gap we have from the top five.

— Is there a desire to get ahead of Dynamo and Spartak in the table, followed by Rubin now?

— Of course, it's nice when you're above teams like Dynamo and Spartak. I always want to win and be as high in the table as possible. Moreover, we have shown in the last two matches that we are not afraid of such strong opponents and we play with them at least on equal terms.

— In February, you extended your contract with Rubin until 2029. Have you heard anything about the interest in you from the top clubs of the Russian Premier League lately?

— I think Liverpool was also interested (laughs). I don't know if you've heard or not. Personally, I have not heard that anyone from the top clubs of the RPL is interested in me. If you were interested, it's very nice. But I wanted to stay at Rubin and I am very happy in Kazan.