"There are good foreign players in the championship, young Russians are appearing"

In the early 2010s, football player Taras Burlak was one of the most talented Russian central defenders. In 2011, at the age of 20, he played brilliantly in the Moscow Lokomotiv, quickly gaining a foothold, making his debut for the Russian national team and playing for the youth national team at the European Championship in 2013. In 2012, his connection with another young pupil of the club, Maxim Belyaev, seemed to be the future of our football.

But soon both lost their place in the squad and left their hometown club in 2013-2014. Burlak also played in the RPL for Rubin Kazan, Krylia Sovetov Samara and Arsenal Tula, but without any previous successes. He retired in 2022. In October, he took part in the farewell match of his former Loko and national team partner Denis Glushakov. In an interview with Izvestia, Burlak assessed the career of the ex-Spartak captain, explained why he had not gained a foothold at a high level, and expressed his version of one of the most high—profile events in the history of Lokomotiv - the dismissal in June 2011 of head coach Yuri Krasnozhan, whom, according to rumors, the then president of the club Olga Smorodskaya accused in handing over the match to Anzhi Makhachkala (1:2).

"We need to train hard and give ourselves to the game. I'm not ready for that."

— In early October, you took part in Denis Glushakov's farewell match. What can you say about him as a person and a football player?

— We started out together, so to speak. He joined Lokomotiv at the age of 20, and I joined the club's reserve team at 17. Denis Borisovich lived in Sokolniki, I lived on Preobrazhenka Street. And he took me to training all the time. We went through this stage of our career together, playing for the reserve team. It's clear that he started playing a little earlier, because he's older than me. But we've been through it all together. I think we went to and from training together for a year or two, until I got my own car. He drove me all the time.: It's a long way to the Locomotive base in Bakovka, an hour or two. We talked all the time, he's a sociable guy. He is also a very motivated, efficient football player with a good shot. Well done for making such a career. It's even significant how many spectators came to his farewell match, although Glushakov hasn't actually played at a high level for several years — two or three years, probably. And still, people came and supported me, which says a lot. He brought together familiar players from Lokomotiv and Spartak for this match, and everyone responded, although many of the guys are busy. But we were happy to come to play in the farewell match. It's clear that it was hard for many of us to run on the floor, because we haven't played professionally for a long time, and we haven't trained properly. And all this is for Denis Borisovich.

— What do you think he'll do now?

— With his determination, he will still be 100% the head coach somewhere. I'm sure of it. I know he wants it. I'm not specifically talking about the club where he will work. Although I know which one he wants to lead, but there is such a thing here that no one can predict what will happen tomorrow. But he has a chance. I think he can gradually come to this job.

— Do you mean Spartak by the club that Glushakov wants to lead?

— Spartak, of course. Even when he was at Lokomotiv, he always said that he dreamed of playing at Spartak. I knew it. Of course, he wants to lead it now as a coach.

— Is it not offensive to have such an attitude towards your hometown club?

— Listen, well, he's not a student of Loko. He came in at the age of 20 and played well for us for several years. And I can't say anything bad about him at all. Hardly anyone at Lokomotiv can say anything bad about him, because he never swore allegiance to the club. At least, in conversations with me, he said that he dreams of playing in Spartak. As a result, I went there when the opportunity arose. And I won the championship with him.

— You ended your football career in 2022. What are you doing now?

— I train in the media league with Sergey Ivanovich Ovchinnikov in the Bank team, but I don't play. He's just asking me to train with the guys. I travel with the kids around the regions as an ambassador of the RFU as part of their Football at School program. Plus, I appear on television as an expert.

— Do you have a desire to return to professional football as a coach or functionary?

"Not at all. I have two children, daughters — five years old and three years old. I am quietly engaged in them. There's no time for anything else. Only for those activities that I have listed, but not to plunge headlong into football again.

"Have you had enough of it?"

— Well, yes, at some point I just got to the point where I didn't want to be in it at all. I work out to keep fit. After Glushakov's farewell match, Sergei Ovchinnikov came up to me and said, "Maybe you'll break into the media league after all?" But I can't say that I really want to. Judging by the level of the media league, you can't just go out there light and win. You need to train hard and give yourself to the game. I'm not ready for that. And I don't want to make people laugh. Finished, then finished.

— How did it happen that you got so fed up with football that you stopped playing at the age of 31 and don't want to work in it?

— It's hard to say. Maybe because of the last years in his career. Because of how hard it was to finish in Samara and Tula. That's why it's a little like this… It's clear that I watch football, I follow it, but I don't want to play and work in it.

— Do you have enough money outside of football to live in peace and support a family with two children?

— Yes, there are enough earnings due to trips to the studio by an expert on television and events at the RFU. Plus, there's a lot left of what I earned when I played.

"Anyone from the current leading group can take the gold"

— In the first half of 2012, the football public was delighted with how the then head coach Jose Couceiro fielded a pair of Taras Burlak–Maxim Belyaev central defenders in serious matches at Lokomotiv. You were both in your early 20s. It seemed like this tie could last for a long time, but six months later Vedran Chorluka came, and you hardly played with Maxim anymore. Are you disappointed that this happened?

— I don't regret anything at all. As it went in our career, so it went. Of course, Max and I could have established ourselves at the base for a long time. But there's nothing you can do about it. This is football. It could have been better in our career, it could have been worse. So there's no point in regretting anything right now.

— Does the way a lot of young Russian football players are involved at Lokomotiv now remind you of how Couceiro trusted you and Belyaev for a short time?

— No, it's a little different now. There are a lot more young guys now. And more young people are trusted. I'm happy for them, of course.

— With such trust, could you and Belyaev gain a foothold?

— No, they trusted us anyway. But we made mistakes, so other defenders played. Everything is more than deserved. I don't think I didn't play because of some kind of distrust.

— How do you like the current "Locomotive"?

— I like it very much. First of all, because the young guys, some of whom are their own students, play a lot in the base. It's nice to watch it.

— Do you believe that they can win the Russian championship this year?

— It will be difficult, but I believe. There are failures over long distances, but it happens for all teams. Anyone from the current leading group can take the gold, because no one has stability.

— When our teams return to European competitions, can such a Locomotive be competitive in the international arena?

— It's hard to say. Because we don't see our clubs in comparison to the European ones. The Russian national team can still test itself in friendly matches. She seems to be playing well, but she doesn't always face very strong opponents. So it's also difficult to make estimates on it. You can make up your mind, but no one knows what will happen in reality. We have good foreign players in the championship, and young Russians are emerging. But only time will tell how they will look in European competitions.

"Naturally, no one told us that we should lose the match against Anzhi."

— Probably the most mysterious event during your time at Lokomotiv was the resignation of Yuri Krasnozhan in June 2011, when the team with a not—so-stellar squad was only one point behind the first place after 11 rounds. After all these years, do you understand why he was fired?

— They didn't explain anything to us. There was a slightly different squad for the match with Anzhi (1-2), after which he was fired. But I still did not understand why the resignation happened. I didn't even see what was happening at the club in the days between that match and the dismissal. I was leaving for the national team then. He returned from it, and Yuri Anatolyevich has already been dismissed.

— What were your emotions about what happened then?

— I've always had a good opinion of Krasnozhan. I started playing base all the time with him. Our team was a super-collective. And then they just took us and confronted us with the fact that there would be a new coach. They didn't really explain anything. I do not know what kind of investigation there was regarding the match with Anzhi. I came on as a substitute in that match for the last 15 minutes. 4-5 people who had played in all the games before did not play in that meeting. But again, it's like the other people on the team don't want to play. They also want to break into the squad, and they had a chance to prove themselves in the match against Anzhi. Therefore, such a rotation before the game could have worked. It didn't mean that someone wanted to lose the match in advance. I can't say for sure. And the fact that someone there at the installation before the game allegedly said that we should lose the match... naturally, no one has ever said that.

— I remember that the supporters of the version about the surrender of that match with Anzhi cited as one of the arguments that you suddenly found yourself outside the starting lineup.

— Okay, good. I played four matches before that. Am I a key defender or something? You make it sound like Van Dyck was removed from the cast. (Laughs.) Seriously? Well, no.

"What about it?" You've been quite a key defender in the spring since the beginning of that season.

— I played 4-5 matches there before that, but I definitely wasn't a key player (in fact, in the previous 10 rounds of the championship, Burlak played eight matches in full, and in two he came on as a substitute during the first half. — Izvestia). If there is anything to discuss, it is why Glushak, Sychev and Loskov were removed from the squad for that match. But definitely not me. For me, it was just the coach's decision. I'm a young football player, I just started playing in the base. They didn't deliver, so they didn't deliver. I was calm about it.

— A few years after her resignation, the then president of Loko, Olga Smorodskaya, openly accused Krasnozhan of giving up that match. How did you react to those words?

— Well, maybe she knew something, but as president she doesn't have to tell us such things. We are hired workers. We were told that this person or that one was coaching. There's nothing we can do about it. It's clear that we enjoyed working with Krasnozhan. Many people liked it. There was a good team. And he and I were in second place at the time of retirement.

— When Loko bought the star Vedran Chorluka in the center of defense a year later, were there any chances to win the competition from him?

— I wanted to play, but there was no chance. Durica and Chorluka played in the center of defense. And we haven't lost 20 games. They played well, there were no questions to them. Therefore, there was no chance of ousting them. I understood that something needed to be changed. And he changed the Loko to Rubin. I wasn't upset about it.