"We must live in a new reality, without Barinov"

The Russian Football Championship has returned after the winter break. One of the main contenders for the RPL gold, Lokomotiv, won 2-1 at home against Pari Nizhny Novgorod. Even the removal of Alexander Rudenko at the end of the first half and the controversial penalty kick from which the opponent equalized the score in the middle of the second half did not prevent the Muscovites from winning. The Railwaymen are in third place after 19 rounds, three points behind Krasnodar and two points behind Zenit St. Petersburg.

In addition, they increased their lead from CSKA Moscow to four points, where Dmitry Barinov, a long-time captain and pupil of Loko, left in the winter.

In an interview with Izvestia, red-green midfielder Artyom Karpukas assessed how the team is coping with the consequences of losing its leader, expressed hope that the club will solve all its tasks by the last round match against the Army, and also appreciated the new captain of Lokomotiv, goalkeeper Anton Mitryushkin, and commented on the refereeing of the match against Paris NN.

— What would you say about the refereeing scandal in the first spring round of the current championship?

— There were many "50-50" moments when the judges could equally make decisions one way or the other. One way or another, they had to interpret the episodes in favor of one of the teams. Since the episodes were ambiguous, they caused heated discussion. What else can I say.

— Will this psychologically affect the fight for the championship, given that your team almost lost points due to a controversial penalty kick at your goal, and, for example, Zenit won because of an uncounted Baltika goal and did not allow competitors to get close to themselves?

— Psychologically, we were not much affected by the penalty kick from which Nizhny scored for us. That's all. I'm only interested in our game. This penalty could have affected the result of our match, but thank God we were able to win. I'm even less concerned about what happened in other games.

— How did we beat Pari Nizhny Novgorod, scoring the winning goal immediately after the opponent equalized from the penalty spot?

— In principle, we played well before that penalty. Personally, I liked our game almost completely in this match. After the drop, we controlled the ball quite a lot. For a team that lost a player and was outnumbered for the whole half, we had a lot of possession. After conceding a penalty goal, nothing has changed for us in this regard. They could have scored more, besides Fasson's goal from a farmhand (Alexei Batrakov. — Izvestia) There was a moment. We did what we needed to do. That's why we won.

— There were rumors in the media that in February the club's management set the team the task of winning the championship, and shortly before the resumption of the season, Oleg Belozerov, the head of Russian Railways, personally met with the players and coaches, wishing them good luck in the fight for gold. How does this affect the mood for spring?

— It's nice that the management comes and communicates with the players. We see support. And it is very pleasant.

— In the winter after Dmitry Barinov's departure, Loko chose a new captain at the training camp. It was Anton Mitryushkin. Who did you vote for?

— Anonymous voting (smiles).

— But did Mitryushkin arrange for you as the winner of the vote?

— Of course I did. I did not vote for Anton, but I am very pleased that he is our captain. Mitryukha is ideally suited for this role.

— Did you apply for the captain's armband yourself as one of the main old-timers of Loko?

— I didn't go, I didn't ask, and I didn't persuade anyone.: "Vote for me!" I didn't vote for myself either (laughs).

— There were no election campaigns or official nominations of candidates within the team?

—No, not really. And debates too (laughs).

— Next time, maybe you can try to make a show out of it, like in the US presidential election?

— Well, I hope Mitryushkin will remain our captain for many years to come.

— Based on the last winter training camp and the first official match of the year, can we say that Loko solved the problem of Barinov's absence?

— Let's look at the distance, have we solved this problem or not. But we have to live in a new reality. Today we are without Bars. I don't know, maybe he'll come in a year (smiles). We are waiting for you very much. And so we'll see how the result will be.

— Do you want the match of the last round against CSKA to decide something in the tournament plan, and did your team's confrontation with Barinov have a special excitement?

— I hope everything will be decided in our favor by then.

— So you want to come to this match, already celebrating the championship?

- yes.