"Yes, I couldn't leave, but I'm happy at Krasnodar."
Krasnodar captain Eduard Spertsyan is one of the best players in the Russian Premier League this season. The Armenian midfielder is the best assistant of the championship (12 assists) and one of the top scorers (9 goals, more than only Brian Hill and Alexei Batrakov). In an interview with Izvestia and Sport-Express, Eduard talked about why he stayed at the Krasnodar club after last year's championship, appreciated the strength of competitors and spoke about the main football stars of our time.
"I'm happy at Krasnodar. This is my home."
— How would you rate your path from the Krasnodar academy to the captain of the champion team?
— Always believe that everything is possible. Working hard and believing is probably the most important thing. There are many difficult moments in my football career. From the outside, it may seem that everything is going smoothly and easily. But in fact, it's a hard road, and there's a lot of competition. And every day you have to prove, first of all to yourself, that you are becoming better than you were yesterday.
— How do you find motivation to improve every day?
— To be honest, it's a difficult question for me. I just can't understand how you can not find motivation. It should always be there. First of all, I repeat, to prove it to myself. We've only won one title so far. I want to repeat this success, win the Russian Cup, and break records. I want to please my family and friends. For me, experiencing these emotions is a real happiness. I've just loved football since I was a kid. And I'm still motivated.
— You said that you want to give the title to the city and Sergey Galitsky. What did you say to him when you handed him the championship trophy?
— Before the game with Dynamo, we worked in a weekly cycle. And I've been visualizing this match all week. I was confident of winning — I didn't want to think about the bad. I fell asleep every day thinking about how we would win the championship and what would happen next. Of course, I wanted to give the cup to Sergey Nikolaevich. When they gave us the trophy, I knew that I was going to hand it over to Galitsky as soon as he came down to us on the field. As a result, when Sergey Nikolaevich came up, I handed him the cup with the words: "We did it together!" Krasnodar's championship is primarily his merit!
— Do you believe that Galitsky's dream will come true and 11 academy students will play at the base of Krasnodar?
— Of course, why not? Sooner or later it will happen. This has already happened: when many foreign players left, we played our own. And it seemed to be good. It's definitely possible. It just takes a little time. Look at how many Krasnodar students play in the RPL, the First and Second leagues, and there are enough abroad.
— Were you upset that you couldn't go to Europe after winning the title?
- no. This is life, everything is fine. I'm happy at Krasnodar. This is my home. Yes, I couldn't leave, but what can I do? Everyone knows that I want to try my hand in Europe. It didn't work out now. So what now, give up? I'll only make it worse for myself. As it turns out, so it should be.
— You're in phenomenal shape this season. Where is the limit?
— There are no limits to perfection (laughs).
— Are you setting yourself individual goals for the season?
— Naturally, I want to score and assist in every game. I think any attacking player wants to make a scoring move in every match. But first of all, I want to help the team. If we win 3-0 and I don't score, I won't be too upset, I won't be offended by my partners. Maybe I'll ask myself, "Why didn't I find the moment? Why didn't you implement it?" The most important thing is the team's victories. Everything that I'm able to do now in terms of scoring is thanks to the guys. We practice a lot of standard positions. Goals are the work of the whole team.
— What qualities have you improved this season?
— I don't know. Maybe I've improved in some ways, but I still have a lot to grow. Maybe now I'm playing more between the lines, not going deep for the ball. This leaves me with more strength to disperse the attacks. I think we've gained some skills and confidence from the standards. We're growing a little bit, but we still have to work.
"When smart players are on the field, it's always easy"
— Perhaps the main discovery of the first part of the season was Baltika, which is called the "coaching team". Is there such a term for you?
- of course. Everything depends on the head coach: tactics, attitude of the team. If we take Baltika, you can see that the guys are fighting like crazy, fulfilling the requirements of the head coach. They are fighting for Andrei Viktorovich [Talalaev] as well. Maybe he's explaining as a motivator that there's no other way. If you want to win, you have to die on the field. All coaches have a different approach. We played against Baltika, and it was tough. We had a lot more injuries back then. But there was such a pumping from him from the edge...
— Has Baltika become the most difficult opponent of the season?
- no. At the beginning of the championship, there were the most difficult matches. Probably, the recently won title had an effect. The difficulties against Baltika were due to the fact that it was a long flight there, plus we had many players missing. At the same time, we played a decent match.
— What makes Krasnodar look like it's even stronger now than in the championship season?
— I think it's about confidence. When you've been playing together for many years, you begin to understand all the qualities of your partners and their strengths. You see how best to act so that they feel comfortable. I already know that Lukas Olasa has a strong left leg, he likes to play in the wall, he can shoot. Victor Sa is able to beat one-on-one... The guys, in turn, know that they should wait for me on the left half, where I often find myself with the ball. John Cordoba and I have been playing together for many years, and we understand each other perfectly. Nikita Krivtsov enhances the game perfectly, Douglas Augusto has joined our team, and Butchy gives out key passes. The whole team has improved. We understand how to build a game to make it easier for our partner. And when smart players are on the field, it's always easy.
— Is there a team in the RPL that Krasnodar cannot play with from a position of strength?
— It's hard to say. We always try, but no one knows how the game will go. Maybe not with Akron, maybe with Zenit. Or maybe go with Zenit, as it was at the training camp, but that doesn't count (smiles).
— Is Musaev, the champion, any different from the one who replaced Vladimir Ivich two years ago?
— I think we are all growing, including Murad Olegovich as a coach. I am very glad that together we managed to achieve this great victory for our hometown club. But as I said before, there are no limits to perfection, we all strive to develop further. But he hasn't changed as a person. The same requirements: discipline and work.
— Do you maintain a relationship with former Krasnodar coach Daniel Farke?
— Not directly. I had positive impressions about working with him. He is one of the first foreign coaches I have worked with. The training process was a little different, and it was interesting. Although we only managed to work for a month and a half.
"Safonov at PSG is an example of what needs to be proven and tolerated"
— Krasnodar has historically had a lot of Latin Americans. How are you doing with Spanish and Portuguese?
— I understand a little Spanish. I've been studying, I wanted to improve my language, but I've stopped for now. I'm at the initial stage now: I know some words and phrases. The main thing for me is to hear these words. Due to the fact that I hear this speech every day, I think it would be easy to learn [the language]. Well, English at a conversational level is normal.
— So you're ready to move to England. There was information about Southampton in the summer. They wrote that the club really wanted you and Krasnodar was ready to let you go. But in England they said that they would not work directly with Russia, and everything went wrong. Was that really the case?
— Yes, basically everything depends on the fact that they do not want to work with Russia.
— Southampton is in the middle of the Championship table.
— They were giving me discounts, yes. Everyone was teasing: well, how's your club? I don't know if I should be glad that I didn't switch. I'll say this: whatever is being done is for the best. Maybe that's a good thing, no one knows.
— Why didn't it work out with Ajax at the time?
— It was in the summer of 2023, right after the Russian Cup final. Dutch media started trumpeting that Ajax wants to sponsor Russia... Due to media pressure, the story has already become political. I think if it hadn't been discussed so much, maybe it would have worked.
— Leeds appeared in the news again in the winter: allegedly, the British want to transfer through the Red Bull system.
— I don't know anything about it at all. Honestly. These questions are not for me.
— Which league do you like? Where could you play?
— Whether I'll play or not, we'll see. If I leave. Spain and Italy are probably among the preferences. England? Probably, it's still a step away. I'm not afraid in principle, but it's better to go there through some league. The main thing is that I play, and not just to go somewhere.
— According to official information, your contract runs until the summer of 2026.
— I lasted until 2029, there was just no official news about it.
— Is the example of Matvey Safonov, who left and became the main one at PSG inspiring?
- yes! It was hard for him at first, too. It's normal when you come to a top club. Euphoria first. But he told me how difficult it was: in training, they scored everything for him, all the shots were right, he felt the class of the players. He was a little shocked. This is just an example when you need to prove and endure. Which he did. I got a chance, and please, now Matvey is the main goalkeeper of one of the best teams in the world.
"There will be shock and tears when Messi and Ronaldo announce their retirement"
— You have a cool photo with Cristiano Ronaldo. What were you talking about?
— About football. I told him that [we] would not score again (We are talking about the game between the national teams of Armenia and Portugal (0:5) in the qualifying tournament for the 2026 World Cup — Ed.). However, by that time he had already scored twice... But he didn't score any more. And immediately after my words, he had a moment when the ball passed inches from the post. I said, "Well, I told you."
— The era of Messi and Ronaldo is passing away. Who should replace them?
— I don't know what will happen when the two of them announce their retirement. I can't imagine what will happen in the world of football and sports in general.
— Do you think there will be a shock?
— I think it will be just a shock for everyone... And tears. I think so. These are two stars that the whole world knows, who made the show, made the difference. Which everyone wanted to watch in every match. For me, these are two top-level players. They're different, but it's fantastic to watch them. Especially from an early age. I remember Ronaldo, who played at number 17 in the Portuguese national team. I remember Messi with that weird hairstyle of his. We haven't seen Pele and Maradona, but we've seen Messi and Ronaldo since the beginning of their careers.
— Which one would you prefer?
— Probably Messi after all. But that doesn't mean that I don't like Ronaldo. I follow their careers even after leaving the top leagues. I'll include some kind of review anyway. They're doing cool things even at that age! And I will give preference to Iniesta in general. He's my favorite player. The fact that he was not given the Golden Ball in 2010 is the greatest robbery in the history of football!
— Recently, the president of FIFA stated that the suspension of Russian teams from international matches has not done anything. Is this just a hypocritical position?
— I don't understand why you should mix football and politics at all. Maybe after some time we will understand something and find out. But so far, all this is perceived as a real injustice.
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