"I'm going to a club where they're waiting for me not as a savior, but as a specialist."

On March 20, the final squad of the Russian national team for the upcoming friendly matches against Nicaragua and Mali was announced. The games will be held on March 27 and 31 in Krasnodar and St. Petersburg, respectively. The list includes midfielder Maxim Petrov, one of the main discoveries of the current RPL season and the leader of the Kaliningrad Baltic, which sensationally takes fourth place in the championship nine rounds before the finish.

A year and a half ago, the 25-year-old played in the First League for Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk. Despite one of the most modest budgets of the tournament, the team is confidently in the middle of the table this season — in ninth place, just six points from the fourth position, which gives the right to play in the play-off matches for entry into the RPL.

In an interview with Izvestia, Neftekhimik head coach Kirill Novikov appreciated Petrov's progress, explained how KAMAZ coach Ildar Akhmetzyanov got a chance in the RPL with Orenburg, and also commented on the postponement of the home match with the leader of the First League, Fakel Voronezh, due to frosts in Tatarstan.

— A year ago, Maxim Petrov played under your leadership in the First League for Neftekhimik. Now he is one of the main discoveries of the RPL season, the leader of Baltika. What do you attribute his rapid career rise to?

— Maxim has all the qualities of a Premier League player. When he played with us, our task was to prepare him for the RPL and sell him on financially favorable terms for Neftekhimik. It's good that this was done. Petrov plays completely to his strengths, fits the style of Baltika, understands the requirements of the coach, so everything is going well for him. I think things will continue to be fine.

— What qualities are you talking about?

— A lot of work on the field, dedication. He is quite technical, he plays one-on-one, he has good speed data, he makes decisions quickly in the time limit. So he has all the qualities to be a good RPL player. Moreover, he was also a player of the national team.

— Are there any players in the current squad of Neftekhimik who can repeat Petrov's path?

— Kostya Shiltsov, who is also joining Baltika in the summer. He has already signed a contract with her. Kostya also has the same qualities as Petrov. He's an even more subtle player. With its advantages. Therefore, he also has good prospects and a good future.

— This season, back in the fall, he worked in another Tatarstan club from the First League and got a job in the RPL. We are talking about Ildar Akhmetzyanov, who took over Orenburg in the fall, and before that worked for four years at KAMAZ from Naberezhnye Chelny, where he became the head coach at about the same time when you started working at Neftekhimik. Does his example give you reason to expect that the RPL club will invite you in the foreseeable future?

— As for me, I don't want to go anywhere. I want to go to a strong club that stands confidently on its feet. And where they count on me not as some kind of savior, but as a quality specialist who will work for a long time.

— Were you surprised by how Orenburg Akhmetzyanova recently beat Zenit (2:1)?

— Distance is important for any coach. And not just one match that you can have a great time and then lose all the games. Here, the results of the race speak about the work of any coach — will Orenburg be able to escape from relegation from the RPL or not. I wish my colleague good luck.

— Can you explain what he has done in Naberezhnye Chelny in four years, that his work in the first league interested the RPL club?

— He is a good coach who has shown good results in the Bundesliga. He was supposed to attract the attention of a club like Orenburg. So good luck to him, and then everything will show time and results.

— Quite recently, there were frosts in Tatarstan, which threatened to postpone the Rubin-Krasnodar RPL match, which eventually took place in Kazan. But your match in Nizhnekamsk against Fakel was eventually postponed to the beginning of April. The general director of the Voronezh club said that there was a crust of ice on the field. How appropriate was the transfer, and is the infrastructure ready for such weather conditions?

— The club and its staff work superbly in this regard. So there are no problems — the stadium is cleared of snow, the field is in excellent condition. Regarding what Askhabadze said, it is necessary to clarify the point clearly: there was a snowfall on the eve of the match. It's snowing — the heater is working. Accordingly, it is warm from below and snow from above. And the temperature feels like -26 degrees. It is clear that everything immediately starts to freeze. Therefore, there were certain pieces of ice on the field.

But this does not mean that our club has not prepared him. No, it's just that the circumstances I mentioned developed on a particular day of the match and on the eve of it. This did not allow us to play in this period. The temperature on the thermometer was -18 degrees, but it felt, as I said, -26. It was very cold. The day before, we trained at -15. And we haven't finished our training. Because it was impossible to breathe, and we were afraid that the players might get sick.