"We can play under pressure and get both trophies."

The leader has changed twice in the Russian Football Championship in the last week. First, last year's tournament winner Krasnodar missed Zenit St. Petersburg due to a 1-1 home draw with Kaliningrad. But on April 22, a club from the Northern Capital misfired in an away match with Moscow's Lokomotiv (0-0). The next day, Krasnodar had to beat Spartak away to return to first place.

At the end of the first half, the red and white took a 1-0 lead, but soon the ball hit Nail Umyarov in their penalty area. The referee awarded a penalty, from which Krasnodar equalized the score. And in the last minutes of the match, the Bulls scored the winning goal and snatched the victory (2:1). Now, with four rounds to go, they are one point ahead of Zenit. In an interview with Izvestia, Krasnodar striker Moises Kobnan shared his opinion on the fight for the RPL gold and commented on the successes of his team's former goalkeeper Matvey Safonov as PSG's main goalkeeper.

— How did you manage to snatch victory in the match against Spartak?

— Mentality, attitude and teamwork.

— What would you say about the penalty kick, from which Krasnodar equalized the score? In your opinion, should a penalty be awarded for such a hit of the ball in the hand?

— Everyone saw that there was a hand game. And there was a penalty. Everyone saw it.

— How do you feel about the parallels between this episode and the non-assignment of a penalty against Krasnodar in the match against Baltika? Many people believe that since Lukas Olasa's hand did not score an eleven-meter shot in that game, then it should not be in the episode with Umyarov.

— I think that in the game with Baltika, she did not pay enough attention to this moment. And that's why there was no penalty.

— Your team has returned to the first place. How confident are you that you will keep him following the results of the remaining four rounds of the championship?

— I can't say for sure, because everything happens in football. So now we have all our attention on the upcoming game at home against Dynamo Makhachkala. And then we'll see how the championship race will turn out.

Drowned in the Baltic Sea: Krasnodar lost the leadership in the RPL

In other games, Zenit put the squeeze on Makhachkala, Spartak dealt with Akhmat, and the matches on the banks of the Volga ended with the same score.

— A year ago, in the midst of the championship race with Zenit, you almost missed a 3-2 victory over Dynamo Makhachkala when Krasnodar was saved by goalkeeper Stanislav Agkatsev, who kicked a penalty at the very end of the game. Will it be the same difficult match with this opponent now?

— All the games are important to us. We always need to give our best to win. We will see how difficult it will be in the next match.

— Krasnodar is also competing for the Russian Cup in parallel with the championship, where you will soon play the second leg of the final of the RPL Path with Dynamo Moscow. How ready are you to fight on two fronts in the crucial stretch of the season?

— I am sure that we can play under this pressure and get both trophies. But it won't be easy. We all need to work as a single team. And then Krasnodar will be able to win the championship and the Cup of Russia.

— Are you following Matvey Safonov's performance at PSG? Are you surprised how he was able to break into the main squad of the French top club?

— I always believed in Safonov. When he played in Krasnodar, Matvey was a wonderful person and a goalkeeper, he made wonderful saves. And the fact that he is now in the position of PSG's main goalkeeper speaks volumes. I was sure of him.