"Chile is a rival no weaker than Peru"

On Saturday, the Russian national team players will play their last friendly match in 2025. They will host the Chilean national team in Sochi. And on Wednesday, Valery Karpin's team played a 1-1 draw with the Peru team in St. Petersburg. The entire first half of this match was played by Rostov defender Ilya Vakhania, who was replaced during the break.

In an interview with Izvestia, he praised the result of the match and the quality of his team's play, assessed the condition of the lawn at Gazprom Arena and commented on recent rumors of interest from Dynamo Moscow.

— How would you rate your performance against Peru?

— Not a bad game. Of course, there were some losses in the final third — I would like to see less of that. But in general, it seems to be good.

— And how do you like the quality of the Russian national team's game in general?

— She looked good too. I think we should have won. But they didn't use their opportunities ahead and conceded an offensive goal at the end of the match. I think it didn't follow from the logic of the match. It's all the more insulting to miss a victory like that.

— Doesn't it feel like we didn't create much in attack — just a goal after a mistake by the Peruvian goalkeeper and one dangerous shot on target by Ivan Sergeev?

— No, there is no such feeling. Yes, the goal was due to a goalkeeper error. But our team is constantly pressuring us precisely in order to force the opponent to make mistakes. And we are waiting for such moments as we had in the match against Peru. Thanks to this, they scored. In addition, there were dangerous moments near the opponent's goal in the second half. Maybe, apart from the Sergeyev episode you mentioned, we didn't go as far as hitting, but we constantly played around the penalty area and threatened the Peruvians' goal.

— Many complained about the condition of the Gazprom Arena lawn. Did he really complicate the game?

— Yes, we did our best on the field, ran, and acted as planned, but it was a little difficult because of the condition of the lawn. The ball was going hard, crushing. So let's say it didn't slide perfectly. But that's not an excuse — the opponent was in the same situation as us.

— How would you rate your opponent?

— It's a good team, but we had to win. Unfortunately, they did not use their capabilities themselves.

— Do you feel strongly negative emotions from missing a victory?

— Of course, I wanted to win, to please the fans who came to the match. But, probably, now we need to look more at the game itself, at its quality. She wasn't bad. Although, of course, the result should not be forgotten either.

— What do you expect from the upcoming match with Chile?

— The same interesting game. This opponent is no weaker than Peru. So we will seriously prepare for this match. I hope as many people as possible will come to this game. There was excellent support at the match with Peru in St. Petersburg (45 thousand spectators attended the match — Izvestia). I hope it will also be in Sochi for the game against Chile.

— On the day of the match with Peru, Sport-Express published information about the possible imminent resignation of Valery Karpin from Dynamo Moscow. In your opinion, did it affect his mood before the national team game?

—No, not really. No changes. Everything was as usual. The atmosphere was the same as usual.

— Last week there were rumors that Valery Karpin wants to invite you and Viktor Melekhin to Dynamo in the winter. How did they react to this?

— I saw this news in the telegram channels. Basically, that's it.