"I know for sure that we will stay in the RPL and will not get into the joints"

In the middle of this week, the return matches of the quarterfinals of the "RPL Path" will be held in the Russian Football Cup. In one of them, CSKA Moscow will host Dynamo Makhachkala. In the first game, the Dagestani team won 1-0 at home and is one step away from creating the main sensation of this round, knocking out the current winner of the tournament in the "Path of the Regions".

At the same time, things are not going well for the residents of Makhachkala in the Russian championship. The club, which has one of the smallest budgets in the Russian Premier League, is in 13th place after 16 rounds, that is, in the zone of transitional matches. According to the results of last season, the wards of Hasanbi Bijiyev finished on the 12th line, avoiding the joints.

In an interview with Izvestia, Nikita Glushkov, midfielder of Dynamo Makhachkala, assessed the chances of going further in the Cup, expressed confidence that the team would not be eliminated from the RPL, and also commented on the away defeat in the last round from Dynamo Moscow (0:3), which played the first match after Valery Karpin's resignation from the post of head the coach.

"Dynamo Moscow is a top team that is out of place"

— What prevented us from at least playing a draw in the last match against Dynamo Moscow?

— Probably the fact that we couldn't score goals, but there were chances for that at the opponent's goal, especially in the second half. If you don't take advantage of such opportunities, you won't win in any way. The opponent scored, but we didn't. That's all.

— Has Dynamo Moscow changed in any way after Karpin's resignation?

— It's hard to say, If you compare our match against them with Karpin at the head in the first round at the end of the summer, when we won 1-0, then, in my opinion, the only difference is that we played at home then, and now they are. Both we and they are different teams depending on whether we are playing at home or away.

— At the end of the summer, your team won with a minimum score, while doing almost nothing to create Karpin's Dynamo Moscow at their gates. Don't you have a feeling that if their head coach hadn't changed, Makhachkala could have repeated their success away?

— I do not know, it is difficult for me to answer such questions — indirect, let's say. It is not clear what would have happened and how it would have been if Karpin had remained at the head of Dynamo until the match with us.

The third approach: why Karpin decided to focus on the national team again

The head coach of the national team left Dynamo and referred to preparations for his return to the international arena.

— Is it often a shame when an opponent's head coach changes right before the match with you?

— Well, yes… As a rule, an emotional upsurge occurs a little bit, and the team plays better. But that's okay, it happens. We said inside the team that it wasn't very good when the coach left the club right before the match with us. But we tried to reverse this situation.

— Before this match, you were three points behind Dynamo Moscow, and if you won, you could have sent it to the transition zone. Did you generally perceive a club with such capabilities as your competitor in the struggle for survival?

"Not really. It is clear that Dynamo Moscow is a top team that is out of place. Of course, we went to visit her for glasses, but it turned out the way it turned out.

— So even when they lost a round earlier at home to Akron (1:2), did you seriously think that you could fight with them for survival, and not just with Wings of the Soviets and Orenburg?

—No, not really. I think it's just that Dynamo had such a bad period, and then everything will be fine for them. The main thing for us is to take care of ourselves and climb as high as possible.

"If some team does this, that they specifically get knocked out of the Cup, then it's very strange."

— How would you rate your team's results in the championship after 16 rounds?

—No way. Unsatisfactory. We scored very few points on the road. I can't even remember now if anyone won at a party - in my opinion, no one. So it doesn't suit anyone at all — neither us, nor the club.

— Have you lost much compared to last season?

— Last season, we had only three or four more points in the championship during the same period. I won't say that the difference is big. It's just that we have a lot of newcomers this summer — they still need time to join the team. I think it will take a little time, and everything will be fine with us.

— In the summer transfer window, three important players of last season left Dynamo Makhachkala — Egash Kasintura and Abakar Gadzhiev left for Akhmat before the start of the season, Valentin Fingers went to Krasnodar after seven rounds. Can we say that their loss is still affecting?

— I don't think it has any effect. Some left, others came. It's just that new players need time to adapt and understand what we're doing on the pitch.

— Dynamo Makhachkala has a return match of the Russian Cup against CSKA ahead. Are you ready to maintain the advantage gained in the first match?

— Of course! And how else to play football if you set yourself up to go out and lose? I always want to win and go as far as possible in the Cup. We are setting ourselves up for a good result.

— Are you determined to fight for the Cup, even considering that in the spring you may need to play on two fronts in the struggle for survival in the championship?

— Well, if we get knocked out of the RPL Path by CSKA, then we'll still have to play in the Cup's Path of the Regions in the spring. And everything will be the same.

— In the "Path of the Regions" you can play one match and finally be eliminated from the tournament. And in the case of CSKA's passage, you are guaranteed at least three cup games for the spring — two in the semi-finals of the "RPL Path" and one in the "Path of the Regions".

— If a team does this, that it specifically crashes out of the Cup, then it is very strange. I've never seen anything like this before.

— Maybe the players themselves don't lose on purpose, but in our Cup, coaches often field a second team, clearly making it clear that the championship is a priority.

— Well, we were the second team out of the group in the Cup. And the mixed team beat CSKA in the first match of the quarterfinals.

— It's still a different attitude to the Cup. Even if you played well with a non-core team, you could have beaten CSKA in the first match, releasing all the players who are constantly at the start for the championship games. And approach the return game with an even greater advantage.

— Anyway, almost all our players are of equal level, plus or minus. It's just that someone has a better gaming tone, someone has a worse one. I think the result of the first match depended more on CSKA.

— Do you believe that in the championship you can stay in the RPL again without joints, like last season?

— I'm 100% sure. Personally, I am calm and I know for sure that we will stay in the RPL and will not get into trouble.