Andriy Pyatov: You never know

15-12-14 12:01:58

Text SizePrintSend

The Pitmen’s goalkeeper talked to the correspondent of the newspaper Segodnya.

- Andriy, how would you assess this year?
- It was a very hard year. Probably, the most difficult one in my career. Six months living away from home has left its mark. You know, you can carry things to a new location, furniture, a car, but you cannot bring heart, soul. Everything remained there, in Donetsk. We are very anxious for the future - not even for ourselves but for our families. I would like to see all conflicts settle quickly, with us being able to return to Donetsk, to normal life. In football terms, it was difficult too: all the games had to be played on the road, without their fans. Although this we have already started a little getting used to it. In the end, as our president says, anything that does not kill us makes us stronger.

- But still you also had pleasant moments this year. The club won the league title, and you became father for the third time - no one else can boast of similar achievement at Shakhtar...
- Yes, regarding this issue, my wife Yulia and I are leaders. (Laughs.) I think that our family shows a good example to all the others. And they are trying to follow us: almost all guys have kids, some already have two kids, others expect to have two kids soon. In short, as they say at Shakhtar, ‘Pyatov set the right tone of family life’.And it is certainly nice.

- Who chose godparents for Maya (the youngest daughter of the Pyatovs, who was born this September. - Ed.)?
- Godfather was my old friend Sasha, with whom we have been friends since Poltava. He is not a footballer, but all the guys in the team know him. A godmother was the wife of Vasyl Kobin - Vika.

- Do you continue to communicate with the Kobins after they moved to Kharkiv?
- Of course. We and Ischenko lived in the same block of flats with them, the families were friends, we had very warm relations. And now, in such circumstances, we have become even closer. Our common friend stayed in Donetsk, she was a nanny for our children, and now she tries to take care of abandoned apartments.

- For the christening of Maya you had to sacrifice training in the national team...
- Yes, I didn’t have any free time what that schedule. The day after the game with Dnipro I should already have been with the national team. I had to ask Fomenko to let me go. I called him, saying: ‘Mykhailo Ivanovych, today we have only running work and a sauna. Can I decide to some family matters instead?’ He understood me, gave the nod. Well, I basically did not abuse it, and at 8 o’clock in the evening I was at a dinner with the team.

- Speaking about the team, it’s hard not to recall the goal ruled out by the referee in the game versus Slovaks. Were you very upset back then because of the decision of the referee?
- I am that kind of person who doesn’t like to keep emotions inside of me for a long time. Well, the referee ruled out a goal - it's his decision and we cannot change anything. Although, of course, it would be just great, perfect: goalkeeper saves his team from defeat in the last seconds - you cannot imagine anything better. But this is football, a lot of controversial issues happen here. And when the referee makes a decision, you have nothing to do. So why mourn in vain? My character, I try to get rid of any negative things quickly, and I am used to leave all my problems outside the house. I do not like when my family is sad, and I always try to bring them some positive moments for them to be in a good mood. And  I have learned to quickly digest all football problems, to make conclusions and move on.

- This year you turned 30. Were there any unique gifts?
- Well, the most important gift was given by my wife, presenting me with the third princess. And the gifts were different, including funny ones. For example, Vyacheslav Shevchuk congratulated me in a humorous way on getting into ‘Shevchuk Club’ - those who are over 30. And it was nice to get a gift from Mister: the morning after my birthday (June 28.), He gave the team two days of the weekend, and I managed to fly from Austria to the Crimea for one day to celebrate it together with a family.

- Have you already got used to Kyiv?
- Well, of course. Although the life here is more hectic, traffic jams... But there are a lot of opportunities - and for the development of children, and for everything else.

- Where are you planning to spend your holiday?
- We’ll go to the Emirates with a family. We will rent a house in Dubai. We’ll stay there until the beginning of January.

- Will Maya fly with you?
- Of course. When five years ago we flew to Egypt for winter holidays, Milana (middle daughter of the Pyatovs. - Ed.) was also three months, as Maya is now. So everything is fine. However, we will take a babysitter – it will be hard for Yulia to cope with three kids. In general, as far as I know, the Emirates are very popular this winter at Shakhtar, a lot of guys with families are going there: Kryvtsov, Kanibolotskiy, Khudzhamov.

- On Monday, there is a draw for the Champions League last 16. Who would you like or, conversely, would not like to get as opponents?
- Hopefully, it won’t be Barcelona. Not that I'm afraid of them, on the contrary, it’s always fun to play with strong opponents. But we have played too many times with Barcelona! It's better to face those whom we have not met with yet. For example, Madrid, - Real or Atletico. Or, say, Bayern. Yes, we are not the favourites in these matches. But you never know! If we beat Real and (smiling) Serhiy Kryvtsov helps us in this (the Pitmen’s defender was passing through the cabin of the plane at that moment and heard ‘compliment’, clarifying: ‘Morally-always!’), then we will make a huge step in our history! 

FC Shakhtar Press Office based on materials from Segodnya newspaper