Ruslan Rotan: “It is a pleasure to watch the Ukrainian national team play. I am sure she has a good chance to make it to Euro 2020 »

16.12.2018 21:45

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

On December 16 in Kyiv, ex-midfielder of the national team of Ukraine Ruslan Rotan presented his autobiographical book “Ruslan Rotan. # 29 ». Thanking everyone who was with him and supported him throughout his career, one of the record holders for the national team spoke about a new stage in his life and recalled some moments from the past:

- My soul and heart with the "Dnieper", so my autobiography is timed, including the 100th anniversary of the Dnieper club. It tells about all periods of his career in Dnipro - from hiking as a boy, when the team was led by Mykola Pavlov, and I studied at the Dnipropetrovsk sports boarding school, to the stadium until today, which, unfortunately, were not the best in the history of the club. So I want to thank everyone who has been with me over the years.

- Now you have a new stage of your career - coaching. How do you feel?

- Yes, my career as a player remained in the book, and now a new stage of life has begun. I actually ended my career in Kyiv, at Dynamo. Therefore, despite the fact that I played little and may not have helped the team as I wanted, I thank the Dynamo fans for their warm support.

- Do you dream of working as a coach in the national team of Ukraine?

- It can happen someday. Most importantly - I dream of becoming a good coach. I'm just at the beginning of this journey. There is a lot of work ahead, much remains to be learned. In my career as a footballer there were authoritative specialists, I have someone to emulate. I will try to become a successful specialist and achieve good results.

- In your opinion, is our national team on the right track now?

- Of course. I think she has the right vector of development, and Andriy Shevchenko prepares a team that achieves results. It's nice to watch the national team play, there is a picture. So, everything is done correctly. The team will soon start in the Euro 2020 qualifying tournament. I'm sure she has a good chance of solving her problems.

— You have played 100 matches for the Ukrainian national team. There were many bright fights. But in which match were you especially sorry to lose?

- Probably, the return match of the playoffs of the 2014 World Cup against the national team of France was especially memorable. In Kyiv we won - 2: 0, we went to the away match with high hopes. Then it seemed that we would not miss ours, but we lost - 0: 3. It was a real shock. We did not expect this ...