Ruslan Malinovsky: "I scored five goals for the national team, and three of them - in the gates of Lithuania"

12.10.2019 12:00

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

In the Euro-2020 home match Ukraine's national team scored two dry goals at the Lithuanian goal. The author of both became the midfielder Ruslan Malinowski. Hero match shared his impressions of the game.

"I agree that Lithuania is to some extent my team. After all, I scored five goals for the national team, and three of them were scored by the Lithuanians. In fact, I had two moments, and both were realized. But we don't need to make something supernatural out of it, because we had to win this match. What, in fact, they did - they won and took three points. At the moment, we also have a very important game ahead of us - with Portugal, "said the midfielder of the Ukrainian national team.

"The Lithuanian national team played very low, in two lines. The opponent literally sat on his penalty and did not even press. He completely gave us the ball, but despite that, it was difficult. Maybe it was worth raising the pace a bit, playing wider to make free zones appear. Everything fell into place when we scored. It was easier in the second half, moments started to appear, and we acted better, because we have a team that knows how to play football, ”Ruslan said.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

"If you look at the first goal, Junior Moraes played very unusually. This from the viewers may have seemed like a simple wall. But he showed with all his face that he would go to the center, and in fact gave me a pass with his heel. Nobody expected this transfer, and I had more space and I broke through. And for the second goal, of course, thanks to Andriy Yarmolenko, who earned a free kick. If he hadn't gone into the stroke, and they hadn't fouled him, there would have been nothing, ”Malinowski emphasized.

"When I scored the second goal, I saw the goalkeeper's position better than in the first episode. There I tried to break through the bottom, and in the case of the penalty I had much more time to assess the situation. Now we need to rest well and get back to the game with Portugal. After we scored the second goal, we started to save a little energy. And although today I gave a lot of strength in 90 minutes, I do not think it will be a problem in the match with the Portuguese.

I can't single out a clear favorite in the upcoming match. We will play at home, with a full stadium, so the chances are 50 to 50. We will play our game, and the result ... Let's see. We will play to win, but I think a draw will also be a positive result, "the Ukrainian team's midfielder summed up.

Recall that the national team of Ukraine and Portugal within selection of Euro-2020 will take place on October 14 in Kiev at the NSC "Olympic" (beginning - at 21.45).