Olympian goalkeeper Zauri Makharadze told about how he made a choice in favor of football, why he will not move to another team of UFC and about what tops in his career he dreams about.
Zauri Makharadze has long been a real business card of Olympique, you can say, the legend of the club. Having spent his entire football life in the same team, he went through all the steps of the hierarchical ladder of Russian football from the lower divisions to the Premier League, debuted in European competition, defended the honor of Ukraine in junior teams. Now he may have to make another significant step forward.
- Olimpik has a very difficult match in the championship of Ukraine against Dynamo. Did you manage to look at the future opponent in the match of the League of Europe?.
- Yes, of course, everyone looked. Cheered for the people of Kiev, as for all Ukrainian teams in the European League and the Champions League.
- And how impressions?.
- Dynamo is Dynamo. Regardless of which opponent and what tournament it is playing in, the team's goal is only a victory. Despite the fact that the games and the result may be different, in general nothing changes, and it is impossible to learn something completely new in one match. At least I did not see anything unexpected.
- And the fact that Dynamo in the last matches does not start too well, and only then adds - it does not surprise?.
"But he adds!" And why everything happens this way, it's hard for me to judge. For this you need to be inside the team. In any case, the Dynamo will attack, strive to win, and we are ready for this.
- Coaches have not yet analyzed the latest Dynamo games with you?.
- No, we have not analyzed anything yet, but there is still time, and coaches will certainly tell us about what tactics we will choose, and there will be no problems. Like Dynamo, we are striving for victory in every match, so there is no special preparation.
- When watching the Dynamo and Zarya matches in the Europa League, did you ever think that Olympic could play along with them?.
- Well no. Of course, I would like that, but we missed our chance this year. We will prepare for the next euro-zone, although the right to speak in it still needs to be achieved. For now, we are just sincerely cheering for our Ukrainian teams and we wish them more victories.
- In the championship of Ukraine you won against Zarya, which plays the group round of the League of Europe.
- You see, this is football, in which everything changes from game to game. And you can not say that if you won or lost in one match, then just stronger or weaker than any team. Football is beautiful with its unpredictability. Teams go to the field with a score of 0: 0, but no one knows with which score the match ends. The fact remains: Dawn plays in the European League, and we will try to get there in the next season.
- With such a game, which now shows Olympique, this can not be doubted.
- I would not think ahead of time. Today, a lot happens, and it's good.. But what will happen next - we do not look so far into the future, but just try to win every match. What will happen by the next summer, we will see at the end of the championship.
- What is the secret of Olympic success?.
- Yes there are no secrets. We just play football, and the guys all strive for success, they try to win - that's the whole secret. A good coaching staff, a good team, a great atmosphere - all this, like in any other team, leads to success.
- You have spent your entire career in the Olympics, the formation of the team and its advancement took place before your eyes and with your participation. And always had success such a simple formula?.
- Not only that, but also that we always moved to each new success gradually. No one has ever set before us tasks that we would not be able to do. When the club management felt that the team was ready to take a step forward, we faced the task - the second league, then the first, the Premier League, the hit in the top six, the Europa League. Our president has always felt very subtle the moment when it is already possible to take another step. You can, of course, immediately put the goal - to win the championship or get a European Cup. However, if the team and each player individually are not able to perform this task, then to nothing, except increased nervousness, will not lead. And then the reproaches begin that someone did not do something, and it was just beyond his strength, no matter how hard you try. For us, it's not timely to say, for example, about the title. For this we need a certain structure of the club, a base, an academy. While all this is not there, such a goal will be unattainable.
- But you can go to another club, where all this is, and win the championship of Ukraine, which, according to you, Olympique is not yet able to.
- Our president does not hide that he is ready to let go of any football player who will have a good offer. But I do not see any reason to leave the team, where good conditions are created, all the promises are fulfilled and that is progressing.
- Olympic already reached the level that in Ukraine you might be interested in the transfer except that in Dynamo or Shakhtar?.
- Yes, but still I think that it would not be right to go to the team that fights against Olympique in the same tournaments. It, certainly, not treachery, but, probably, disrespect to the, to the president, children. I am a pupil of this club, and its fate will always be of interest to me. Yes, Shakhtar and Dynamo are now much higher in terms of organization level and capabilities, but they have well-staffed teams, and none of them invited me. Other options in Ukraine do not even make sense.
- And the prospect of playing in a foreign club does not appeal to you? In the summer after negotiations were held between Olympic and one of the Spanish clubs about your transfer.
- Yes, they were, but I did not understand the situation. The president negotiated, and I trained. Then they told me that everything that depended on the club was done, and now it remains only to wait. We had already started the championship, and I stopped thinking about the transition. Did not work out - then it did not work out. All that is done - all the better.
- But in one of the interviews, Olympic President Vladislav G. Gelzin said that your transition will still take place during the winter transfer window.
- Everything can be. In winter or next summer, this option or other. My task is to play. I did not try to find out any details. Now both me and the president are busy with the season of Olympic. But if he said so, it means that he has already agreed, because our president simply does not say anything. But, probably, something again will not develop at Spaniards.
- And how do you feel about the Spanish championship, Spanish football?.
- This is one of the European top championships, along with England, Germany, Italy, and more recently France. That says it all. I, and any football player, would like to try my hand at this level.
- If you take the listed championships, which of them are the most interesting for you, close in style, in spirit?.
- I really like England, English football, so the Premier League for me in the first place. On the second - Spain. It is here that I would like to test my strength. Well and then there are France, Germany and Italy.
- Your idol Iker Casillas spent his best years in Spain.
- Yes, and won everything there was possible. Casillas I like not only as a footballer, but also as a person. To play so many years in Real Madrid at this level, it's not enough to just be a good goalkeeper. If you take into account the goalkeeping skills, then I always really liked Joe Hart. I do not copy him or any other goalkeepers in any way, but I try to take on some elements of their actions. Good goalkeepers, who can learn something, a lot, but such personalities as Casillas or the same Buffon, stand alone.
- You say that you are trying to learn from colleagues some experience. And it happens that you are looking at the game of one of the authoritative goalkeepers for you, and at some points you understand that you could have played better?.
- It's better - of course not (laughs). In another way, it is possible. I always try to analyze different points, consider possible options. That is, to act as we always do in the team after each match. In any episode there is no such thing - right or wrong. There are various options for action, one of which you can choose.
- Are there any moments about which they say that in them the goalkeeper is simply obliged to act to save his gates? For example, after the match Tottenham - Borussia Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Birki did not even stand up, and responded to criticism, saying that the view that the goal in the near corner is always a goalkeeper's mistake - simply a myth.
- Yes, they think so about the near corner, but we must consider each specific situation. Because it happens that it does not matter, the nearer is the angle or far, but the goalkeeper just does not have a single chance to hit the ball. Simply goalkeepers are always judged more severely than the same attackers who do not use scoring chances, and it seems to everyone that the goalkeeper could and should have saved the team. But if he did not save - it means, in fact, he did not have such an opportunity. Circumstances have developed this way, but this does not mean that he is a bad goalkeeper. Maybe next time he will play differently, but everything will again depend on the circumstances. There are no moments about which it can be said that it is impossible to miss in such situations. Although I say this to myself every time I miss (laughs).
- Were there any mistakes in your career that you can not forget?.
- Yes, many of these were. If you take the most memorable. Several years ago we played with Chernomorets, lost 0: 1, led in the score 2: 1 (July 18, 2015, the match of the first round of the championship -. auth. And at the third compensated minute the canopy went towards our gates, I shouted: "I!" Left his place, but did not get to the ball, and the opponent calmly threw the ball into the empty net. They lost the victory, in a home match, with a principal rival - led the team. But this is one of these moments, but in general there were a lot of them.
- And the most successful, in your opinion, fights can be called?.
- The most successful are yet to come (laughs)! On the most successful it is better to ask others, our coach, for example, it's difficult for me to judge. I'm very self-critical about my game and in every I find a lot of mistakes. The only thing I can say is that both successful and unsuccessful matches should be tried to quickly forget, because such memories are hampered in future fights.
- But the mistakes, probably, still not so much, since you were up to the last season in the top three best goalkeepers of the championship of Ukraine?.
- This is a doubtful evaluation criterion. Once you get into the top three - this is not an indicator, so if you get on regularly - then another thing. Of course, it's very pleasant that I was chosen, but with the same success could choose someone else, because we have a lot of good goalies in the championship. I would even say that there are no bad ones. Despite a certain crisis that our football is going through now, there are no problems with the goalkeepers in the Ukrainian teams, they are all of high class.
- Recognition of you one of the three best goalkeepers of the championship of Ukraine increases your chances to attract the attention of the coaching staff of the national team?.
- The question is not quite the right address, and I can not answer it. I will only say that regardless of whether or not they fall into various symbolic troika, deuces, units or nines of the best, I really want to play for the national team of Ukraine. All players, including myself, playing, as they say, for the fan, still try to attract the attention of the national team coaches. Once a team does not cause - it means that you are not good enough, and you have to work even more. But this does not guarantee success. Each coach has his own vision of what the goalkeeper should be, and he will naturally try to ensure that his team is played by those who meet these criteria. I was born in Ukraine, I played for Ukrainian youth teams, and I will be happy if I manage to get to the first national team.
- Football for you - this is the whole life, or is there any serious hobbies besides football?.
- It's very hard for me to get out somewhere. When the season goes on, then I'm almost always at home, because I'm fully committed to training and during matches, I get tired. So I come home and start to rebuild before new training and games. You can say that I am a very boring person (laughs). I love basketball, I was engaged in my childhood, and now do not mind throwing the ball in the ring. Previously, we had a lot of fans in the team, and we even often came to the trainings early to play basketball. Now it happens rarely, but for basketball tournaments I continue to follow.
- And why in your time did you make the choice in favor of football? What is there in him that is not in basketball?.
- I somehow never thought about comparing these sports. I was engaged in both, and it turned out not bad, and the decision was made spontaneously and without hesitation. Mom, she's my basketball coach, she asked me somehow what I like best. Because it's time to make a choice, if I want to achieve something serious. And I immediately said: "Football!" I did not think a second, I broke myself. And after that I did not regret a bit about the choice made.
- That is, in the choice of sport the family has given you complete freedom. In general, how important and important is the influence of your immediate family for you?.
- 100 percent. I always listen to the opinions of my family members, although they are sure that I always act in my own way. In fact, this is not so, and their opinion is very important to me. Yes, in football matters they do not even try to advise anything, because they are sure that I understand this better, except that I myself will ask me to help. But in some life situations, they do not just give some instructions, but they express their point of view, which I always take into account.
- Who is the main authority in your life for you?.
- Father and mother.
- Are you for someone an indisputable authority? In a team, for example?.
- It's hard to judge, at least I did not notice this (laughs). In the circle of my communication everything is built on friendly relations, when everyone can advise or point out mistakes to everyone. And for me, it is such relationships that are most comfortable.
- What is your most cherished dream in football?.
- Dream. Win the Champions League! But I understand perfectly well that it's not enough to dream.
It is necessary to set for ourselves more modest goals, to achieve them, to put new ones. Climb the stairs. In my case - it's to get into the foreign championship, the top championship, ideally - the Premier League, the top club, and only then with him to win the Champions League. But while I'm an Olympic footballer, I only think about the success of my club. So if you combine the dream and reality, we can say that I dream of winning the Champions League with Olympique (laughs).
Alexander Fokine, Football. ua Author: Alexander Fokin.