The Uruguayan left-back told about the first award in Russia, his endurance and the Uruguayan flag in the VTB Arena stands.
— You are named the best player of the match for the first time at Dynamo. What do you feel?
— On the one hand, I feel disappointment because we didn't win. On the other hand, I am very happy with the reaction of the team to the conceded goal. The guys did good work today. It was a very good match. So I'm satisfied.
— It was a tough derby, there were many goalscoring chances at the end. Why didn’t you come to a victory?
— As I said, we conceded an early goal. It made our task more difficult, because when you concede a goal, everything changes immediately. After we equalized, we still had a lot of chances to score the second, but we couldn't do it. Despite everything, the team did a great job physically and technically. We lacked finishing a little.
— We are all surprised by your endurance, what is your secret? Is it all about the mate?
— No, I don't drink mate (laughs). I think it comes from a great will to play football, to give everything on the pitch, to fight for every ball as if it were the last. This will characterizes the Uruguayans, and we really like everything that happens on the pitch.
— You ran so much, and you still had enough energy to hit the target. Are regular shots on goal a coach's plan or you act according to the situation?
— Well, this is my initiative, this is how the circumstances and the course of the match develop. When there is an opportunity to shoot, I try to benefit from this occasion. I did not manage to score either in this game or in the previous ones. I hope to score in the next matches.
— Did you see the Uruguayan flag in the fan stand? Are there your friends?
— No, they're not my friends. I saw the Uruguayan flag, but I don't know whether they are Uruguayans. I welcomed them. I was pleased.
— The international break approaches – are you going to relax from regular matches?
— If we take the results of the previous six matches, of course, we would like to play. But we need to continue working, as a team and individually. It is always good when there is an international break. The players represent their countries. We have a lot of such players, it is very important that they get useful international experience. And those who stay at the club need to continue training hard.