Pavel Pivovarov: "We have previously agreed to play with OFC on the road"

— How would you rate the recently completed Media x Pro Cup tournament?

— According to estimates of coverage and attendance, I believe that we have achieved our goals. It was a lot of fun. I think everyone who followed the matches shares this feeling. We will conduct more in-depth analytics and debriefing of our partners to understand the real effect. But we already see that the effect is positive. On my own behalf, I would like to note that when my daughter saw my photo from the Lab, she immediately wrote: "Dad, I want to go to the stadium." Although she is absolutely indifferent to football.

— Will there be a procession around the Dynamo stadium to remove the curse? Or maybe you use some kind of sorcerers or psychics?

— Everyone has their own football beliefs, their own football mysticism. Personally, I don't believe in curses. I think that Dynamo can do everything. I think, watching Dynamo in recent years, you can see that the club is developing, getting better, and we are trying to make decisions and take actions that will lead us to success. The procession is an initiative of the fans, which we approve. We are even ready to participate to some extent, but this is more a question for the organizers. As for psychics, psychics and sorcerers often offer us their services, but we refuse them and send them to a well-known TV channel, because they are more in demand there.

— There was information that Nikita Kologrivy plans to attend the BetBoom matches of the Fraternal Cup. CSKA has already filmed a series, does your club have plans to make a series about Dynamo?

— We already had a series for the centenary of the club. It was called "100 years of Dynamo", our ambassadors took part in it – each episode was led by a famous person who supports Dynamo. There were Vlad A4, Kamil Larin, Zhenya Medvedeva, Dima Malikov, Konstantin Ivlev and Viktor Gusev. We have a lot of ideas in the field of video content, including art projects. We will talk about them after their completion, that is, you will find out everything at the premieres.

Nikita Kologrivy is invited to the BetBoom matches of the Fraternal Cup, we are waiting for him on July 4 at our match. We plan that he will come, although we understand that he has a heavy schedule.

— Even before the lineup was announced, there were rumors about other teams. Have you considered clubs from other countries besides Serbia?

— Yes, we considered various options, and with a different number of participants, different composition, but at the moment we decided that such a composition is optimal. We have established ties with our fraternal clubs, the tournament has its own ideology – the ideology of brotherhood between clubs and nations. This ideology is positively perceived, and we share it, so we decided to keep this roster, especially taking into account the very positive response from our partners and the entire football community to last year's tournament.

— Where is Jorge Carrascal now? When will he arrive at the Dynamo location?

— At the moment Jorge has flown to Russia. We are expecting his arrival tonight. Serious disciplinary measures have already been applied to him.

— Lucy Chebotina was often present at Dynamo matches, but recently she has disappeared. Did something happen?

— Nothing happened. She is a popular singer, and her popularity is growing. She has a heavy schedule, we also have a lot of events, and the schedules just don't match. We invited her to the BetBoom Fraternal Cup, we are waiting for her. Previously, it was confirmed. Follow the announcements.

— What is the situation with the Dynamo Academy's home?

— This is a big project that we have been working on for several years. Unfortunately, there are certain difficulties, but we are moving towards the fact that Dynamo will have its own house in Moscow.

— Dynamo is the only club that has not played a single international match outside the Russian Federation since its suspension. Are there any plans for a return visit to Serbia or for some further international development and international matches?

— Firstly, we played matches with foreign teams at the training camp, so it's not entirely correct to say that Dynamo is the only club. There are a lot of clubs in the Premier League. As for the match with OFC specifically, we have an agreement to hold an away game next season. The agreement is preliminary, but we will do everything to make it happen. In general, as you can see, there are tournaments that we hold in the off-season. We also hold commercial matches at the stadium, including with media teams. The idea of commercializing the calendar is what we are doing. And we will develop this direction. 

— This is a unique open-air press conference, and for us, as a partner of the Fraternal Cup, this is also a unique tournament. It's not so often that we have international matches now, and it's great that our friends from Dynamo manage to assemble such cool teams for the second year in a row and make such an interesting tournament. I think there will be a lot of fans at the stadium, there is interest in such matches, so this Cup should continue to be held. And, apparently, next year we need to bring Xabi Alonso.

— How BetBoom reacted to the signing of Valery Karpin, who is the company's ambassador. Are there any powerful collaborations planned with Valery Georgievich?

— You would be surprised now if I said that it was BetBoom that pulled off the deal, and Karpin was appointed to Dynamo. In general, it's great when our ambassador became the coach of such a partner club as Dynamo. In my opinion, many stars came together, plus the announcement of Valery Georgievich in the program "What? Where? When?" is also a unique case. I think no one will repeat this, and if they do, it won't be so great. We are very pleased with this. As for the collaboration, we will definitely continue to cooperate with Valery Georgievich. Surprises are waiting for you in the near future.

— How do you like the choice of performers? Are you a fan of the song "Mother Earth", like many of us?

— Thank you for adapting to my taste in the choice of performers. I really appreciate this approach. It's very partner-like, thank you.

— We are waiting for two very important games, because very soon we will have a match for the Super Cup with Krasnodar, and we will have the opportunity to see the players in action. We will see how the system works, how our principles are being debugged. These are very important matches for me, because there is not much time to prepare.

— Are you going to learn Russian?

"I'll try." I know five languages, but I have already realized that Russian is very difficult to learn. I already know a few words and I want to learn it – it will be a real challenge for me.

— What did you know about Moscow before you were invited to CSKA?

— I played many times in Moscow as a football player, but then it was difficult to see the city. I was here once as a tourist, so I had an idea of the main attractions. Now I will study this city and culture. My wife flew to me, and she will explore the city while I work, and then we will show it to me.

— How do you assess the level of CSKA's young players?

— A lot of guys from the CSKA Academy are training with us now, and its level can be understood at least by the level of Matvey Kislyak, by the way he behaves during the training process, on the football field. He has already surprised and impressed me very much.

— The TV series "Mom, we are CSKA" was mentioned. If you had to choose an actor to play you, who would it be?

– A very serious question. I don't even know… I like Tom Cruise and Robert De Niro. Perhaps De Niro would have done better.

— How is your adaptation at the club going? There was also some criticism in your direction, because you headed the Russian club. Do you pay attention to this or, on the contrary, calmly perceive it?

— I am very grateful to the club for the way I was greeted. My adaptation is going great, CSKA has allocated me a lot of people who help me both in the training process and in everyday life. CSKA behaved like a very big club, and I am really happy and grateful to them for that. Answering your second question, first of all, I am a football coach and I am not ready to comment on tabloids, information that has nothing to do with what I am doing. I am ready to respond to football criticism. Any other does not concern me.

— Now there are rumors in the press that Paris Saint-Germain is ready to sell Matvey Safonov. In your opinion, is he capable of joining CSKA?

— First of all, let's not forget that we have Igor Akinfeev. Secondly, I was the captain of Olympique de Marseille, so I don't want to buy players from PSG.

— Fifteen years ago, you crossed paths with Igor Akinfeev on the football field as a player. What did you know about him before you met him personally as a coach?

— Of course, it sounds amazing – 15 years have passed, and Igor is playing. It's a great long career. Of course, I know everything about Akinfeev as a player, because football is my passion. I knew him very well. And now I'm glad to get to know him as a football player of my team.

— Yesterday we watched the first game of CSKA under your leadership. In general, we saw a 4-3-3. Will there be variations or will you leave this scheme?

— For me, the scheme is not the most important. Yesterday we played 4-3-3, but another day we can play 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-3. The scheme is not as important as the principles of football. I just want to adapt the principles of our coaching staff to the players I have at my disposal so that they show their maximum. Only these days the guys who had a little more rest days because of the national team matches returned. These are Ivan Oblyakov, Abbos Fayzullaev and Danil Krugovoy. My task is to integrate the new guys and make sure that each of them shows their maximum. And the scheme in this matter is not so important in itself.

— What does participation in the Fraternal Cup mean to you? What goals do you set for the tournament?

— I am very glad to come to Moscow, it is a great honor for me. It will be a useful experience for our team. This is a useful tournament because it emphasizes sports cooperation and friendship between our clubs, countries and peoples. We have a very young team, which is currently in the stage of development and stabilization. The average age of the team here will be 22 years, and this is taking into account Bibras Natho. It will be very useful for us to participate in this tournament and meet with such strong teams as CSKA and Dynamo. I want to thank the organizers who invited us. I hope that all the fans will enjoy and enjoy football at the Fraternal Cup.

— Do your players and you personally consider the Fraternal Cup as a kind of talent fair, where your players can prove themselves and show themselves in front of Russian clubs, and possibly get some kind of profitable offer? Is this an additional incentive for your players?

— Our team is very young, and everyone has ambitions. I know that there are a lot of Serbian players playing in Russia, they are showing themselves, so for them it will, of course, be motivation. However, the most important motivation is to prepare at the individual and team levels for what awaits us. On July 10, the qualifying stage of the Europa League starts, the match against AEK in Larnaca. This is the most important thing for us.

— Srdjan, you know Russian very well. Surely you are familiar with Marko Nikolic, the former head coach of CSKA. Have you ever thought about working in Russia? And would that be a good option for you?

— Thank you for the compliment. I worked in Kazakhstan for three years and studied Russian there. Now we need to rebuild, because I haven't used it in official communication for almost three years. Of course, I know Marko Nikolic. He is a former coach of Partizan and a very good coach. We have a good relationship. As for working in Russia, yes, I have a desire to work here. If there is a club that is interested, invite me (laughs).

— How many time players will Bibras Natho get?

—That's enough.