“Abascal is either deliberately misleading the public or does not have the information”

— Valery Georgievich, the weekend was remembered not only for the RPL matches, but also for the skirmish between Spartak head coach Guillermo Abascal and representatives of the Russian national team. How would you comment on Abascal’s words that Spartak warned the national team about Ruslan Litvinov’s injury, but the Spartak player nevertheless played 90 minutes in the match with Qatar?

— Abascal is either deliberately misleading the public or does not have the information. Both, as you understand, are not very good.

Speaking to the point, all the questions raised by Abascal have already been answered by the senior doctor of the team, Vladimir Khaitin. Moreover, it was based not on some feelings or words, but on official correspondence existing between the doctors of the Russian national team and Spartak, on facts. I would not like to create a “jaundice” and put all these documents on public display, this is not very ethical, but if necessary, we will definitely do it.

— As far as I know, all members of the Russian national team’s coaching staff speak Spanish, Abascal’s native language. Was there any communication between you or your assistants with Abascal before or after the gathering?

– That’s the point, no. Just as there were no requests or recommendations for Litvinov from Spartak. Look, we have stated many times that our goal is not to win matches at any cost. On the contrary, if there is even a minimal risk of aggravating the injury, then without question we exempt the players from participating in the training camp. And there are many such examples.

— Are we talking about Karavaev and Tyukavin, who left the September training camp for medical reasons?

– Not only. Before the start of the training camp, the national team doctors received recommendations on several players. Due to logistical difficulties, they decided not to insist on the arrival of Krasnodar players Chernikov and Krivtsov. There were also recommendations from clubs for Pinyaev, Karavaev, Skopintsev, Fomin and Tyukavin. There were no logistical problems here: Dynamo and Lokomotiv are based in Moscow, while Karavaev, as part of Zenit, played the last match before the training camp in the capital with CSKA. In Novogorsk, the team’s medical headquarters conducted comprehensive studies that showed that Karavaev and Tyukavin, even after treatment during the training camp, would not be able to fully recover before the match with Qatar. And they were released to their clubs to continue their recovery. And, as we see, they were able to participate in the games of the last round for their clubs. The remaining players, having received an individual approach, recovered and played in Egypt and Qatar.

— Abascal also says that they have some message from the Russian national team’s physical training coach, Luis Casais.

— Firstly, if Abaskal has any wishes or questions, I don’t think it will be difficult for him to find my phone number and communicate. Directly with me or with Luis. And secondly, this is the message that Louis sent to the physical training coach of Spartak, as well as to all the players who were at the national team training camp. But we also need to understand what was discussed there.

Valery Karpin / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Alexander Vilf

– Tell me, please.

— At the end of each training camp, Louis sends his colleagues at all clubs, including Spartak, a report on the training process and the restoration of players in the national team. Louis’s colleague from Spartak sincerely thanked him for the information, admitting that for them this chronic problem of Litvinov was news. And you need to know Louis that even when communicating with me on work issues, he always puts it all in writing. And if necessary, we are ready to raise any correspondence. We don’t say anything “just like that”; we have documentary evidence for everything.

I would like to thank you again and separately ask all clubs to be in touch with the coaching and medical staffs of the national team. It is, after all, in the best interests of the players to ensure that they are always in the best possible condition.

— Another hot topic arose after the end of the training camp – the words attributed to you that Russian players need to leave the country.

– Let’s put it this way: in order to talk about something, you need to understand what we are talking about. And first you need to hear how the question was posed. And the question was posed like this: what would you advise the players if they suddenly have offers from the top 5 European championships, like Golovin, Kuzyaev and Zakharyan. To which I answered for the thousandth time that for progress and development, football players need to leave their comfort zone. But this does not mean that everyone needs to leave en masse for any other championships. And we were talking specifically about the best European championships. But nowadays people take words out of context as they please.

I would only be glad if our players progressed and developed in the RPL in the same way as in the top 5 championships.

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