Krupsky: Returning to Ukraine, you see the difference between our football and world football – the pace and intensity of matches there are completely different

Young talent of Vorskla – 19-year-old right back Ilya Krupsky — became the defining player of his team in 2024. They’ve been circulating for several months now. insiders about the defender’s possible transfer to one of the country’s leading clubsand Ilya himself played at the 2024 Games as part of the Ukrainian Olympic team in July. In an interview with Sport Arena after the lost match to Zara (0:2) Ilya Krupsky spoke about the start of the season and performance at the 2024 Olympics and a possible change of club.

— Ilya, why didn’t you manage to score at least one point in the confrontation with Zarya? Before this match, the teams had the same number of points in the standings.

— Our execution of chances in this match let us down. We had many chances to score, but… Zarya took two corners and scored against us twice.

— Why didn’t you cope with Budkovsky and Jordan?

– We will analyze our mistakes. Even before the start of this meeting, we knew that Zarya was strong in counterattacks and set pieces. They didn’t play enough in these episodes.

— In the 83rd minute, Poltava could have equalized the score, but Chernysh hit the post, shooting from the center of the penalty area. How did you see this episode?

— You see what moments we had at the very end of the meeting. If we had scored a goal, the score would have been different.

— How did your team play on the excellent quality turf? In Poltava, the football field is far from being of ideal quality, isn’t it?

— You always want to play on a field of good quality. We love to play with the ball using passes, but on such a poor-quality field as in Poltava, it is difficult to play combinationally. Then we started to hit the ball forward often, playing through long passes. Our field is completely resurfaced. Now we will play the next two matches of the championship away from Polesie and Alexandria, and at the end of October, I hope, we will be able to host Dynamo Kiev on our new lawn in the Ukrainian Cup. Now we often play away games, on good pitches, with a large number of fans, which makes us happy.

– Let’s go back. In July you played at the Olympics for the Ukrainian national team. What did the Olympic Games give you? In what component of football have you become stronger?

— I have become more confident in my abilities. When you play in such stadiums, with large crowds of people, you grow. I was up against Hakimi, Alvarez and Otamendi, all football stars. Returning to Ukraine, you see the difference between our football and the world one. The pace and intensity of the matches there is completely different. The Ukrainian national team made it to the Olympic Games for the first time, and we were very pleased to represent our country.

— Did you exchange T-shirts with Hakimi?

– No, I didn’t have time. I just managed to exchange my T-shirt for a Simeone T-shirt. His father coaches Atlético Madrid. Alvarez’s T-shirt was taken by Fedor from Rukh, he was ahead of me.

— On Monday, information came out that Donetsk Shakhtar wants to buy you for one million euros. The leaders of FC Vorskla want to get three million euros for you. What do you have to say about this?

“I read about it myself on the Internet.” My partners in Vorskla began to harass me about the possibility of moving to one of our top clubs. My agent Konstantin Sosenko knows everything, he communicates with the clubs.

— Do you want to take a step forward in your development and move to a more status club?

— I like both Shakhtar and Dynamo. Let’s see what happens next.

— Do you watch European Cup matches?

– Certainly.

— This week, in the second round of European Cup games, can Shakhtar and Dynamo score points?

– They can. I want both Ukrainian teams to be able to score points in the meetings with Atalanta and Hoffenheim. We will root for them. I communicate with both the guys from Dynamo and the Shakhtar players – we are always in touch with them.

— Do you think this season, its start, is more successful for you than the last season in the UPL?

– Yes. Under Viktor Skripnik I played little, only in the spring I was able to reserve a place in the starting lineup of Vorskla. Only now have I become a main team player. Of course, you want to score goals and provide assists. I believe that all this will come to me over time, I just need to work hard.