CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev said that with age he has learned to better control his emotions.

The 37-year-old army captain’s contract with the club expires in the summer of 2024.

— Has it become easier for you to control yourself on the field over the years? It happened, after all, that they could hit you during a match, and they could speak strong words…

— Probably, at some moments you reduce your ardor a little. But emotions are emotions. There is nothing in life without them. Playing football or generally doing anything in life as an amoeba is not interesting. They’re suing you, and you’re just going to stand there? This is uninteresting and wrong. Even now there are moments: then you realize, you think, what a fool, you shouldn’t have done that. But then again you do it. And then you yourself are responsible for your actions. For example, I didn’t come to the interview after the match with Zenit, I was fined. I understand: this is my mistake, I’ll pay the fine myself.

— You seemed to start shouting less at the defenders…

– So they don’t understand Russian. Previously, when Lekha and Vasya Berezutsky played, we even spurred each other on and helped each other. Yell, push each other. At the same time, we lived like this for 15–16 years, and everyone was comfortable and happy. Everyone communicated completely normally. Now the guys are Brazilians. There is no point in yelling, especially since sometimes you make mistakes yourself.

— You have repeatedly said that you are a sentimental person. How can sentimentality be combined with the same sporting anger?

— Sentimentality, it manifests itself at specific moments. When you regret something. Or when you win a cup that you’ve been working toward for ten years. Of course you’ll cry here. Or when you empathize with someone. People are different. Some people don’t cry, others try to hide their emotions. Personally, I am not ashamed of my emotions.

— It’s understandable when you scream at 37 years old. What is it like at 17, when you have seasoned defenders in front of you?

– But everything is the same. If I hadn’t yelled, maybe there wouldn’t have been any trophies. Maybe everything would have ended at my first game in Samara. On another it is impossible. From the age of five I asked myself the question: what are you striving for? I remember one day (Valery) Gazzaev called me to the base in Arkhangelskoye. And I remember that training. I didn’t miss a single goal then. I was surprised myself. I was also yelling there, screaming, was cheerful and charged after that training. But I entered the building, and there was such a long corridor, everywhere there were rooms on the left and right, and at the very end there was a shower. And that’s how I go there, (Igor) Yanovsky, (Andrey) Solomatin, (Sergey) Semak and everyone else are there. As a result, I washed myself in the sink, waited until evening, and came last for dinner. It wasn’t even respect, but some kind of fear. Then Gazzaev called me. Like, there is no need to be afraid of anything, you are already on the team, just prove it. And then I realized: if they call me back to the main team again, everything will be different,” Rossiyskaya Gazeta quotes Akinfeev as saying.

As part of CSKA, Akinfeev became a six-time Russian champion, won seven national Cups and Super Cups, and also won the UEFA Cup.

Live broadcasts of the MIR RPL and FONBET Russian Cup matches can be watched on the Match TV and MATCH PREMIER TV channels, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.