Chairman of the advisory council and member of the board of directors of Dynamo Moscow Sergei Stepashin said that Rolan Gusev’s main task as head coach of the “blue and white” is to win the Russian Cup.

On Tuesday, Dynamo announced the appointment of Gusev as head coach until the end of the 2025/26 season. The specialist has been the acting head coach of the Blue and Whites since mid-November, when Valery Karpin left the team.

— The task, but Gusev himself voiced it recently, is to take the Cup. And, of course, we need to rise higher and higher in the championship. There are chances for this. I have known Roland since I was 18 years old. He is a Dynamo graduate, he played very well under Valery Gazzaev, then at CSKA, for the national team, and won the UEFA Cup. You know, last season he was already trying out for the post of head coach. And I played four matches in this, they were different, but against Spartak, by the way, it was not bad. Therefore, we expect that the student will be able to do everything together with us so that Dynamo fulfills the tasks that I am talking about.

But the most important thing is to improve the quality of the game. Recently we considered the issue of strengthening the team. There are a number of proposals, but it is too early to say. We just need to strengthen our defense, our offense, and our support zone. Roland knows this too. I hope that Gazzaev will also help Gusev. I have such an agreement with him.

— Why did you choose Gusev?

– Karpin left. Everyone else is, as they say, busy. Gusev is his own man, proven. He was a senior assistant under Karpin, in fact, he knows the team, knows football. We must give it a chance. We say everywhere: give domestic football players and coaches a chance. So we give,” Komsomolskaya Pravda quotes Stepashin as saying.

Dynamo is in 10th place in the Russian Championship standings with 21 points. Gusev’s team will play in the National Cup with Moscow “Spartak” in the semi-finals of the playoffs of the RPL Path.

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