Akinfeev believes that for the sake of playing football you need to be able to cope with injuries

The goalkeeper of CSKA and the Russian national team Igor Akinfeev answered the question of the goalkeeper of the women’s national team Elvira Todua about the consequences of injuries, and also called football the meaning of his life.

– How much do the consequences of injuries affect mobility?

– Of course they do. A person does not get younger even without injuries. This is Ronaldo or Messi until they notice their age, they train and beat everyone. My injuries were quite severe. There is arthrosis, something else. But you have to deal with it. If you set yourself the goal of playing football, then you should not look at any old or new injuries. You must go ahead. Yes, there is discomfort, there is fatigue sometimes. But nothing forces me to renew the contract. It’s not for money. I love football, I breathe football. Sometimes in the morning you can barely unbend when you get out of bed. But you look like 3-4 minutes and that’s it, I came to my senses and went to training. This is the meaning of my life. I want to stay in football as long as possible, because I get high from it,” Akinfeev said in an interview on the Youtube channel of the Russian national team.

36-year-old Akinfeev has been playing for CSKA since the beginning of his career. The goalkeeper is a six-time champion of Russia, a six-time winner of the Russian Cup, a seven-time winner of the Russian Super Cup, a UEFA Cup winner, a bronze medalist of the 2008 European Championship as part of the Russian team, and a participant in the quarterfinals of the 2018 World Cup.

Watch on YouTube