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glimmerofawesome · 3 years ago

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"THE FIRST BIG INTERVIEW WITH ALSU ABDULLINA, WHO MOVED TO CHELSEA"

The 20-year-old girl, who was born and raised in a small Tatar village, now plays for the finalist club of the last Women's Champions League.

Near Kante, Azpilicueta, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royces

Alone in a nice English town

Diet instead of fish'n'chips

After the transition, Instagram followers increased six times

“Alsunya, the main thing is not to be afraid!”

“She was silent about Chelsea until the last, happiness loves silence”

I would go to hockey - I would play in Chelyabinsk

Yoga, freckles, secret football with guys

(Source)

- You took part in several matches of your new team, and in the Cup against Aston Villa you played from the first to the last minute. General impressions?

- I'm glad that after two weeks at the club I got into the main team, even for the cup match. So, the coach trusts. As for the game itself, I didn’t really like the first half, I made mistakes. Maybe from excitement, I don't know. After the break, she played more calmly. We took the lead 2-0, and somehow it started to work out better.

- In your debut match against West Ham, you were released for 13 minutes. Have you figured out where you are?

- I was very worried. I won’t say that I made a mistake, but at one moment I allowed my opponent to shoot through.

Did the coaches scold you after the game?

- There are no coaches, I scolded myself. But in general, I was surprised by how they were met at Chelsea. Everyone congratulated on the debut, supported, treated very kindly. Clubmates help in any matters, it is clear that they have no stardom, although they have achieved a lot in their careers. When I was driving, I thought that it would be much harder in this sense.

- In the video analysis, you also didn’t get it for a blot?

- Haven't come across anything like this yet. Theoretical classes, analysis, all this is there, but they didn’t reprimand anyone personally in front of me. Especially since we won.

- Physically, you had enough for 90 minutes?

- In the first half it was harder, then I ran away.

Chelsea are in second place in the Women's Super League. Does the team have strict tournament objectives?

- I haven’t heard anyone talk about this, but everyone has it in their heads: they should be the first at the finish line.

Have you seen the owner of the club, Roman Abramovich?

- Not yet. Does it happen in matches? Honestly I do not know.

- You are a defender, and against Aston Villa you played in the middle line. Why?

- Coaching decision. I was originally considered for two positions: left back and left midfielder.

Is the left leg stronger?

- Much, almost everything on the field I do to her. In training, I pull up the right one, but it still obeys worse.

- Does Chelsea know that you take free kicks?

- The team has full-time standards performers, I did not offer myself in this role. After training, I stay, I take free throws, the rest is not for me to decide.

How many free kicks have you scored in your career?

- Three or four.

- Is women's football different in England and Russia?

- We have changes for the better, but so far the differences are felt. Here all the stadiums are with natural fields, there are more spectators at every game. The speed in England is higher, there is no such gap in strength between the teams as in Russia. Professionalism is felt in everything, the infrastructure is also in great order. I was surprised that the women's Chelsea were given four separate fields: two natural, artificial and warm-up. Plus their own recovery center, three physical therapists and everything else to better develop the players.

“Women’s base in the same place as the men’s?”

- We have a base in the base. Very close to the first team and the academy, but a separate sector, where everything is their own, from dressing rooms to recovery.

- What level of players are gathered in the women's Chelsea?

- The highest, the majority are the leaders of the teams of the leading football countries. I won’t list everyone, but Chelsea’s 2021 World Team includes two defenders – Magdalena Eriksson and Millie Bright, as well as head coach Emma Hayes.

- Russia and Sweden are in the same group at Euro 2022, and Eriksson is the captain both in the club and in the national team.

We have already talked about it, wished each other good luck in the summer.

Have you seen the stars of the male Chelsea at the base?

— Kante, Ziyosha, Azpilicueta, Pulisic… Many. The time of training intersects, they come - we are already working, or vice versa. Yes, and by cars you can determine when the men's team is in place.

- Are they different?

- Well, yes, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royces. For women, this is easier: someone on a Range Rover, someone on a Hyundai. Chelsea signed a contract with a Korean brand, many in the club drive it. Mostly on electric vehicles.

- You too?

- Rights in England are issued from the age of 21, I'm still 20. I use public transport.

- Do you come to the base from afar?

- I live, in principle, nearby, I rent a one-room apartment in Guildford. Twenty minutes to base by train, forty minutes to London. The city is small, calm and beautiful, I enjoy exploring it on weekends. A lot of shops, restaurants and cafes, just surprised by this number.

- Do they recognize you on the train, ask for autographs?

- There are few passengers on the trains, I am almost alone in the car. After the matches, they ask me to sign, but not only me, the whole team. In general, it was nice to see the Russian flag with my name on the stands. I thought the Russians brought it. No, the English.

- Have you met any of our people living in the UK?

- They wrote to me on Instagram: “I live in London, let's meet, drink coffee, chat.” Help was offered if needed. There are many sympathetic people, but I have not met anyone, there is absolutely no time.

Is it psychologically difficult alone in an unfamiliar country?

- In Moscow, I lived for a long time without parents, I got used to it. He is constantly in touch with his family, only in the evenings he sometimes gets sad: the chores are over, there is free time, and there is no one around. But that's okay, there's no other way.

- Do you eat at the cafe?

- I cook breakfast and dinner myself, after all, the food should be correct and healthy. Lunch is served at the base.

- How do you, who grew up in the Tatar cuisine, English gastronomic facelessness?

— I haven't tried British cuisine yet, even fish'n'chips. And chicken and pasta are the same everywhere. I miss my mother's dishes, of course, I haven't eaten them for a long time. On the contrary, she deliberately weaned herself by going on a diet. Belesh, echpochmak, baursak - flour, sweet, potatoes. Delicious, but not.

- Did you go on a diet for sports reasons or during Ramadan?

- For sports. In "Chertanovo" there was a complex injury, while being treated, it gained a lot, with straight cheeks. I had to limit myself. And it immediately became easier. Extra kilos in sports interfere, the load increases on the entire body.

- Are you okay with the diet?

I endure it because I know why. She never complained about her appetite, quite the contrary. But I persuade myself: a career will thank you. If it’s completely unbearable, I can eat a cookie or a protein bar.

- How do you feel about pork?

- I don't eat.

- How do you calculate it, for example, in minced meat?

- If I don’t understand what kind of meat, I ask. Well, or accidentally swallow, then okay, I'm not consciously. As a child, she ate pork, her parents did not forbid it. Then somehow it came by itself, I try to be closer to faith. I haven't gone deep yet, but I'm getting there little by little.

“The mosque was found in Guildford?”

- I saw only churches, mosques, it seems, no.

— The fundamental moment?

- In Moscow, I visited the mosque sometimes. But I devote much more time to football.

“Is it useless to ask you about the taste of English ale?”

- I have never tried alcohol. Although no, as a child I somehow confused it with soda, when adults had a feast. In the mouth it began, not to convey. Since then, not a drop, completely indifferent. Plain water or coffee is better.

Is English January different from Russian?

- At first it was rainy and gloomy, now the sun is shining, it’s quite warm, I’m talking to you, sitting on a bench, the birds are singing around, do you hear?

- They say that you underwent a medical examination before moving to Chelsea in Denmark. Why all of a sudden?

- The Russian national team played a qualifying match there and flew away, while Vanya Genkenev, the press officer of the national team, and I stayed. Everything went fairly quickly. By the way, at the request of Chelsea, I was examined by the doctor of the Danish national team. It was impossible to fly to England without a long quarantine, so the British used the services of a doctor they trusted.

- Is it true that after moving to Chelsea, the number of your followers on Instagram has grown almost six times?

- Yes, and immediately. They just announced, I’m sitting with my parents, and the phone doesn’t stop right away, tsok-tsok-tsok, beeps about new subscribers. I think: “What reality am I in?”

Now thank the audience with English sketches. But there is a question: who shot you against the backdrop of the Thames?

- Now there is no one, but at that time agent Gleb Razorenov was with me. He served quarantine, as expected, went with him to look at London.

Is Emma Hayes a strict coach?

- In some moments strict, in others kind. Often smiling, almost always positive, but demanding at work. When necessary, he can scream.

- She has a little son. Does it happen in training?

- Comes with mom, more often on weekends. Four year old angel.

- Hayes suggested changing the size of the goal in women's football, since men have different anthropometry. She was accused of sexism. How do you like this topic?

Until you asked, I didn't think about it. There can be different attitudes towards the gate. Goalkeepers want them to be smaller, forwards want them to be bigger.

- How did the story begin and how did the story develop with your transition? You told your colleagues from BO-sport that the offer came almost on Instagram.

- No, other clubs wrote there. Chelsea went to the agent, it turned out they had been following me for a long time.

- Other clubs - Kansas City, Bayern and Sassuolo?

- It doesn't matter now. I'm at Chelsea, which I don't regret at all.

Tatyana Bikeikina, coach of the sports school "Chertanovo":

“Alsu came to watch at the age of 11. The girl is thin, small, all in hemp, but smiling. Came with dad and coach. By that time, I already had a team born in 2001, of a fairly high level, trained, it is no coincidence that many girls from that group now play in the Super League. In general, when Alsou saw the level, she was a little confused. I told her: “Come on, Alsunya, most importantly, don’t be afraid!” And dad too: “Just show me what you can do!”

She went out on the field and started to play. Although playing is loudly said: just carried the ball at every opportunity. In general, I did not keep up with the girls and the game. I trained with us for about a week, but I didn’t see anything there, no class. Dad almost immediately said: "There's nothing for us to do with this level, let's go back to the village." But there was something about her that caught my eye!

Every coach has an intuition, so thin. Flair. So Alsou liked it intuitively. I liked that I wasn't scared. Many who come to view and see the level are immediately lost. They say: "Oh, I'll never learn!" They go out and dissolve on the field, hiding from the ball. And Alsou fearlessly climbed into hell.

It bribed that all these persuasion and suffering did not come from her. She didn’t beg: “Oh, I can do it too, I’ll learn, you just take me!” She behaved modestly, smiled and was silent. She just stared at me all week like she was waiting for something.

In general, I don’t know why, but I decided to fight for it. A player from the regions needs a place in a boarding school, so we try to take already trained girls - both physically and tactically, not to mention the technical base. For a month I ran after the leadership, persuaded: “Give me a trial period under my responsibility, give me a place!” In the end, she got her way. Alsou called again with her father: “Congratulations, you are accepted.” They put her in a boarding school, placed her in a classroom.

But the problems didn't end there. And not football, but domestic. The parents did not have the opportunity to move to Moscow, and Alsou is a homely, soft girl. Mom and dad understood that it would be hard for her away from home, they were worried. Adaptation was really difficult.

While Alsunya was getting used to the team, the team, the routine, I spent the day and night with her in the boarding school. Every day I talked with teachers and other girls so that Alsou would feel like her own. But things moved slowly. During the day it seems nothing: school, lessons, somehow distracted. And in the evening she was covered with melancholy. Talking with parents on the phone, tears. All this lasted a month, two ... The girl was insanely sorry, she did not have the strength to look at these torments. But then there was a turning point.

Somehow the teacher calls me: “Tatyana Nikitichna, urgently go up to the classroom. Alsou is hysterical." I get up, take her out into the corridor, and she sobs excitedly. I’m trying to console the girl, calm her down, cheer her up, and she: “That’s it, I can’t, I don’t want to, I need to go home!” Roar and roar.

Teachers came out into the corridor, looking at us. I feel that my words do not care for her at all. And I understand that we need to act radically. I say harshly: “That's it, come with me. You collect your bag, I take you a ticket, I see you off and goodbye. But remember, you won't get another chance like this in your life. Never".

And then all of a sudden, the hysteria ends. Alsou looks at me, her eyes sparkle with tears, and she begins to back away towards the door. Then he abruptly throws: “No, Tatyana Nikitichna!” And sneak into class! I'm waiting to see if it comes back or not. Didn't come out! She stepped over suffering, overcame herself.

That was the moment. Then Alsunya often thanked: “Thank you very much for giving this chance!” But she gave it to herself too. If she had not shown character, had not broken herself, then everything would have ended. There would be no Abdullina either in the national team, or in Chelsea, or in football in general.”

— How is your English?

- When the option with Chelsea appeared, I began to teach, study with teachers who were ordinary and knew football vocabulary. We disassembled Emma Hayes' training from the video, studied her terminology. Before leaving, I already pulled something up, when the agent was quarantined, those classes helped a lot.

Naturally, when I arrived, I felt not very comfortable in terms of language. But every day I understood more and more, now I catch almost everything. Haven't started talking yet, I hope so.

— I know that you like minting a tennis ball. Where did it come from?

- It's gone from the junior team. We went in the morning, tapped, set records. After tennis, you feel the big ball better, the foot is developed, the technique is added. Once minted under three hundred times.

- You started as an attacker, became a defender. Because of which?

- In Chertanovo I was a forward, but after an injury, either the speed went away, or something else, and in the junior team they were transferred to defenders. Since then, I have been playing defensively or in the mid lane.

- Did you make additional tackles?

- Olga Poryadina, she is now coaching Zenit, she paid a lot of attention to this in the national team, specially trained with me. She also explained defense tactics.

How many dismissals have you had in your career?

- No one.

- Did you get yellow cards for unsportsmanlike behavior?

- Most often, I control myself, restrain my emotions. Sometimes, I can see directly that the ball has left the opponents, but the referee still makes a decision in their favor, then I can get excited. Once I even yelled at the judge, but there was no card. There was a game with Zenit, I was released at the end, already on my nerves, and one thing overlapped the other. But compared to men's football, we are not violent at all. Sometimes you look at how they wave their hands there, you understand what they say to the referee, and you are amazed why he does not immediately take out the red one.

- When information about Chelsea appeared, Lokomotiv began to keep you in reserve. How did you react?

- No comment. Clubs are looking to the future, playing to replace the outgoing newcomers, this is normal, especially if they say so. But when you hear that you slowed down, in bad shape, you don’t get into the squad, you involuntarily begin to believe it, delve into yourself, worry. Slightly different situation.

- Did you yourself tell the club about the option with Chelsea?

- On the contrary, I wanted to be silent to the last, happiness loves silence. Rumors appeared on instagram soccerdonna.de, there is such a resource. In principle, the club guessed: I was offered a new contract, I refused, I dreamed of playing abroad. As a result, from January 1, she became a free agent and formalized relations with Chelsea.

Renat Abdullin, Alsou's father:

“I myself played football and hockey since childhood, participated in rural games for my Aktobe village. I was glad that my daughter was drawn to sports. I kicked the ball with the boys in the yard, went to training with my brother. Familiar coach Vladimir Balandin, once played together, saw her, called her to the football section. There were no other girls there, only boys, so at first everything looked a little strange. But Alsou was not embarrassed, she trained, played, went to competitions for the boys to perform.

Then she was invited to Almetyevsk, the oil capital of Tatarstan. From us 40 kilometers, drove her there. There were already female football players in Almetyevsk. The sports school was just near the ice palace, and then one day we came out of training, I hear: “Dad, I would like to play hockey.”

And I know what hockey is - a difficult game, heavy equipment. Think, I answer. Although Alsou skated well, she ran with me with a stick. There is a desire? Okay, let's go to the coach. "Here, we'd like to." - "Come tomorrow, let's see your athlete."

But for some reason it didn't work the next day. Either the weather did not allow, or the car. My daughter was very upset, but later the excitement faded, she remained in football. When she arrived home in front of England, she asked: “Do you remember, dad, how you almost went to hockey? So, did you do it right?" - "Allah has judged that it is better for you to play football."

The boys with whom she ran did not offend her, they treated her culturally. Although there were serious tournaments in Almetievsk and Bugulma. But there was a subtle moment: dressing up. There is only one dressing room per team, what to do? And it’s very simple: the boys went out in a crowd, Alsou changed clothes, then vice versa.

Now I watch Chelsea matches on the Internet, there is a paid channel. I would like to visit my daughter, but it is difficult with a visa, I have to go to Moscow. Yes, and shift work: a month in the north - a month at home, I'm a loader driver in the oil sector. Maybe in the spring, I don't know. The daughter sends photos, says that everything is beautiful, cultured and the people are smiling.

We are used to the fact that Alsou is far away, she was given away to Chertanovo when she was very young. She was a striker, she scored four, playing against the boys. I got bored, grew up, then Lokomotiv, the national team. We were worried about how she would be received at Chelsea, how the first matches would go. So far so good, she likes it."

Do you regret not going to hockey?

- No-o-o. Now, maybe, I would play, but not in Chelsea, but somewhere in Chelyabinsk.

- Why, while playing for Lokomotiv, did you go to additional training sessions, which you also hid? What was missing?

- I wanted to go to Europe, I wanted to train more. Came with a friend to the guys from the amateur team, asked to play with them. They arranged a viewing for us - and they took it. Then they themselves called for training, they liked to run with us. There are different speeds, strength, endurance, it gives a lot. Plus, we worked with a personal trainer, mostly working on technique. And also yoga.

- And why is she?

- Relaxes and restores muscles, in general, it is beneficial. That's just in vain we posted a photo about yoga in social networks. It flew in, well, it didn’t come to a fine. When there was a microtrauma, the club said that perhaps because of yoga.

- Do you speak Tatar?

- I was forgetting. Before leaving for England, she was invited to events at home where she had to speak Tatar, she coped with great difficulty.

- Why did you choose number 27 for Chelsea?

- He was among the free ones, besides, I have only good things connected with the deuce and seven. Cristiano Ronaldo has the seventh number, she herself played under the seventh and 77th. I thought to ask for the 13th - superstitions overpowered.

How do you feel about your freckles?

I'm proud that not everyone has them. Everyone has always liked it, especially me. I do not plan to get rid of, freckles are part of my personality.

#this is a google translation so it looks like quite a bit didn't translate right #but overall i think you get most of it #i'd highly recommend a read - it's long but worth it!#alsu abdullina #chelsea women #chelsea fcw

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