In an interview with Nobel Arustamyan, the former forward of Zenit St. Petersburg FC Alexander Kerzhakov said that, despite his hasty departure from Russia, it cannot be called emigration:

"Because of the current situation, we wanted to go where it's warm and just be there, not in Russia. Not to escape, not to disown the motherland, but simply to leave in a given period of time".

He explained why he made such a decision: he was scared. I was afraid, among other things, to watch the news, because "every day you read the news and you realize the magnitude of everything that is happening":

"It became very difficult for me and my wife, and we left. I'm scared. I could never believe in my life that such a thing was possible".

Recall that Kerzhakov is considered one of the best Russian football players. He still remains the best scorer in the history of the national team — he has scored three dozen goals, the best scorer in the history of Russian football (233 goals), the best scorer in the history of Zenit (161 goals).

However, after he switched to coaching, he did not distinguish himself with success. Having gone to Cyprus and headed the local club Karmiotissa, he lasted as the head coach of this FC only until April 1. Of the five matches played, the team managed to win only one. Before that, by the way, Nizhny Novgorod "Pari NN" refused to extend the contract with Kerzhakov.