Immediately after the match of the 10th round of the First League Champions Group in Petrovo, where Ingulets defeated Karpaty 2-1 to win the first place, an award ceremony took place.
Karpaty were also awarded silver medals, but their manager Myron Markevych was absent, which caused a stormy reaction in the post-match comments of such well-known experts as Jozsef Szabo and Viktor Leonenko.
In a conversation with a correspondent of Sport.ua, Honoured Coach of Ukraine Myron Markevych explained the reason for his absence at the award ceremony:
Myron Markevych. Photo: fckarpaty.org.ua
— The last two calendar matches with the participation of Karpaty were very difficult and required considerable nervousness. First, when we won against Left Bank (3-0), my team managed to squander the advantage, which has never happened before in my long coaching career.
And, as a cherry on top, the goal conceded in stoppage time in Petrovo, which negated all the work on the marathon tournament course. The championship slipped through my fingers.
I felt unwell, so I decided to wait it out in the club bus under the care of the medical staff. When I felt better after a while, I went to a press conference where I answered all the journalists’ questions and paid tribute to Ingulets and their head coach.
— In the post-match comments of well-known experts, one could read that you seemed to have deliberately skipped the award ceremony to humiliate Ingulets.
— I think I gave a comprehensive answer as to why I could not attend the award ceremony. Even at the meeting with the press, I said that I was impressed with Ingulets and praised them for their fighting spirit. So what kind of disrespect can we talk about?
— Then, finally, where is the silver award you received as a member of Karpaty?
— The organisers gave it to me immediately after the press conference. It is already in the family sports museum.
Andrii Pysarenko
