Ismaheel Akinade: "I don't like playing on artificial turf, but if the conditions are like that, we have to play"

Ismaheel Akinade, the new transfer of "Gabala", played for the Irish clubs "Bray Wanderers", "Bohemians" and "Waterford" in the first years of his football career. The 32-year-old striker joined the Azerbaijani team from "Andijan", which plays in the Uzbekistan championship.

I.Akinade made his debut in the Azerbaijan Premier League's 17th round match, in which the "red-blacks" won 4:0 against "Shamakhi" away. The experienced forward, who was in the starting lineup, was on the field until the end and scored his team's third goal in the 81st minute.

We present Ismaheel Akinade's interview to sportnet.az.

- How do you assess the game?

- We applied everything we learned in training in this game. We showed a good performance and won a well-deserved victory.

- You scored your first goal in your first game. What is your next goal?

- I want to score a goal in every game. If I get chances, I will try to take advantage of them. We have a good team, we create good episodes, we work well. If we continue like this, I will be able to score my next goals.

- You train on natural turf in Gabala. You played on artificial turf in Shamakhi. Did you feel the difference?

- I have played on artificial turf in Ireland before. I am used to it. True, I don't like playing on artificial turf, but if the conditions are like that, we have to play. Both teams played under the same conditions. So everything is fine for me.

- You also played in the Uzbekistan championship. Were there artificial pitches there too?

- No, there are not.

- Can you compare the Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan championships?

- It is too early to say that. I still have to play a few games here. After that, my ideas about the differences between them will take shape.

- You probably know about "Qarabağ"'s performances in the UEFA Champions League in Azerbaijan. Are there teams of this level in Uzbekistan?

- There are also top clubs in Uzbekistan such as "Neftchi Fergana", "Nasaf". But they don't have a chance to show results in continental competitions like "Qarabağ" and "Sabah". Therefore, it would not be correct to compare the clubs of the two countries.