“It seemed like we would talk a lot more.” Karpin spoke about his last conversation with Utkin

Head coach of the Russian national team Valery Karpin in an interview “SE” reacted to the death of Vasily Utkin.

Valery said that he and Vasily had been friends for many years – they became close when he was already finishing his playing career.

“I called him on March 6 and wished him happy birthday. As usual, everything is on the run. We didn’t have time to talk our whole lives. It seemed that we would still have time… We would meet and talk… No one could have thought that in 13 days Vasya would be gone,” Karpin said.

Karpin said he did not attend the funeral because, due to the cancellation of the match against Paraguay, he had to stay in Novogorsk to deal with organizational issues related to the national team.

Utkin died on March 19 after a serious illness. His blood circulation stopped, Vasily was pumped once. It didn’t work the second time. Utkin was a commentator and blogger, film actor and radio host. Utkin owned an amateur football club.

Due to the terrorist attack on March 22, tomorrow’s Russia-Paraguay match has been canceled. In the midst of mourning, a certain number of public events, particularly sporting events, have been canceled or postponed.

Utkin’s funeral took place on March 23. Even those who argued harshly with him expressed their condolences. Even Tina Kandelaki said their conflict was her fault. Karpin combines positions in the Russian national team and in Rostov. The RPL championship will resume soon.

Previously, KP-Sport wrote about how the sports world was coping with the Crocus City Hall tragedy, what happened during ice dancing at the 2024 World Cup and the funeral of Vasily Utkin.