Firstly, Iakovenko discusses Málaga CF’s last match and his official debut with the Blue and Whites: “I’ve got mixed feelings to be honest.  On the one hand I’m disappointed with the defeat, and on the other I’m over the moon I scored a goal.  I played on the left wing, not as a striker, and went in search of a goal.  When I joined the match in the second half, we tried our best to even up the score board, but on the whole we didn’t play well.  We’re working on improving as much as we can in training this week.”
 
After a tough loss, the Ukranian-born player hopes the team will be victorious against Real: “The coach spoke to us after the match on Saturday, and again today.  What he told us is confidential, but he was angry.  We played a good game against Sevilla, but had a bad day against Rayo, so we hope it never happens again.  We’re concentrating on working hard to improve.  Against Real we need to maintain a strong performance and play as well as we can.  They’re a great team with quality players.”
 
Iakovenko, who confirms the best offer available to him was from Málaga CF, is confident in the team’s ability: “We’re a good squad made up of some fantastic players, although some of them are injured.  When they’re back to full fitness then we’ll be stronger still.  We’re a quality side.  When I was on loan in Belgium, we were fighting to avoid relegation and succeeded.  I don’t think we should look at our situation as additional pressure on us, but as a big motivation to perform well.”