Russian Hockey Coach Asks to be Eaten Alive, Calls Out Ovechkin After Loss to Finland
(Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, the head coach of the Russian hockey team, was not happy when he went to face the Russian press following his team's 3-1 loss to Finland, which eliminated them from medal contention. After answering some questions about the his line choices and taking the blame for the loss, the Q&A session took a very odd turn.
Reporter: What future, if any, do you see for your own work and for your coaching staff? Because, you know, your predecessor was eaten alive after the Olympics—
Bilyaletdinov: Well then, eat me alive right now—
R: No, I mean—
B: Eat me, and I won’t be here anymore.
R: But we have the world championship coming up!
B: Well then, there will be a different coach because I won’t exist any more, since you will have eaten me.
R: But you’re staying, aren’t you?
B: Yes, I will remain living.
That is some Gregg Popovich-level reporter trolling, but Bilyaletdinov wasn't finished. He also made sure to let everyone know he was unhappy with his biggest star's production during the Olympics.
“Tough to explain the loss, of course, why we scored so little. Players who score so many goals for their clubs, like Alex Ovechkin who scored 40 goals for his club [didn’t score]… Right now I cannot explain that.”
Just for the record, Bilyaletdinov's predecessor, Vyacheslav Bykov, was not literally eaten alive after the team finished 6th at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
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