Branislav Ivanovic: "We need to do everything possible to win the first match at the new stadium"

The Zenit defender spoke about the result of the match in Moscow.
Do you agree that the race for the title is over? 

We will now have another race, we need to recover after this match and win the next match and try to finish as high as possible.

Why did Zenit lose? 

It is difficult to name one reason. At the beginning of the match we controlled the game, but then we got in a bit of a mess. In the second-half we started well, we play tight and compact, we scored a goal, but then we conceded again. After that, we still had a few chances to score the equalizer, but failed. 

How difficult was it to play against Quincy Promes, who played as centre forward

Spartak today played on the counter-attack with one striker and two wingers. They tried running in behind us and opened us up. In most things we controlled them, but still we made a few mistakes and because of this they scored.

In the first-half you went down in the penalty area during a corner kick. What happened there? 

Nothing special. The opponent was marking me with me very tightly, I couldn't move and went down, but I don't usually comment on these things.

There was another situation where you were down in your half of the pitch, was the pitch poor today? 

No, the field was perfect today as was the stadium, it felt great to play in and of a high standard. There should be more matches like this for the championship of Russia to become better.

Do you agree that today Zenit's midfield was not at its best? 

I never discuss such things. We win as a team and lose as a team. We are a collective and we will discuss individual mistakes in training.

What did Mircea Lucescu say to the team in the dressing room? 

He always wants the players on the pitch to be thoughtful, he has his own ideas and the players have to follow them. It is not easy, but we need to work on this. 

What did he say at half-time? 

He talked about our mistakes and about some positive aspects. He said that there will be chances and that we need to stay focused. After we scored, the next ten minutes of the game was under our control, we could have scored a second goal.

Does it cheer you up that the team will play the next match in the new stadium? 

It would be better if we had won today, then the atmosphere at the game would be great. At a new stadium it is never easy to play, we will not feel at home, we will need to get used to the new place. But we will do everything we can to win this match.