Malcolm, congratulations on your two goals and Man of the Match award! Was it difficult to return to official matches after such a long winter break?
Thank you very much and a big thanks to the fans who came to support us. We know about the situation with needing a Supporters Card, but we saw a lot of people in the stands today.
It wasn’t especially difficult as we’ve been very well prepared, we had a great pre-season and we feel very strong. We know what we have to do, to reach the finish line of the league season and win the title, and we know what we are doing. We’ve not had the best of restart after the winter break in the last two seasons, so I am glad that today we won with a good score line. Well done to the whole team, I’m glad that I was able to help the team with the two goals scored and now we move on!
What were your celebrations after scoring dedicated to?
I was sending these emotions and hearts to my relatives and friends. 12 of them have come to St. Petersburg for my birthday and have stayed here and will attend the first two home matches. Since I’ve been at Zenit I’ve almost never so many of my friends and relatives here at the same time. I am very happy that they are here and I’m delighted I was able to make them smile with a win and some goals. I hope that the next match they’ll be at will also be a win. The most important thing is the three points. Again, today is a great day!
Robert Renan made his debut today. What can you tell us about your new teammate?
I’m very, very happy for him. Yesterday he was also called up to the Brazilian national team for the next friendly. So I am very happy for him.
He had a very good debut today and I am sure that he will be an asset to the team. We know that he is a huge talent, despite his young age. In my opinion, Robert is a future star, and it is difficult to find such high quality young players in defence. I'm sure he do a lot of good for Zenit and I’m glad we saw him make his debut today.
