The news is that Robert Renan will not join up with the Brazilian U20 team, was this a decision of the club or the player?
The club sent a letter requesting to keep him here as we’re in the vital stages of the league season and we hope they would understand this and work with us. We then received a positive outcome for us. The player himself knows how important he is for us now, and the Brazilian coaching staff were very understanding, so I do not think there will be any difficulties in this matter, but these matters are always under review.
Wilmar Barrios is training now, is there any chance of him playing on Sunday?
There is a chance, he is training with the team and we’ll make a decision on him just before the match. Let's watch him and see, but he is ready.
What’s the feeling in the team ahead of the match against Loko?
The same as with any match, we need the win and have to play to the best of our ability. We will try to play to our best and go for the win.
Other than Barrios, do any of the other players have any injuries, or is everyone available for the match?
Other than Barrios, Sasha Erokhin and Gustavo Mantuan have some minor knocks and will not be available for the game, but I think they will be ready for the next match.
After scoring two against Ural will Ivan Sergeev start ahead of Mateo Cassierra?
We’ll have a look at how he is, Ivan has been out for a while and we need to understand how much he can play, then we’ll see who will be in the starting lineup.
Lokomotiv have four wins in four matches this year. What’s helped turn things around at Lokomotiv?
All teams win and lose. Lokomotiv went out of the Cup where they lost both games, but they’ve won four league matches. I think that everything has come together for them, both how they play and with the number of chances they create. The results show they are absolutely doing well.
Dzyuba has scored six goals in four matches, surprising many with his performance, has he surprised you?
He also scored a lot for us, so we are definitely not surprised. He scored a lot for us and he’s scoring a lot for Lokomotiv. They have good supporting forwards and play good attacking football. Artem as a player leads the attack and scores.
You know more about Artem Dzyuba than any other manager, are you planning to deal with him as an individual? Will you man mark him? Or will you play as usual and not worry about Artem Dzyuba?
We prepare for each game as it comes and we look at absolutely every player and prepare for everyone. We know all about Pinyaev, Dzyuba, Glushenkov, Zhemaletdinov, Miranchuk…all of their attacking options. It's one thing to know about them, it’s another thing to deal with them and that's football. We all know how Zenit play, and how Loko play, but no one knows what will happen on the day. We’ll see how we deal with Lokomotiv's attacking options, but I’m expecting a good game.
How likely is it that Malcom could leave in the summer?
We are only happy to see our players move on to bigger clubs. We know that every player has ambitions to play for bigger clubs in stronger leagues. We will be happy if there is an interesting offer for Malcolm or for our other players from top Champions League clubs. There is nothing unusual about this.
