The usual pre-match question, can you give us a few words about your preparations for the game away to Orenburg?
We are preparing as usual, but a little more concentrated than usual. Some of the guys have small knocks and some are in recovery and treatment, we’ve released some for family reasons but the other are ready. Karavaev and Wendel have minor issues, Bakaev continues to recover from injury, and these are the players who are in question. Rodrigao and Malcom are definitely out, Malcom for family reasons. There are players who will miss today's training session, but may be available for the next match.
Will you use youth players for the match?
A few, Danila Kozlov has trained with us all season, Alexey Baranovsky has also joined us, and these are two of the players who will definitely fly to Orenburg with us. If we need more, we’ll take them.
Are you already over the championship celebrations? How did you celebrate Zenit’s second star?
Yes we’ve moved on. We’ve gotten off the podium, and our path to next year’s podium begins again. We are only preparing for the next match. As for our celebrations, the club, together with the city, organised a wonderful celebration for the city’s residents and fans. We all celebrated together, because Zenit and St. Petersburg are synonymous with each other. Everyone in this city loves football very much and that’s wonderful, the way the team bus was greeted during our small tour of the city. It's always nice to see how much the club is loved by the city.
You’ve three league matches ahead of you, and you’ve already done what you needed to do, so what aims have you set for the team? Is it difficult to focus on for the remaining three matches?
No, it's not difficult to be focused, we go out and try to win in every match and the players who have not played as much as they would like have liked, now have the chance to play.
Malcom has had a son and gone home, but does he want to set a new RPL goal scoring record? What is the general situation with him and the other foreign players?
We’ll see about Malcom. The most important thing is the health of his wife and baby, and right now that’s the most important thing, to be near them. If he can get back her for the upcoming matches, he definitely will. We’re in contact with him and we’ll see if his family situation allows, he will come. If not, then he will stay with his wife, as now being there is much more important for him than being here. As for the other players, Wendel, Karavaev and Odoevskiy, have minor injuries, Bakaev continues to recover, and will definitely not take part in the next game. Rodrigao is undergoing treatment and may travel for consultation and Robert Renan is with his national team.
The FIFA U20 World Cup starts at the weekend. Will you be closely following the tournament and Robert Renan?
We will follow Robert and the U20 World Cup as much as we need, although we’re not going to watch every match, but we will try to watch as many matches with him as possible, as well as the other interesting matches in the tournament. I think this tournament is very interesting for football professionals, and watching this age group lets you see talents that are not easy to spot at their clubs. It's a big platform for both clubs and players.
