Zenit have already met Baltika twice in the Russian Cup, now we have an RPL game coming up. Is there a difference between league and Cup games?
There is no difference, we know that this will be a very important match for us. We are close to our mission of returning to top of the league and we need to win to get this. Baltika are a very dangerous at home, but we are going there to win. We will try to play at our best, get the win and come back with three points.
Almost half of the league season is already over, and you still don’t have a single yellow card, just one very controversial red card. What has changed in your game compared to previous seasons?
I think we have enough people in defence behind me, so I’ve not had to make an urgent interruption to any attacks, there’s always a defender behind me covering, maybe it has something to do with this. I always try to not to get cards when I’m playing.
This will be your second game this week, how is the team feeling and in what condition are you all approaching the game?
At the beginning of the season it was not easy to get used to playing like this, but now everything is fine. This is why we train and our physical conditioning coaches make sure that we recover well and are ready as soon as possible.
Baltika, like most teams playing against Zenit, will try to play on the counterattack. What is your role in preventing counterattacks?
We know that Baltika are a team that are active and press at home and attack in large numbers. We will do everything we can to impose our own game on them, and to stop any attacks. We want to take the three points home from Kaliningrad. It is very important to correctly analyze them and be fully ready for the game. We will try to do everything to stop Baltika putting on their usual display at home and not let them stop us from winning.
