Many of the first-team players who did not go away on international duty were not involved in the friendly game in Baku, also Gustavo Mantuan was injured in the game against Neftchi. Can you update on the physical condition of the players and tell us who will be ready to play against Sochi?
All the players have returned from international duty. Mateo Cassierra, Gustavo Mantuan, Vyacheslav Karavaev and Dmitry Vasiliev will miss the match and are still recovering. I hope that they will be ready for the next game and we are working on that. Everyone else is available.
Is Mario Fernandes back in full training?
Yes. He is training with the first team and will be available.
What can you say about your opponents? Sochi are bottom of the standings, but their last two matches they played well without getting the points they deserved.
They play well at home firstly, but away to Ural they played quite well too and got a good win. They are a team with very good, top quality players and are among the best in terms of goals scored. In the bottom half of the table, only Rostov have scored more, so they have goal scorers. They are an experienced team, So I would not call them outsiders in any game. We’re expecting a very difficult match and we’ll be ready for it.
This part of the season is nearing its end, are injuries causing you a headache when selecting your starting lineup for the game?
This is our job and there are always players who are either not fully fit or injured. You always have to work with this, sometimes there are more of them, sometimes there are fewer, but there are always difficulties. We are always thinking about how to replace those who are not ready and how to make sure that the most well prepared players play.
It’s an early kick off on Saturday, are you expecting a lot of fans in the stands?
We are expecting that, I don’t know about a full stadium, but we are expecting as many fans as possible, and we really need their support, it gives strength to the players and it’s always nice to play in a good atmosphere with a lot of fans. We hope for your support and invite everyone to the match. We will try to put on a good game of football.
How are your Brazilian players coping in the cold weather? Do they have any additional way of warming up? Or are there no problems?
There’s no problem, Wendel was training in shorts without wearing anything additional. I think many of the Russian players are less resistant to the cold than some of the Brazilians. Basically, there are no problems in this regard. Of course, it’s not exactly football weather, but it is beautiful.
Regarding Isidor’s prospects at the club, he’s scored one goal, and is on loan, probably with a mandatory buyout. Are there any conditions that make his purchase automatic, or is it too early to talk about this?
I don’t know anything about the terms of the loan, it’s better to ask the club management this question. I think he will have a chance to show what he can do and everything depends on him, he’s working hard in training. Everything depends on him.
