Adapting to life at Zenit
At first it can always be difficult to get used to new places, both physically and with new tactics. But now I’ve adapted and am through all that. I feel great and feel I am showing that on the pitch, I think this is my best form so far here in Russia. We have a great mutual understanding as teammates.
Team tactics
The way the team plays and with my own personal style of play being taken into account, the coaching staff ask me to get forward and to shoot from distance. This is a bit different from how I played in Portugal, where I had to do more midfield work and develop attacks through short, quick passes.
The recent training camp in Dubai which had lots of friendly games was very important for me tactically. Now I feel that I am ready to assist the team better and in a more varied way. The way modern football is, every player must be ready to operate in several positions, and we are all giving everything in training to do what the manager wants.
Language barrier
Malcom and Douglas Santos have helped me a lot. We’ve all become close friends and chat a lot away from training too. Before Russia, I had only played in Brazil and Portugal so it was very strange for me to come to a country with a completely new language and I didn’t understand a word. But I’m getting used to it step-by-step, because in training and during the matches, football is a universal language. In everyday life I’ve had many different and difficult situations because of the language barrier, but this gives you life experience and you learn to cope better and better with these things. I feel much more mature than when I first left Portugal.
Scoring goals
Everyone loves to score goals, but this is the job of our strikers, Dzyuba and Azmoun, who are both top of the scoring table. I just try to do what I can for the team. Winning games and winning the league title is much more important than who scored the goals.
The Brazilian Olympic team
I try not to get my hopes up, but it is impossible not to think about this. I really want to play at the Olympics, but I know I will only get selected by Brazil for the Tokyo Games if I am at the top of my game.
