Sergei Semak: "We’re not certain if Wilmar Barrios will play in the match"

The Zenit manager spoke to the press ahead of the away game with Arsenal Tula on Saturday. 
Sergei Semak: "We’re not certain if Wilmar Barrios will play in the match"

The team trained in the gym today, is this because its cold outside or is this a special training regime?

This is part of the training process, it depends on what we need, we decide what is best, on the pitch or in the gym. 

The Russian internationals have joined the team, are they all fit and ready for the match against Arsenal Tula?

Those who played international football will have a recovery session and those who have had less playing time will train with the team as usual. All the players are back and there are no injuries. 

Have Vyacheslav Karavaev and Claudinho returned to full training?

Vyacheslav Karavaev is back in full training, Claudinho is not yet.

How will Wilmar Barrios get to the match with Arsenal? Will he fly straight to Tula?

This is a big question that we’re still discussing. We’re not certain about if he will play in the match or how he will get to Tula.

Did you watch the international games with the Zenit players? Barrios was man of the match in the Colombia v Brazil match.

Not everything. We watched some of the matches live and others replays, we try to watch all the games involving all of our players. 

The Russian national team won both of their matches and are top of the qualifying group and both games were captained by Zenit players, how does that make you feel?

I think the most important thing are results. The matches were tough against good sides. Russia taking all the points from these difficult games is great and it’s important for us that all the guys returned in a positive mood.

Arsenal are bottom of the table, but are usually strong at home. What dangers do they represent?

They are a good and experienced team, with some promising young players. A very difficult match is ahead of us. Arsenal are never easy for us, either home or away, so it’s going to be another difficult league game for us.