We had possession and territorial advantage throughout the game, but sadly we didn’t create many chances in the first half. In the second half we were much better and created some very good chances. We needed to score if we wanted to win and we couldn’t manage it today. We made a mistake for their goal that led to the penalty. I didn’t like the first half very much, but enjoyed the second. The young players who came on looked good, but basically we had to score if we wanted to get a positive result.
The reverse fixture with Nizhny Novgorod was 5-1 and today it was 0-1. Is this down to Zenit's motivation or Nizhny Novgorod playing well?
Regarding motivation, the game was very important for Nizhny Novgorod so they stayed away from the relegation play-offs. But, of course, our team was different, including some younger players, some of them making their first team debut in the Premier League. I think if we had scored first then the game would have opened up differently. They defended as a team and were very hard to break down. Again, I liked the second half. The only thing missing were goals.
Did Magomed Ozdoev go off at the break because he was on a yellow card or was it another reason?
Firstly, because he was on a card and with the way he plays that’s a big risk. We also watched to give Dmitry Sergeev some playing time to watch him.
Barrios was the only foreign player on the pitch today. Why did he stay longer than the others? (Who were all given an extra four days off to head home – Ed.) He didn’t seem overly motivated today
Everyone was motivated today and played fine. Maybe some are below their usual level, but all the players wanted to get back in the game and to win in the second half.
The coaching staff gave all the foreigner players an extra four days off due to long flights and the fact they haven’t been able to go home during the season, unlike the Russian players, Barrios has asked to use his four days later before our first training camp and wanted to play in today's match.
A question about the captain's armband, you gave it to Dzyuba, why was that and did he do as asked today?
It depends on who is in the starting lineup. If Misha Kerzhakov was playing and Dzyuba wasn’t then he would be captain. If Artem is playing, then it’s Artem. If there is neither of them, then it would be Douglas Santos. I think it was a natural decision and totally logical. Artem did his best and played well. Things didn’t work out for him today, but that wasn’t just him. Even Ivan Sergeev, who’s been scoring all the time recently and had two good chances today, wasn’t able to convert. I have no questions about the team’s motivation, only about how well we played and the result today. I would like to thank the players for the whole season, it hasn’t been easy and I understand that it is difficult to win every match.
Nizhny Novgorod, two players Zenit players on loan (Kirill Kravtsov and Nikita Goylo) what are your thoughts on their future?
We will see, now we need to wait until the 24th, to know what next season’s fixture calendar will look like and what the rules for foreigner players will be. We also need to see about contracts and who is staying at the club. Only then will we make a decision. Naturally, we are keeping an eye on all the players who are contracted to the club.
