“Dynamo are a good team, they pressed us, so it was a good game. Unfortunately, it went to penalties which is a lottery and we lost.”
Aleksandr Vasyutin hasn’t played for Zenit’s first team for a long time, and it seemed like he was nervous and wasn’t that confident. Have you talked to him after the match, especially after the penalty shootout?
“You’re right. He hasn’t played for a long time, and I haven’t played for quite some time too. We were a little bit nervous, but it’s fine, when you walk out to the pitch the nervousness disappears. We were encouraging and supporting each other.”
The moment with a possible penalty, have you seen it?
“I have, and I think nothing happened there.”
Why?
“Because there was no foul.”
But there appeared to be an infringement with Claudinho?
“The referee watched VAR and decided that there was no penalty, so it was nothing. The referee was where the accident happened, and I was there too. It seemed like there was no foul.”
The club most likely set the objective to win the Russian Cup. Are you disappointed with the results?
“We certainly did have this aim, and it is disappointing, but all this is in the past now. We have to forget it as there are important matches ahead, including the game against CSKA. We’re going to get ready for this match.”
The Supporters Card wasn’t required to attend today’s match, so there were way more spectators. How different did the atmosphere feel compared to the RPL matches?
“Without a doubt it’s more enjoyable to play in the presence of our fans, they motivate us to keep going. When the atmosphere at the stadium is so loud all of the players would say that it’s great, we want this to happen more often.”
Would you want more of these matches in the upcoming future?
“Of course.”
