What’s the mood like in the team? How are the players who were on international duty?
Regarding the international players, they’re in different states, some have trained and some haven’t or less. It’s difficult to sum it all up in a few words. The remainder of the squad have trained as usual and are preparing for the match against Ural.
There has been mixed news about Wilmar Barrios’ condition, can you give us any update on when he will return?
What kind of news are we talking about?
That he is recovering from injury, but there is no date set for his return.
This is clearer, everyone knows about his injury, and he still has time to recover from it. He’s training on an individual programme and still needs more time. It was quite a serious injury.
Ivan Sergeev is training along with the rest of the squad, is he likely to be back for the match with Ural?
We'll see about that, but he is preparing for the game. This week he trained with the team and had no problems, he is one of the players available for the match.
How did you and the team spend the week after returning from Turkey?
The same as usual, we trained as we usually do and prepared according to our plan for the match we have and we’ll continue to do this ahead of Saturday's match.
Zenit and Ural have twice played friendlies this year, does this give you an advantage and what can you say about Ural?
No, this doesn’t give us any advantage, I think Ural know us well, both in terms of our players and our style of play. We’ve looked at them and how Goncharenko's team play and everyone knows about their run, and that they lost at home last time out, but in general this is very good, aggressive team who’ve picked up a lot of points. They’ve looked very decent lately.
Andrey Mostovoy missed your recent matches due to a cold, has he recovered?
Yes, Andrey Mostovoy is also training with the squad. We know that both Sergeev and Mostovoy were out for some time and we need to think about ready they are to play in the next match.
We’ve had the international break and during that break the Russian Women’s U-16 won a big tournament, with two Gazprom Academy players taking part. How important is it to return to international football at all levels?
International matches are very important and necessary in the game, it helps us understand in which direction we’re going and how good our teams are when comparing to others.
Ural have been on a good run of from recently, so what are you focusing on? What are the strengths of this opponent?
Ural lost their last league game and that run has had a few blips, but all runs do sooner or later. The main thing how well they’re playing, and Ural are a quality side. They’ve looked good in the matches against Dynamo, Spartak, and Rostov. Their movement and pressure applied has been good, plus their height gives them an advantage with set pieces, which they use very effectively.
Finally, not a serious question. This Saturday, on matchday, it’s the “Day of Laughter” will you celebrate that? We most often see you in a serious mood, but do you jokes and what makes you laugh?
No…I don't like to laugh. (was said as a deadpan joke - Ed.)
