Today was your first match against Spartak in a Zenit shirt, how are you feeling?
To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed, on the one hand, we kept a clean sheet, but on the other we didn’t get the win, and we really wanted that. This is very disappointing.
During the 90 minutes, could you feel the significance of this game for the team and the fans?
I’ve known this feeling for a long time. When we played away after I just moved to Zenit, and today I felt it doubly as I was out there on the pitch, the atmosphere was just crazy. All of St. Petersburg is excited about this match, and that’s something unbelievable for me. I’m delighted to have been part of it.
There were more than 57,000 in the stands today and this is the most for a long time. Did you like the atmosphere and did you feel the support from the fans?
The support is magnificent, but when you are playing, you focus on the ball, on the players, on the match. I felt the support when I went onto the pitch, it was simply amazing. There were other moments, like at corners, or before free kicks, when I was catching my breath and I felt the support of the fans, it was powerful, I thank them very much for this. It was amazing!
Goalkeepers usually have their own view of the game. In your opinion, what was different in each half and was the result fair?
We probably took the initiative more, with Spartak trying to play on the counterattack, they had some dangerous shots, but not many, but they had them. At the very end they had a chance from distance, so things could have ended very badly. I feel like we had a lot of possession of the ball, a lot of attacks and set-pieces, and that makes it even more disappointing that we didn’t score, we should have won.
So was a draw a fair result?
As I said, it’s a shame because we had the advantage, we created chances and we should have made the most of those chances. We could say it’s a fair result, but I don’t think so.
