Congratulations and what happened out there today?
The most important thing today was the win. Of course, I’m happy that I scored five times, but we have just one match ahead, and we have to believe in our strengths and that we will do our job well at home. I really want to become champions and I hope this happens.
You are only the second Zenit player, after Alexander Kerzhakov, to score five goals in one game. How does it feel like to make history for the club?
This is great. I’ve not scored for a number of matches, so I really wanted to score and it's great that everything went fine today. These goals will give me, and the team, the confidence we need on Saturday in the game with Rostov, this is the most important match.
Have you ever scored five in a match before?
I think I did once in Holland, but I don’t remember it very well. I know for sure that two years ago I scored a hat-trick for the first time in Russia for Sochi, and I took the ball home with me. I’m happy that I’m taking another match ball home, but this time for Zenit. Now we need to rest and properly prepare for Saturday’s match.
Why didn't they celebrate the first goal you scored?
Because I want to celebrate the championship title, this is the main aim. I haven’t had the most successful run recently, so I wanted to be as calm as possible today. I kept calm and let my football do the talking. In the last game with CSKA I was unlucky and I gave away the penalty against us. Today I tried to play well and that's football, it's important to be mentally strong and work hard to win next Saturday.
If Zenit had lost points today, we would have been out of the title race. How much did this motivate the team?
I think we are always extremely motivated. Our latest results were not what we expected and because of my mistake in the last game I gave away a penalty. But this happens in football and in the end, we had to win today, and we have to beat Rostov. We must do our job and hopefully we can all celebrate the championship title together.