Slaven Bilic is wary of Zenit St. Petersburg in the next Russian Premier League clash at Petrovsky stadium on Saturday
The Croatian tactician will face the defending Russian Premier League champions, Zenit St. Petersburg, for the first time in his career after making a move to Lokomotiv Moscow this summer.
Bilic signed a three-year contract with the Russian outfit after joining the Moscow-based club prior to ending his running contract with the Croatian national team in June.
Lokomotiv are reportedly unlikely to feature http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alberto-c4309 Zapater for the upcoming game after the members of the squad sustained respective injuries.
Zenit, on the other hand, will be without the services of their top goal scorer last season, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Igor-Denisov-c16694. The aforementioned players are serving a punishment, given by Luciano Spalletti, to
train with the http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/U-17-Youth-team-c40787 for an indefinite period.
However, Bilic is of the view that Spalletti will call these players back to the first team after Denisov and Kerzhakov reportedly apologized to the Italian tactician for their unprofessional behaviour to demand more wages, in
order to start playing again.
Denisov was particularly penalized for not playing in Zenit’s 2-2 draw against FC Krylia Sovetov Samara at Metallurg stadium while Kerzhakov is serving a similar punishment after the former Dynamo Moscow striker supported Denisov
in his foolish act.
“I am aware of the situation at Zenit a little but I do not want to comment on it because the press will make a lot from my words. I can only say that the mood of our nearest competitor is not the most encouraging. We will see
how the troubling situation affects the mood of the team.”
“I think Zenit are quite a strong and stable team to quickly deal with such situations and I will not be surprised if they play Kerzhakov and Denisov against us.” The former Hajduk Split manager was quoted as saying.
The last time when these two teams faced each other in a league competition, the Lokhi suffered 1-0 defeat against the St. Petersburg club. However, Lokomotiv recorded a memorable 4-2 win against Zenit under then manager, Jose
Couceiro, last season.
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