The Portuguese defender believes that FC Baltika Leningrad gave Zenit St. Petersburg a tough time in the Russian Cup despite losing the mouthwatering fixture
Zenit St. Petersburg progressed to the Round-of-16 of the Russian Cup after defeating FC Baltika Leningrad 2-1 at Stadion Baltika on Tuesday. The hosts failed to find an equalizer after scoring a late goal before http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hulk-c16436 and Bruno
Alves had put Zenit on front.
Alves has hailed his side’s latest win in the cup tournament and lavished praise on the Brazilian striker, Hulk. The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186 defender backed the 26-year-old to start scoring goals in different competitions this season.
The Portuguese defender, who marked 90 minutes at the centre of the St. Petersburg club’s defence, insisted that they found it difficult to match an organized and offensive minded Russian First Division team.
The former FC Porto man, who has been criticized for his below par performance in the UEFA Champions League group stage game against Malaga CF last week, marked a virtuoso display and looked comfortable on the ball despite playing
with newbie, Renat Yanbaev, at the back.
“Over the last few months, I have suffered different health problems. Though I was ready for the game but I was not expecting such performance from Baltika. They really troubled us. Well, if we had played the way we can, we would
have not conceded any goal but in the end it became difficult to stop their attacks.” The Taca da Liga winner was quoted as saying.
The St. Petersburg club marked their first win this month after losing two matches in the league and the UEFA Champions League.
“I hope that we will continue winning after a series of disappointing result in the league. We have a good and strong team. Perhaps the last time something went wrong, but I hope that we can alter the situation.” He concluded.
Alves revealed that Zenit dealt with a lot of injured players recently. However, the players are about to return to the first team after recovering from respective injuries. He urged his team-mates to work harder in training to
extend their winning run.
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