The former AS http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roma-c31603 manager hailed the Kazan-based club ahead of the mouth-watering fixture and lamented their Russian Cup defeat against Dynamo Moscow.
Zenit St. Petersburg will host Rubin Kazan at Petrovsky stadium in the upcoming round of Russian Premier League action. The Meshki will play the crunch league encounter on the back of a shocking 1-0 defeat in the Russian Cup quarter-final
against Dynamo Moscow at home.
Zenit were robbed at home after conceding the only goal of the match from the penalty spot during the second half. The White-blues thus avenged their 5-1 league defeat against Zenit from earlier this month.
Luciano Spalletti, the Bomzhi head coach, has tipped the Meshki to win the upcoming crunch league tie against the Volzhane at home.
The last time these two teams met in a league competition, Zenit came from behind to record a remarkable 3-2 win against Rubin at Tsentralnyi Stadion.
Spalletti has now warned his side against complacency and urged them to start winning the remaining matches of the campaign if they are to retain the league title this season.
“It’s disappointing for us to lose at home against Dynamo but we have to be realistic after leaving the cup tournament. We should concentrate on the league. Teams like CSKA and Kuban have given us a tough time and time has come
when we need to claim some points on the league table.
“I think Rubin are amongst the strongest Russian teams and I credit Kurban Berdyev for their success over the years.” Spalletti was quoted as saying.
There’s little arguing that Zenit had a poor start to the third league round, having drawn their first two league meetings against CSKA Moscow and Kuban Krasnodar respectively. Spalletti admitted that they were lacking confidence
at the start of the third league round. However, he assured the fans of decent results after their latest league win against Dynamo.
The Meshki won 5-1 against the Moscow-based club at Arena Khimki to extend their six points lead atop the league table. Spalletti admitted that Zenit have now rediscovered their form ahead of the league meeting against the Volzhane.
Tags: