Luciano Spalletti has singled out Aleksandr Kerzhakov’s brilliant performance in Zenit St. Petersburg’s latest Russian Premier League win over Mordovia Saransk
Zenit St. Petersburg head coach, Luciano Spalletti, has denied the reports suggesting that the Russian outfit are the favourites to progress from the UEFA Champions League group stages.
The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roma-c31603 tactician has warned his side against complacency, telling them that they have to work really hard if they are to play in the pre quarter-finals of the continental tournament.
The Russian champions have been drawn against AC Milan, Malaga and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/RSC-Anderlecht-c40394 in the group stages and will travel to Spain in order to play the opening European game against Malaga on 18th September 2012.
Spalletti insisted that Zenit face an uphill struggle to reach the later stages of the tournament, admitting that they will find it difficult to progress from a difficult group.
Zenit failed to reach the quarter-finals in Europe last term after suffering a 4-3 defeat in the round-of-16 against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/SL-Benfica-c40542 on aggregate. Spalletti revealed that his side will try to meet the fans expectations this time around.
“We have been given a group in which every team has a chance to progress. The problem is that every team think them as favourites to pass the group in this situation.” The Russian Cup winner was quoted as saying.
Spalletti went on to express his delight upon the St. Petersburg’s 3-0 Russian Premier League win over Mordovia Saransk at stadion Start (Saransk), revealing that his side was on top of the opponent.
Though the visiting team took the lead through Konstantin Zyryanov’s solo effort, Aleksandr Kerzhakov’s second-half goals confirmed a win for the defending champions.
Spalletti hailed Kerzhakov, insisting that he expect similar performances from the 30-year-old striker.
“He played a great game because it is not easy to score from a rebound on the artificial turf He defeated a great goalkeeper despite the danger that the ball could fly over the bar. But everything turned out well for us. I always
expect something special from him.” He said
The Italian national admitted that Mordovia would have done much better had they taken all their chances well.
Tags: