Luciano Spalletti has lamented Zenit St. Petersburg’s cup elimination at hands of Anzhi Makhachkala and has credited Guus Hiddink and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-Carlos-c31317 behind the massive win
Zenit St. Petersburg were denied a chance to reach the Russian Cup final following their narrow 1-0 defeat against Anzhi Makhachkala at Petrovsky stadium on Wednesday. The St. Petersburg club failed to score the equaliser after
conceding a goal on 61st minute of the enthralling tie.
Samuel Eto’o, who scored the winner in the quarter-final of the domestic cup against Dynamo Moscow, managed to score his 20th goal of the ongoing campaign.
Luciano Spalletti’s troops managed to win the cup tournament back in 2010 when they managed to defeat Sibir Novosibirsk in the final of the cup tournament at Olimp-2 Rostov-on-don.
The Russian outfit has failed to book a place in the final of the tournament since then. The Meshki could not reach the semi-final of the tournament last time around when they suffered a 1-0 defeat against Dynamo Moscow.
Spalletti has lamented their harsh elimination, saying that they deserved to reach the Russian Cup final after displaying quality football on the pitch.
"Anzhi are a strong team. The fact that they remained calm during the game, credit goes to them as well. Even though the opponent played rationally, they have created some beautiful moments and successful combinations, which was
nice to watch.
“But, summing up, I want to say that based on how the match was formed, Zenit deserved to reach the final," the former Udinese manager was quoted as saying.
The 54-year-old went on to credit Guus Hiddink and Roberto Carlos behind Anzhi’s cup win, saying that the duo worked so hard and managed to transform the club since joining them two years ago.
“I'm really pleased that Hiddink and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Carlos-c8346 have achieved this success. Hiddink is a great coach, an incredible person and Roberto Carlos is a champion. They took over the team in a very difficult situation and altered the situation,"
he concluded.
Hiddink replaced Gadzhi Gadzhiyev at the helm shortly after Carlos signed a contract with the Dagestani club.
Tags: