Azmun's "escape", Erokhin's hat-trick, Karpin's visit and Dzyube's advice: what surrounded the Zenith gathering in Dubai

Problems with the composition and work on the functional state

The first training camp in Dubai turned out to be extremely difficult for Zenit.

Team mentor Sergei Semak called his main goal work on the functional state.

He intended to start a gradual recovery in order to match the 1/16 finals of the Europa League with Betis on February 17 to come fully armed.

However, the specialist faced serious personnel problems.

Wendel, Malcolm and Serdar Azmoun continued to recover from injuries and practice individually, although the number 10 eventually took part in two control meetings.

The main goalkeeper Stanislav Krytsyuk did not fly to the UAE due to the coronavirus.

According to media reports, Yaroslav Rakitsky and Vyacheslav Karavaev also passed positive tests.

Unnamed health problems were experienced by Mikhail Kerzhakov and Kazakh defender Nuraly Alip, who is on trial.

As a result, the headquarters had to not evenly distribute the load between the players, but to “plug holes” in the squad.

First of all, it concerned the goalkeeper and defensive lines.

At the last frontier, young Daniil Odoevsky and David Byazrov were forced to act.

And in the center of defense, in addition to captain Dejan Lovren and Dmitry Chistyakov, who were also out of action after the first game, and 19-year-old Danila Khotulev, Wilmar Barrios, Douglas dos Santos, and even Artyom Dziuba were noted.

An indicative moment: before the meeting with Botev, Semak had to negotiate with his opponents about holding the match in the format of two halves of 40 minutes, so as not to overload those performers who remained at his disposal.

In total, the current champions of Russia held three confrontations in the Nad Al-Sheba complex, in which they won two victories and one draw.

In the opening match, without the slightest problem, they defeated Emirates, which closed the standings of the elite division of the UAE Championship (3: 0), thanks to Alexander Erokhin's double and Claudinho's goal.

But the meeting with the fourth team of Bulgaria "Botev" ended in peace - 2:2.

But more effective strikes were remembered for the mass brawl in the end with the participation of players from both sides.

One of its active participants was Dzyuba.

In front of Valery Karpin, who arrived at the match, the striker struck the gates of others, and almost met with an opponent in hand-to-hand combat.

After the final whistle, the mentor of the Russian national team could not help but be asked if he was ready to call the striker to the joints for the right to participate in the final stage of the 2022 World Cup, taking into account his desire to return.

The coach responded rather harshly.

“To go forward on the issue with the national team?

The wording is strange.

He is a Zenit football player, let him train and play, and everything will be seen there.

Everyone just has to mind their own business.

A footballer is to train and play, and a coach is to train and choose players, ”Match TV specialist quotes.

Karpin also watched the last game with the Slovak Zilina.

In it, Zenit left no chance to the opponent despite the extremely short bench - 5:0.

There were only four young players in the reserve, including goalkeeper Byazrov.

Dziuba managed to open an account after a wonderful transfer with the outside of the foot in touch from Daler Kuzyaev.

Then the midfielder helped Andrei Mostovoy to excel.

And in the second half, Erokhin came to the fore.

Alexander hit the opponent's goal three times and with five goals became the team's top scorer at the training camp in Dubai.

Dziuba, as already mentioned, closer to the final whistle, was forced to sink into the center of defense.

The striker had already been replaced when young Khotulev received damage.

Semak decided to urgently release Artyom to a new position for him.

And he not only coped with his direct duties, but also began the last scoring attack.

“It was interesting to play, even in a friendly match, in a position that I had never played. We all played in the yards, of course, and moving like this in a match is worth a lot. And to start the attack, (in which. - 

) they scored a goal, is generally fine. Interesting experience. Of course, it happened, because, unfortunately, Khotulev got a little sick. As you can see, there are no substitutions, so we, as they say, like Spartans, 12-13 of us stood up in the gorge and stand, hold on. Normal, cool feeling, kayfanul, ”the official website of Zenit quotes Dziuba as saying.

Also in this game, he made his debut as part of the Alipa team, who spent all 90 minutes on the field.

According to Semak, the defender will go to the second training camp in Portugal.

In general, the coach, although he was satisfied with the quality of football performed by the wards in Dubai, was much more upset by the numerous losses.

“This is the complexity of the situation we are in.

From a preparation point of view, it was difficult.

There was only a small group of players who were able to have a good time during this period.

The rest for various reasons flew out, and, of course, it was very important for us that there were no injuries, because, of course, many are not yet ready to play 90 minutes, ”the specialist complained.

Negotiations with a striker from Brazil and the purchase of a defender from Russia

According to media reports, the signing of a contract with Bayer Azmun was an unpleasant surprise for the blue-white-blues.

The football player was not going to renew the agreement with Zenit that was expiring in the summer.

However, according to Semak, the Iranian intended to work it out to the end and leave as a free agent.

At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, there were many rumors about the possible sale of Serdar to various European clubs in order to have time to earn at least some money, but Leverkusen did not appear among them.

However, on January 22, they officially announced that the striker would join them in the summer.

At the same time, it was reported that in St. Petersburg they were allegedly dissatisfied with this, since he left for Germany for negotiations without warning the leadership.

According to Sport-Express, now the striker can be transferred to the second team and fined €50,000 for violating medical regulations.

Then Azmun left for the Iranian national team, where, according to local press reports, he was diagnosed with COVID-19.

If Zenit really decides to impose tough sanctions on Serdar, then in the second half of the season they will be left without a leading striker.

However, the club, apparently, has already found a replacement for him in the person of the Brazilian Internacional striker Yuri Alberto.

It is reported that the parties have reached an agreement on a transfer for €20 million. In January, he can undergo a medical examination, and in the summer, if there are no health problems, he can move to Russia.

Dziuba's current contract also expires.

It will be automatically extended in case of spending a certain time on the field.

However, while the veteran is not gaining the required number of minutes.

However, Semak hinted that a new agreement could be offered to the forward without fulfilling this condition.

“Next, the question is in Artyom himself - is he satisfied with the fact that no one guarantees a place in the squad?

And already you need to understand the opinion of the player.

In any case, today he has a valid contract, and he did not tell me about his desire to leave, ”said the coach in an interview with Championship.

So far, Zenit has strengthened the squad with two Russian players.

Forward Ivan Sergeev moved from Krylia Sovetov, and defender Arsen Adamov moved from Ural.

The latter in the current season clearly showed himself as an outsider and even received a call-up to the national team.

It seemed that the football player was close to moving to Lokomotiv, but in the end, negotiations with the railway workers stalled, and St. Petersburg, on the contrary, did not regret €5 million for him (according to Transfermarkt).

In the face of Adamov, they got a universal performer who is able to play both on the flank of defense and in the center.

He also feels comfortable in an arrangement with three central defenders.

But Alip, who is on trial and has a good first pass, is a direct replacement for Rakitskiy, whose contract also expires in the summer.

In Zenit, they do not lose hope of extending it, although quite recently the departure of the Ukrainian seemed inevitable.

The general director of the club, Alexander Medvedev, said that an offer had been made to Rakitsky.