“I want to apologize to the fans”: what Abaskal and Semak said after the match for the Russian Super Cup

“If we stop developing, we will be eaten instantly”

After the match, the head coach of "Zenith" Sergei Semak looked quite calm.

There was no feeling that his team won the Russian Super Cup for the seventh time and took another trophy.

One might get the impression that the specialist was somewhat fed up with regular victories.

Therefore, without unnecessary emotions, he disassembled the actions of his wards, praised his rivals and explained why Petersburgers should not relax, despite the fact that they are superior to everyone in the country.

- What emotions do you have from this game?

- Great atmosphere.

Good match.

A well-deserved victory.

I congratulate the fans and the whole city, as well as my team.

Separately, I would like to thank Spartak.

The guys at the beginning of the match acted well, there was an equal game with mutual chances of success.

But Vanya Sergeev realized the moment, and then we succeeded in a quick attack, which Malcolm completed perfectly.

Muscovites had to take risks and open up, while we, on the contrary, had free zones and space for quick attacks.

Now let's rest for the day and start preparing for the start of the RPL.

- Zenit managed to defeat Spartak today.

Such a result in the case?

- I think, first of all, it is worth talking not about the score, but about the quality of the game.

It turned out to be quite combative, especially before the first goal.

Then it became easier for us, but the guests had chances, so the match turned out to be difficult.

In this regard, the third ball at the beginning of the second half became very important, when my wards played a cool combination.

Many questions then were removed.

- Were you ready for the guests to start the match so actively?

- We played against Spartak, and this is a very good, qualified team.

The players of their national teams are gathered there: Quincy Promes, Alexander Sobolev, Georgy Jikia, Nail Umyarov.

Experienced football players who have a high level of skill and are able to control the ball.

It would be strange if they didn't create chances.

Somewhere our defenders let us down a bit and made a mistake.

Troubles arose due to the individual actions of Promes and Anton Zinkovsky, who are great at beating one-on-one.

This is football.

If you play fast, chances appear.

— How would you rate the performance of the artists after the match?

Were you surprised when you saw the lead singer of the Bi-2 group wearing a Spartak scarf?

It's great that they were all present.

Yes, the lead singer of Bi-2 put on a red-and-white scarf, but that was to be expected.

I still listened to them with pleasure on the field.

As for the emotions after the final whistle, the guys tried and fought in every episode.

Believe me, victories just never come.

People plow in training and then win trophies.

We get a result that is adequate to their work.

- Today you entrusted the place at the last frontier to Daniil Odoevsky.

Should we expect that he will continue to be the main goalkeeper?

- I already said that we give him advances and as much playing time as possible.

Including he regularly entered the field in control matches.

The coaching staff gives Daniil the opportunity to feel self-confidence.

But how much he will take advantage of the chance, we'll see.

He has all the data for this.

- Is the exit from the first minutes of Nuraly Alip associated with the unpreparedness of Dejan Lovren and Rodrigao?

- Now he is better prepared and therefore was at the start.

What will happen tomorrow, let's see, let's see how it will work next week.

But with Spartak, Alip, in my opinion, acted well.

- After such a confident victory in the Super Bowl, can Zenit be considered the number one favorite in the RPL?

— Right now, no team is 100% ready.

Functionally, everything just rolls in.

Let's see who will come to the start of the season in the best condition.

From this we will vary tactical schemes.

The main backbone is clear.

Newbie work done.

They will help us a lot and create competition.

And those who are better at the moment will play.

As for premature awards, it's football.

Our job is to play.

If we stop in our development, we will be eaten instantly.

And here neither the composition nor the skill will save.

Therefore, you need to work.

"Finals must be played on neutral ground"

In turn, Spartak's mentor Guillermo Abascal did not hide his disappointment from the failure in his debut official match as head coach of Muscovites.

One theme ran through his entire conversation with journalists - the guests could have played better and they themselves missed their chances.

- Can the outcome of the fight be called natural?

“Unfortunately, we suffered a devastating defeat.

But the result and the score on the scoreboard, in my opinion, do not quite reflect what happened on the field.

We lacked a little in the final stage of attacks.

We cannot afford to make such gifts to our opponents.

However, the work that has been done will bear fruit.

We won't get too upset about failure.

But I want to apologize to the fans for the fact that we did not win today.

- Is this squad of Spartak capable of fighting for gold medals?

- I'm glad to have such a line-up, and it would be incorrect to talk about strengthening now.

As for the rivalry with Zenit, this is the wrong wording, because there are many difficult matches ahead of us, and we will have to fight not only with the Petersburgers.

- In the match with Red Star and CSKA, Zenit created a lot through the left flank, which is covered by Douglas dos Santos.

Did you have a plan to contain the Brazilian?

- Our analysis was not based on only one player, we evaluated Zenit as a whole.

The plan was to dominate, use control, high pressure when the ball was in the hands of the opponents.

In the beginning it was worse, but gradually it started to work out.

We must learn from the mistakes we have made.

At what point did you realize that something was going wrong?

In the first 15 minutes, Spartak looked good.

- We entered the field with a very good mood, during this period the team dominated.

Unfortunately, we made two blots, which led to goals conceded.

The third and fourth goals were the same.

We had to score in the first 20 minutes.

We have to take advantage of these moments.

- Leonid Fedun said that if the venue of the match was different, then the result might have been different.

What do you think about this?

- I fully support the line of our club.

We believe that the finals should be played on neutral territory.

It is not quite normal when such a match takes place on the field of one of the teams.

But this is not a question for Spartak, but for the RFU.