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Andrey, we don’t know if it’s important to you or not, but today was your 250th match in the Russian Premier League, and you scored a goal. Are you satisfied with your play? And are you satisfied with the match?
I’m happy that I scored, obviously. And obviously I’m not satisfied that we couldn’t hold on to our lead. We gave up an unusual goal.
Overall, I’d say that if we had an advantage, it wasn’t very big. Basically a tie is a fair result, considering the way the match went.
You did your awesome goal celebration again, showing your heart to the fans. What can you say about that?
I have my loved ones there in the stands, and I sent them my love.
It’s been a long time since you last scored. Ever since you scored in the League Cup against Coventry. Correct me if I’m wrong. That was back in 2012. Does this goal tonight change anything for you?
I hope this goal gives me more confidence. But overall it was just a regular goal. It was really easy to score. Sasha sent me a pass in front of an open net. It was hard to miss.
Luciano Spalletti said this week that you have to work and sweat as hard as you can to be the old Arshavin. Do you understand what he means?
I do that in practice. So I don’t have much to answer. I work and I do my best at practice.
But it must be rather unusual for you to start Zenit matches on the bench, despite your experience in London.
Of course. But I don’t have any other choice. Of course I always want to start the matches.
Zenit gave up a late goal vs. Rubin, and now another goal 10 minutes from the end today. Is this becoming a routine?
I don’t think it’s a routine. But of course we have to get better in defense. Both on an individual level, and as a team.
Fabio Capello was at the match in Kazan. Today he wasn’t at the match. Are you still interested in playing for the national team?
He’s only going to come when I don’t play?
He can watch the video of today’s game.
Well first of all I have to get back into Zenit’s starting lineup. If I play well for Zenit, then I’ll be ready to answer your question.
The team’s foreign players are interested in playing at the World Cup in 2014. Is that a motivator for you too? Do you want to play in Brazil?
Right now my motivation is to play every game for Zenit.
The team is going to Denmark on Monday. It will be nice for you to return to the Champions League after the qualification round. How ready is the team for European matches?
Honestly, I think we still have a long ways to go. We have some problems in the defensive midfield zone, because we lost one of Zenit’s best players there. So far we don’t have a person who can replace him.
We need to replace him as a team. Luciano has to find the right combination in the center to give us more balance.
Do you have any contact with Denisov?
I haven’t talked to him. But of course I’ve heard about him. I think he’s comfortable.
He smiles a lot more now than he did in his last games with Zenit.
I don’t know about that. I haven’t seen that.