Zenit’s midfielder gave an interview to the German press, organized in tandem with Gazprom Germania, where he spoke about the expectations for the away match with Bayer.
— What are you expecting from this match with Leverkusen?
— It’s going to be a difficult game, it should be tough. Bayern is going to do everything to win this game and we know they always put a lot of pressure on the teams but we are ready for that.
— Are you the favorites in this match?
— I don’t know if we are the favorite but our task is the same. To go there, come away with three points and the lead in the group.
— One of your former partners with the Belgian team, De Bruin, is playing in Germany for Wolfburg. Have you spoken to him at all, asked for his advice against Bayer?
— Yeah we spoke a little bit when we were on the team together, and most people think that the English Premier League is the strongest, but for those who play in the Bundesliga, they’ll tell you that it’s the Bundesliga.
— You played against another German team in the play off round last year. Did the experience with Borussia help you prepare somehow for this match?
— In the matches that we played there we had to be at our top level. In the away game we really came out and showed the fighting spirit of Zenit and that’s how we have to come out against Bayer.
— In Germany right now everyone is talking about how full the schedules are and how this really wears out the payers since there might be too many matches and they don’t have time to recover. Do you feel any stress as a result of this yourself?
— Well I am almost never stressed. It’s true that sometimes we are tired, but here in Russia we stop for a month and so we have time to recover, I think maybe it’s not quite as tough as it is in England.
