“In the match between Zenit and Shanghai, the winner of the tournament will actually be played out”
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Zenit won its first victory at the international Equality Cup tournament, which takes place in Qatar. The current champion of Russia beat the strongest club in this country, Al-Duhail, with a score of 2:0. Kommersant FM sports commentator Vladimir Osipov followed the development of events.
Football was curious to see what Zenit was capable of before the start of the Russian Championship. Still, Sergei Semak’s team did a good job in the transfer market, ending up among the three most wasteful European clubs. Of course, it is worth saying that this winter the giants were inactive and did not scatter hundreds of millions of euros left and right. But still, Barcelona spent €40 million, and Zenit spent €30 million.
The reigning champion continues to live up to its nickname “Zenit-Rio de Janeiro”. Three Brazilians were acquired, including young midfielder Pedro dos Santos from Corinthians, who just turned 18 on the day of the match.
This guy gets a lot of attention, which is not surprising: they paid €9 million for him. Many call this deal brilliant, since Borussia, Newcastle and Ajax were chasing the Brazilian. The player’s contract contained an unrealistic compensation clause of €120 million. But Corinthians’ financial problems and the fact that Zenit gave Yuri Alberto to the team in 2022 made it possible to take the talented footballer relatively inexpensively.
So far the player is showing himself to be a mature footballer beyond his years. But Zenit head coach Sergei Semak assessed the future star very reservedly:
“I played well, naturally there is something to strive for. In my opinion, there were many losses for him. The condition is far from ideal, but it allows us to play, and we need to improve. But overall good job.”
In the match with Al-Duhail, the Zenit newcomers did not show any sparkling football, although the Brazilian midfielder Arthur scored a goal. But for now, the players face different tasks – the coaching staff is looking for new game combinations and demands intensity from the players. The young Zenit goalkeeper Bogdan Moskvichev spoke about this.
But the result was also okay – Zenit beat the Qatari team 2:0. At the same time, Al-Duhail should not be underestimated. By the way, the club is led by Christophe Galtier, who most recently worked with PSG. But as far as coaching confrontations go, the most interesting things at the Equality Cup are ahead.
On February 8, Zenit meets with the Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua, led by Leonid Slutsky. Moreover, the team has already won two victories in the tournament, which means that in the match between Zenit and Shanghai the winner of the tournament will actually be played out. Sergei Semak promises fans interesting football:
“The opponents are trying to play actively and put pressure on us. So we’ll just see how our defenders will cope. Completely different pressure and speed. Both the Koreans and the Japanese and the Chinese for that matter are trying to play very intense and active football. It will be interesting”.
It is clear that all this is just a saying for now, and the richest club in Russia does not really need the “Equality Cup”. We will see the real strength of Zenit after the domestic championship resumes. But already now experts note the potential of Semka’s team and predict their sixth consecutive victory in the RPL.
Football analyst Konstantin Kleshchev has virtually no doubt about this outcome: “The club will again confirm its level, it will be the first. His winter strengthening once again convinces that Zenit is aimed only at first place and is doing everything possible for this.”
The team’s first opponent after the start of the RPL championship in early March will be Spartak. And it so happened that the capabilities of the red-and-whites in the off-season can also be assessed: the club takes part in another tournament – the RPL Winter Cup, which takes place in the United Arab Emirates. On February 7, “Spartak” meets “Rostov” of Valery Krapin, which, of course, will also be interesting. Moreover, the Match TV channel covers both tournaments in great detail. The meeting “Spartak” – “Rostov” will begin at 19:30.
Everything is clear with us – Telegram channel “Kommersant FM”.
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