"This victory leaves us in the championship race and increases our chances"

Zenit St. Petersburg's players defeated Krasnodar, the leader of the Russian championship, 4-1 at home in the match of the 24th round of the national championship and reduced the gap from first place to two points. Now Sergey Semak's team again seem to be the main contender for gold, having improved their chances of winning the RPL for the seventh time in a row.

In an interview with Izvestia, Zenit midfielder Alexander Erokhin assessed his team's performance in one of the decisive matches of the season, shared his opinion on the chances of the blue-white-blues to win the national championship and explained how he finds motivation to play and train after six consecutive championships in previous seasons.

— Can the match with Krasnodar be called the best for Zenit this spring?

— Yes, you can. It started badly for us, Krasnodar had a good attack and scored a goal. But after that, we turned on the necessary speeds, started to attack quickly, and our players began to show their individual qualities. As a result, we had an overwhelming advantage, scoring two goals in the first half and two more in the second. And we didn't use a few more points. But we achieved a well-deserved victory.

— Does it feel like the team has overcome the problems that prevented them from playing well in the spring matches against CSKA (0:0), Spartak (1:2) and Lokomotiv (1:1)?

— Yes, we had a more exciting match with Krasnodar. And it's good that it happened in such an important game. We got it right psychologically, in the sense that we were very responsible. Everyone felt responsible for the team and for the result. As for the tournament situation, in any case, we have not reached the first place in the table yet. Nevertheless, we will do our best to do this in the upcoming matches. Make sure to catch up and overtake Krasnodar.

— This spring you played with all three competitors in the fight for medals — CSKA, Spartak and Krasnodar. Which of them looks the most dangerous for Zenit in terms of the race for the championship?

— I think those teams that are close to each other in terms of points realize that they have a chance. I think everyone will fight to the last. And no one will give up.

— Over the past few seasons, you have repeatedly scored important goals at the end of matches, sometimes even coming on as a substitute a minute or five minutes before the end of matches. Do I expect something like this from you in the crucial part of the season?

— I would like to, of course… Besides, I don't have much time left to play up to 250 games for Zenit. I would like to reach this figure this season. And, of course, there is a desire to help the team and participate in winning more trophies.

— Can Zenit now be called the favorite in the fight for gold after such a convincing victory over the leading Krasnodar?

— This victory leaves us in the championship race and increases our chances. But we are still not the leaders yet, we are not in the first place. So we need to prepare for each of the remaining matches and play them as efficiently as possible, achieving victories. In any case, such a bright game as against Krasnodar should give us the necessary momentum and confidence in our abilities. Now we can prepare for the next games in a good mood. The return cup game with Rostov is ahead, followed by the championship matches. We need to play them with the same quality as in our best matches, for example, against Krasnodar. We want to win both the Cup and the championship. And we will do everything for this.

Bulls' rebound: Zenit has reduced the gap from Krasnodar in the RPL

The leaders' match escalated the race for gold, Spartak unexpectedly lost to Dynamo Makhachkala and allowed CSKA to catch up.

— Do you feel that Krasnodar will still misfire and give itself the opportunity to get around?

— We try not to look back at the competition and look at ourselves, we think more about our game. The main thing is to win the remaining matches. If we play with the same quality as we did against Krasnodar, we can achieve this. And everything will be fine.

— You are the only one who played in all six Zenit championship seasons under Semak, and this spring you can win the seventh gold of your career. How many more years will you keep motivated to play and fight for trophies?

— Let's see... it's hard to say how it will turn out. Every year is special. Especially now, when we have such an intense fight for the championship. Of course, I would like to play as much as my health allows. Let's see how much it will allow you to play. I have the strength and motivation now. I think we can still play at a good level.

— How do you and the team find motivation to fight for a seventh consecutive championship?

— It's hard to say. It's just that we all really enjoy winning, winning trophies. And so it is every season. Moreover, this championship is not easy, last year we also won gold with difficulty. But it's very nice when you overcome such difficulties and eventually achieve success. Neither I nor the other players of the team have any problems with motivation. Everyone's eyes are burning, which was shown by the last match. And everyone wants to win the championship and the Cup again. We will do our best for this.