"We understood that any misfire would exclude us from the championship race"

On May 17, Zenit St. Petersburg's players regained the title of champions of Russia. In the last round, they won away from Rostov (1-0) and finished first in the RPL for the seventh time in eight years. Since 2018, when Sergey Semak became the head coach of the team, they were left without gold only last spring, losing it to Krasnodar.

At the end of August, there was a reshuffle in the club's leadership. Konstantin Zyryanov, the legendary football player of the Russian national team and Zenit, became the new chairman of the board. As a player, he won three championships with the St. Petersburg team (2007, 2010, 2011/2012). In an interview with Izvestia, he spoke about the feelings he feels after becoming a champion as a manager, explained his priorities last season, and also answered the question of whether he regrets renting striker John Duran, who scored only two goals and left the team before the last round.

— Is winning the Russian championship as a manager a different emotion than after winning as a football player?

— Emotions are completely different. Winning as a football player and as a manager are completely different things. I am very happy that I can experience and compare this.

— What was the hardest thing for you during this season?

— Keep the mood in the team so that no one worries. We were in second place for almost the entire championship, and everyone was well aware that any misfire would eliminate us from the championship race. Therefore, it was important to walk next to Krasnodar all the time and not let it go.

— Does it look like your first championship as a player? Then Zenit was quite a bit ahead of Spartak until the last round and almost lost the decisive points at the end of the last match in Ramenskoye against Saturn (1-0), where Alejandro Dominguez knocked the ball out of the empty net with his head after Baffur Gyan's shot.

— It's already history, almost 20 years have passed. But you can compare it that way. Then, too, the fight was point-to-point. And it was only by winning in the last round that we became champions.

"Even in training, everyone wants to win"

Zenit midfielder Alexander Erokhin — about the mood before the last round, the match against Sochi, comparisons with Muller and Lunev's class

— Which team do you see next season? Do you have any idea how the line-up will change?

— Now we are happy with the championship, it hasn't been long since the final whistle in the last game. I can't and won't tell you anything about next season right now, even if I know something.

— There is at least an understanding whether you will extend the contract with Alexander Erokhin. Have you talked to him about this topic yet?

— I communicate with all our players. I'm in touch with everyone. Everything is fine.

— Is Alexander okay? Will he play at Zenit next season?

— What did Alexander tell you? Will he play at Zenit?

— He said that he had a preliminary conversation with the club, that you would return to him after the match with Rostov and hoped that everything would be fine. Therefore, I ask myself: should it grow together under the new Erokhin contract?

— We had conversations with everyone. As for "it should grow together," we'll watch.

— How did you react to John Duran's departure from Zenit for the round before the end of the championship? Considering this and his poor performance, did you regret that you hired this player in the winter?

— Guys, we are the champions. What questions can there be?

— Does the championship write everything off?

— You answered that yourself.

— Over the past season, have you felt that after six championships under Semak, it is difficult for the team to find emotions and motivation for a new victory?

— I'll tell you this: who was not inside this rectangle (looks towards the field. — Ed.) and has not played football at least at the Premier League level, he probably does not understand a little what kind of pressure is on the players, on the coaches. The fans are already used to the championships and are demanding something new. At the same time, Zenit, led by Sergey Bogdanovich [Semak], annually shows excellent numbers in terms of points scored and constantly fights for the first place — it's great!