Fathi: We’ll talk about Carioca at the next training

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Malik Fathi cleared out the question of why Spartak scored so poorly against Khimki and commented on Carioca’s sudden escape to Brazil.

— We knew it’d be hard for us this time. It was essential for us to win though the quality of play left much to be desired. Well, we need to better our play. What’s important is we realized the tactics for the match.

— Did Alex’s injury make it hard to realize the tactics?

— Surely it did. Alex is a key player for the team. He’s no doubt a very skillful player. But we could score without him.

— The goal came unexpectedly, didn’t it?

— (Fathi smiling) Looked like. I was happy to be left alone in the box and score the winning goal anyway.

— Why the goal came from the defenders?

— Well, I guess our forwards score it once too often so it’s no surprise defenders helped them do it now. It’d great the defense can score such decisive goals.

— Still you could score having just one chance unlike your partners who had them five times as much…

— It’s surprising but what can I say more? (Smiling) Like I said what matters is the final result.

— Where do you plan to spend this summer break?

—In France.

— What was your reaction to Rafael Carioca’s sudden leave for Brazil?

— I wouldn’t be correct to judge this action. We hopefully will talk about it inside the team later.

— You saw your young partners like Artur Maloyan and Pavel Yakovlev in the play. What do you say about them in the field?

— They worked real hard in the trainings and won their chance to play for the first team. You saw how confident they looked. I think they were good.

— Did hot weather conditions tell on the game quality of both teams?

— It was real hot. I got soaked through after the final whistle. Still the conditions were equal for both sides so we don’t have to complain.

— Has Valeri Karpin given you the individual plan for the summer break?

— No. He had put much stress on the Khimki match. All we know we are to be in the Spartak camp June 25.

— Considering your team’s targets for the championship could we expect some transfer news this summer?

— I wouldn’t like to talk about it now. All I can say I stay with Spartak.

Spartak — Khimki

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