“We have to beat the Army team in basketball and football. » Interview with Zenit player Sergei Karasev

The four-game winning streak between CSKA and Zenit begins on May 5 in St. Petersburg. During the quarterfinal matches with Uralmash, Karasev periodically entered the field after injuries. This fact, after reaching the semifinals, was separately noted even by the head coach of the St. Petersburg team, Javier Pascual, who does not often congratulate someone personally at press conferences.

Karasev is one of those Zenit basketball players who closely follows and worries about Zenit football. Therefore, the conversation was not only about the basketball series with the military team, but also about the football series. After all, according to the schedule, Sergei Semak’s men will play three meetings with the army team in May. One of them – in the Russian Cup as part of the semi-finals of the RPL Way – has already taken place (on May 1, the teams played 1:1 in Moscow). Now Zenit and CSKA will meet at the Gazprom Arena on May 11 in the 28th matchday of the MIR RPL, and then on May 15 in the second leg of the cup.

— How do you feel after finishing the quarterfinal series with Uralmash? You took some damage, but you still returned to the site and fought through the pain.

“I just couldn’t do it any other way.” You always want to help the team and win. But the most important thing is that we won the decisive fifth game and reached the semi-finals. Any other result would be unacceptable to us. I will say that all the guys tried their best, not just I played in pain. Much respect to all! We will now prepare for the series with CSKA.

— The difference between episodes is only two days. What is the most important thing to prepare in such a situation?

“The most important thing is to recover physically and emotionally. After all, the whole series with Uralmash was difficult, including emotionally. At the same time, we are now in good shape. And the big advantage is that we start on our own site. There is no need to fly anywhere, and in the first matches they will have the support of their stands. So we are already looking forward to these matches.

— What can you say about the matches with CSKA, where the head coach has recently changed.

– It’s a big derby. And, it seems to me, not only for Zenit and CSKA, but for all of Russian basketball in recent years. We therefore expect games of dice and dice, constantly on the verge of error.

With the arrival of the new head coach, CSKA began to play a little different basketball. Even if the idea remains largely the same. And Casper Ware is back. So it will be interesting.

— It is interesting that now the football of “Zenith”, taking into account the Russian Cup, will have a kind of series of matches with CSKA.

– Of course, I wish the Zenit football guys good luck in the second leg of the cup match with CSKA after 1:1 in Moscow, as well as in the championship match. I think we should beat the army team in both football and basketball (smiles). So we will only focus on winning.

— What can you say about the fact that Zenit football plans to extend the contract of its coach Sergei Semak until 2030?

— Of course, I’ve heard about it before. This is great news. Sergei Bogdanovich is a Russian coach who led Zenit to the championship five years in a row. I’m happy for him personally, because we know each other and are on very good terms.

But overall I think it’s a very correct decision. No matter what they say about the number and strength of Zenit’s legionnaires, being constantly at the top is very difficult, it requires a lot of work. In the meantime, I wish Sergei Bogdanovich good luck in the Cup and the remaining championship matches. The schedule is difficult, but I sincerely wish Zenit Football a sixth consecutive championship.

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Source : MatchTV

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