Leonid Slutskiy: The only thing we could regret is that we didn’t score earlier
— I’m delighted with our first match. We had a big advantage from the starting whistle, created many chances. The only thing we could regret is that we didn’t score earlier. Should we score in the first half, the rest of the game would have unfold easier for us. Rubin played with three center backs, each time we attacked they had nine players in the defense. Anyway, all is well that ends well. I’m happy that we showed our temper at the end and clinched the victory.
— This was the first match after the new limit on foreign players was introduced. Was that the reason why Dzagoev wasn’t substituted earlier?
— It would be more sensible to replace Dzagoev rather than Tosic when we fielded Milanov, but we couldn’t do that due to the limit. We were expecting such situation. I think that we won’t be the only team who will experience such difficulty.
— Is the reason for low conversion bad luck or imperfect conditions at the start of the season?
— Everything taken together. In some episodes we were unlucky, in other we lacked sharpness after the long break. But I’m happy with the quality and the rhythm that we showed today.
Moscow, Russia
Kazan,
Russia