Leonid Slutskiy: Tough game
— The first half was equal. We had the possession, but Ufa were dangerous on the counterattacks. It was a tough game. At half-time we spoke with players about keeping the possession and waiting for the opponent to open up as fatigue levels grew. In the end that's exactly what we did. In the second half we gave them no chance.
— How would you rate Shirokov's performance?
— Roman is a player who can decide the game in one episode. You shouldn't expect him to control the game and start our attacks. His role is to receive the ball in certain zones, create chances for his teammates and score goals. Today he participated in both attacks which led to goals, so he did his job.
— Can you say that he is man of the match for you?
— I don't want to talk about individuals. Though it's obvious that his effect on the game was very big.
— How did Ufa change since we beat them 2:0 back in October?
— Their game changed dramatically. Many of their players played in different positions. We kept an eye on Ufa during our winter camp. When we played them back in October Evgeny Perevertailo only took over as a head coach and now after he had some time with the team you can see his ideas being implemented. I can't say whether the team got better or worse, it's just different.
— Can you say that the game against Ufa was like a training match before the derby?
— It's difficult to imagine that quarter-final of the national cup can be a training game. We played an away match in difficult weather conditions. Now we start thinking about Spartak.
— Will the starting lineup be the same on Sunday?
— It's too early to say. Nababkin picked up a knock today. We also need to examine Golovin and Vasiliy Berezutskiy, who are in contention for the starting line up. We still have time to make a decision.
— Why Cauna didn't travel to Ufa?
— He suffered a minor injury in the friendly against Malaga. It's nothing serious, but I can't give you the exact date for his return.
Ufa, Russia
Moscow,
Russia