Russian Clubs' Blame European Defeats On Winter Break

Three top Russian clubs blamed the protracted winter break on defeats in the Europa League on Thursday. CSKA Moscow, Zenit St Petersburg and Lokomotiv Moscow all said the three-month recess had hampered their preparations for the last 16 first leg ties.

Moscow, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 09th Mar, 2018 ) :Three top Russian clubs blamed the protracted winter break on defeats in the Europa League on Thursday. CSKA Moscow, Zenit St Petersburg and Lokomotiv Moscow all said the three-month recess had hampered their preparations for the last 16 first leg ties.

"We've played only four matches after the winter break," Zenit's former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic said after a 2-1 loss in Leipzig. "It was hard to prepare for this match properly because it's very difficult to find a quality pitch to train on in Saint Petersburg at this time of the year.

"Now we need to forget this match and to focus on our match on Sunday at Rostov, which, I believe, will also be very difficult," he said.

CSKA Moscow, beaten 1-0 at home by French side Lyon, also reproached the wintry weather and the poor condition of the pitch at their home venue for their lacklustre performance.

"It's not a good result for a home match," CSKA playmaker Alan Dzagoev told Russian tv after the match. "Our venue's service staff did everything they could to prepare the pitch for the match but it wasn't enough at such a (bad) weather.

"We've all failed to show our best today as it was very hard to perform creative and skilled football at the pitch of such (a low) quality." Dzagoev also expressed hope that the pitch at Grozny, where CSKA will face Terek on Sunday, will be in much better condition.