Mathieu Valbuena, Djibril Cissé, Steve Mandanda & Ronald Zubar give us their impressions after the win against Zenith.

Valbuena : «It’s going to be a battle in Russia »
"We’re happy as we played well and came away with a victory. It’s a shame to have conceded at the end, but all things onsidered we are satisfied. It’s going to be a battle in Russia. We are confident but it’s going to be difficult over there. The conditions are known, I think that they are going to come out strong at us, with their public behind them, it’s going to be a difficult game. I took a lot of knocks in the first half, I’ve got a sore head but i managed to finish the game (smiles) I hope I can recuperate wel enough as we have a very important game against St. Etienne on Sunday."

Cissé : «We could have avoided that goal »
"I think I surprised their keeper for the first goal. The second was something that we see a lot of when I manage to combine with Samir or one of the other guys, and there I managed to score. Arshavin’s goal is annoying but we have a two goal advantage. If we manage to score over there it will be difficult for them but it was stupid to concede that goal. It takes a bit of the shine off the evening and we could have avoided it. We know what it’s going to be like over there. Cold, poor pitch, but it’s a game we are going to fight for for 90 minutes. The group feels good and we’re happy together. When someone scores we are all happy, and we can celebrate with the coach and the squad."

Mandanda : «Manage the return leg »
"We’re a bit frustrated with the goal they scored at the end. We dominated the first half and had a lot of chances. But we couldn’t put more away. We started the second half well, with Mamadou scoring the second goal (Niang). We scored the third and then were lulled to sleep by Zenith. Their goal is annoying. We know we are playing well at the moment so it’s not a surprise to us that we dominated. We still suffer from this lack of concentration at the end of games which could cost us, but don’t forget we won tonight.
(à propos du but) I saw Ronald (Zubar) battling with Arshavin who sped away from him. He came down my right and curled his shot, which I touched but not enough. He played it well. Even if the goal is frustrating we still won. We have a two goal lead. We know what is waiting for us in Russia, it will be pretty much like the game against Spartak and it will be up to us not to be surprised and manage the return leg. We know that it will be cold, windy and that the pitch will be poor …We’re lucky enough to have had the experience of the game against Spartak."

Zubar : «Be careful over there »
"We started the game well and we could have scored a lot of goals in the first half, but were unlucky … The goal, I was thinking about the yellow card I’d already received and I didn’t want to put the team in a difficult position. I sided up to him to try and push him to the side but he got past me, he played it well. I didn’t play it well at all and the goal is a but my fault.
I twas great to get back out onto the field. I’m reassured after my injury and it’s good for the games we have coming up. I can only get stronger and the end of season run in looks great. Zenith didn’t really impress much but they have some good individualities. We will have to be careful over there after what happened to us in Moscow. We are forewarned as we have already been to Russia. We’ll try and score as I’m sure we will have some chances."