A return to Russia for Claudio Marchisio. With the holiday coming to an end, the former Bianconeri midfielder is ready to return to St. Petersburg to resume training with Zenit. Before his departure, he spoke to the Sky Sport microphones to talk about several different topics: first, a judgment on his former team of Juventus, next the Supercoppa Italiana tie between Juventus and Milan, and finally the Champions League.
"Certainly, I would have liked to play at Juventus with Cristiano Ronaldo, but it is now the past. I am at Zenit, we have important goals; we want to win the championship and return to the Champions League."
"I wish that for Juve, that this will be a good year for the Champions League, because this would be the end of an unstoppable cycle. Especially for those who are there from the beginning, from the first Scudetto, but also because of the great work everyone is doing, from the club to all of the staff. I think they deserve it, but they know that, although the possibilities are higher than other seasons, it is always very difficult."
"The Supercoppa Italiana against Milan? It's an important match. We have seen it in the past where we have lost some of the finals against teams that were less likely to come out on top. In a match like this, motivation is very important and the concentration even more, because we need to give our everything in 90 or more minutes".
"At Zenit, a new year begins after an important break, especially for my Russian teammates who have had little time to recover after the World Cup and who have struggled long before this holiday. We start this year aware of our championship position and our main goal is to try and win. Then, there is the Europa League: we will face Fenerbache and, even if they are in second last in their league, I do not trust that it will be an easy match. When you play in Europe you have great motivations that often go to make up for the difficulties that a team can have in the league. We will try to go as far forward as possible and maybe the next round we will meet an Italian team, it would be nice."
