Mbark Boussoufa: Football in Russia is more physical than in Belgium

Ahead of the game against Spartak Moscow, Anzhi Makhachkala forward Mbark Boussoufa said he knew the opponents’ team well and compared the Russian and the Belgian leagues.

«I think the whole Europe knows what Spartak is. In autumn they played in the Champions League, then in the Europa League. So I knew them before I came to Russia.

«Moreover, I knew a lot about them, as my friend Nicolas Pareja plays there. We both came to Anderlecht in 2006 and spent there two years. Than Nicolas moved to Espanol, and later to Spartak, but we are still in touch. There can be no doubt that the game would be difficult for us, but we intend to make everything to get a positive result,» as quoted by Sport-Express.

Speaking about his impressions from the two games already played in the Russian league, the Moroccan said: «For now my impressions are scant. The game in Tomsk was hard: there was a difficult pitch where we all struggled to play football in general. I was told that such games, where power becomes more important than football, do happen in Russia.»

«I would not draw any conclusions after a single match, as I was just a substitute in the second game against Rubin Kazan. But I see the game here is more physical than in Belgium, though there are a lot teams here that want to play football.»