Luciano Spalletti: It’s hard to win the Russian league, but defending the title is even harder

Zenit St. Petersburg head coach Luciano Spalletti considers that defending the title of the Russian Premier League champion is a more difficult task than winning it.

«The main difference between our today’s situation and the previous season is that we weren’t the incumbent holders of the Russian scudetto back then, while today we are. It’s hard to win the league, but keeping the title is even harder, as all the teams have a double motivations against us,» said Spalletti according to Bobsoccer.ru.

«I am glad that our Zenit keeps up to its high level, retains its motivation, and stays at the top of the table. This year’s championship proves my words that in Russia you have several teams of a high level with a considerable competition among them. I believe we will have an interesting and difficult battle until the end.»