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Vladimir Dzhubanov, the senior coach of 1996 Academy team, has drawn up the results of Spartak Cup international junior tournament.  

- I’m happy that the guys fought in each match. And though so far we aren’t on the top of the podium, but we performed very decently. For me Spartak Cup became the first serious tournament, where I was involved with 1996 Academy team as the senior coach. Hopefully, I have justified expectations of Academy top managers, who offered me the job and entrusted me to deal with senior youth team.  

- Has the team justified your expectations in Spartak Cup?

- Yes, it has justified. The guys have proved they can play with different opponents. Sometimes we were not lucky, and sometimes we lacked just a bit of mastership. We’ll learn lessons and continue to struggle for the first places only. 

- You finalized the tournament with the victory over Dynamo Kiev. Did you attempt to generate any special state of mind of your mentees to be ready for the match?

- We outlined the history of confrontation between Spartak and Dynamo, however in no case we tried to put a burn in the oven, as this could have played a low-down trick. As far as the game is concerned, we have won deservedly: our footballers were higher motivated; they demonstrated excellent state of mind and created more goal-scoring moments.  

- In the tournament table you were surpassed by Barcelona and Celtic only, Spartak Club members ended in a draw with each of the teams. What can you say about these opponents?

- I anticipated more from Barcelona, we haven’t seen total ball control, Catalans’ playing focused on the left side, where a very strong footballer played. Thanks to his successful efforts Barcelona created goal-scoring moments and finished after his drives. When we played with them, our chances of winning were equal. Spartak was capable to win, we just lacked a bit of luck. As far as other tournament opponents are concerned, I was especially impressed by Celtic: the well-organized team, they performed soundly on the field, the Scottish guys control the ball very well. And it is essential, that their team is efficient and friendly. I presume, the game has ranked everybody in proper order. For the time present we are ranked third, but we are quite capable to combat with top opponents.     

- What did you tell your team after the tournament?

- Together with my colleagues Ratnikov we thanked the guys but warned not to relax, because on the coming weekend we’ll play the first match in Moscow Summer Championship, where we’ll meet with our key opponent – Central Sports Army Club Moscow. Now we’ll have a rest and then start to prepare for the main capital tournament.