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The coach of the team that became the 2nd on "Spartak Cup"– "Monaco" U-17 Manuel dos Santos shared his impressions on the tournament:

We’re a little bit disappointed, because we didn’t achieve our main goal to win the title. All the matches were really tough, it’s because of the teams-participants’ high level. On the whole I’m satisfied with my players’ level, they did a big job, showed their best. The first game wasn’t the best one (maybe the reason was the long flight on the eve), in the rest of the matches we played beautiful football.

The matches against "Spartak" and "Krasnodar", which played in the similar to us manner, were rather interesting. Also I’d like to mention the game against "Blackburn", it played in unusual for our championship football that is why it became very useful for boys’ experience.

What was the most successful match for you?

I think it was the match against "Krasnodar". We played at the high level, but unfortunately we lost a lot of clear-cuts moments, we didn’t score.  The match against "Spartak" was also good in its content, but boys didn’t score because of the accumulated tiredness.

Well-technique, speedy and clever football, which your team shows, is the result of the Academy’s work or of the selection?

We’re searching for the footballers who owned good speed; during the training all the teams are working at technique, less at physics. The quality of that work you could see during our matches.  

What profit did you derive from participating on "Sparak Cup" tournament?

When you’re playing on such kind of tournaments, it’s very important to start well. We didn’t, maybe the next time boys will remember about this experience. The most important part of such tournament it’s the opportunity to play against teams from other countries. When you play against similar opponents, know all the players, their manner, you find yourself sometimes sleepy during the games. On that tournament players couldn’t let themselves sleep, because they need to pay attention to the special opponents’ manner and oppose something rivals. I was on the match of second Spartak team and I saw a couple of warming up exercises I can offer to my players. Also I notice some aspects of the young players how they started to attack.  

If to speak about our opponents, the team with fighting spirit was "Blackburn", also they’re good at defense.

Did you like the cultural program was organized in your day off?

Sure! The excursion was very interesting. Moscow impressed us with its scales and beautiful historical buildings. Most of our boys are not from very rich families, they can’t allow themselves to travel a lot that is why it was really great to learn something about Moscow and its history.

What impressions did you get from the Spartak Academy where the tournament was held?

Young players warmly communicate with each other, with coaches and all the staff, I felt like "Spartak" is a family where everyone is happy.