Luciano Spalletti: Ionov did not react well to his initial success

Zenit St. Petersburg Italian coach Luciano Spalletti commented on the draw with Kuban Krasnodar and former Zenit forward Aleksey Ionov’s role in the match.

«Ionov is a good player. When I came to Zenit, I tried to help him grow. I saw him as a first-team player, he got called up to the national squad. But he did not use his newfound success wisely. He would miss training sessions and we wouldn’t be able to find him for days,» the Zenit boss told Sports.ru.

«Today he returned to his home club and made a consolatory gesture after scoring the penalty. For me, he should have done it before the match begun, in our dressing room, in front of the former team-mates, who tolerated his past behaviour. Perhaps one day Kuban will be stronger than Zenit, but he doesn’t quite realise that his Zenit career is over, he is enjoying himself in Krasnodar. Well, good for him. And yes, I said he is a «good footballer,» not a «good person».