In the interview to the official website of Zenit, Andre Villas-Boas told that the training camp is going well.

Of course, five weeks is a significant break, but here in Qatar for the first six days the team has been working very well. The players are working hard doing two training sessions a day, and today, in spite of that we had a very high-quality match. We were forced to run and chase, they forced us to play hard. They are the champions of Qatar, so this year we have immediately began to play against stronger clubs, in the past we played weaker opponents, whose level rose from match to match. Now we just play with strong teams, we understand that many of the players were willing to spend 60 minutes on the pitch. So what are some positive conclusions from the match and the victory.

The main task of the first session is physical training. How is it after the first week?

It is too early to talk about it, but we've spent six days exercising in the morning and evening, and after that play such an intense match it's a good sign.

For the third year in a row Zenit have come to Doha. What makes it so good?

The conditions here are great, so we choose Qatar. A good climate, pitches in excellent condition. We like to come back here. There's peace and quiet and we can quietly prepare and Aspire do everything we need for us.

Another big thing today - Mauricio. What can you tell us about the new Zenit player?

Yes, we want to strengthen this position, and Mauricio perfectly suited us. He is an experienced player, he played for a long time at Terek, and almost always started for them. Also he can be effective in defence as well as attack. So he's a good buy and he can play in the Champions League. 

Is there any other transfer news worth waiting for?

The window is open until 31 January, so we'll see. Maxim Mitrofanov, Henk van Stee and Alexander Dyukov are doing all that they can. So new transfers can still take place, but you need to be patient. January transfers can be quite difficult.