Spartak frustrated despite Fenerbahçe victory

FC Spartak Moskva defeated Fenerbahçe SK 2-1 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off tie, but midfielders Demy de Zeeuw and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov were both left wondering if that was enough.

The Russian side had the better of the chances but Dirk Kuyt's away goal, sandwiched between efforts from Emmanuel Emenike and Dmitri Kombarov have left matters finely poised. Visiting winger Miloš Krasić was certainly impressed by Fenerbahçe's hosts, but warns that when the sides reconvene in Turkey next Wednesday Spartak will have to contend with "our 12th man".

Demy de Zeeuw, Spartak midfielder
It's a difficult result because they only need to score one goal now. We really wanted to win 3-1, and had a good chance to do that at the end of the game, when Aiden McGeady should have passed to Welliton. I think we deserved to win as we had a lot of chances and played very well, but Dirk Kuyt is always busy and he scored an important goal for them.

The coach has tried to bring in some new ideas and I think we have been getting better and better over the past few games, but perhaps we are not always getting the results we want; we have been winning a lot of games 2-1. One of our main problems is that we are not turning our good play into goals; we need to start doing so.

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Spartak midfielder
Fenerbahçe are a very good side and I think we have to give them credit for how they played. They were very forceful in defence and made life difficult for us, but I think it's good that we managed to score twice. We managed to create a lot of chances; the only problem was that we didn't convert many of them.

It is only half-time in this tie and we all understand that the second match will be very difficult. They will be playing at home and I am sure they will look to attack more than they did today. I haven't played in Turkey myself, but I have heard that it is always difficult to play there when you are the visiting team as the fans give them such great support.

Miloš Krasić, Fenerbahçe midfielder
When Unai Emery came to Spartak they started playing really well. I thought they were very good today and retained possession well, which made life difficult for us. However, I still think we have a chance. We will be playing in front of our own fans and we know that we have to score if we want to progress. I think our fans will be our 12th man. It was vital that we managed to score a goal this evening.

Spartak played very well, but it's really disappointing that we conceded a second goal, especially as from a corner. We should have maintained concentration and picked up every player in the penalty area. It was a bad goal to concede.

Moussa Sow, Fenerbahçe forward
It was very difficult but we will go back to Istanbul with the score only at 2-1. I hope we can make up this difference when we play the second leg at home and I think we can be happy with this result. It was really tough today.