Arshavin Happy With Yuri's Performance Against Macedonia

Arsenal's attacking midfielder and Russia skipper Andrey Arshavin has spoken of his delight in the aftermath of Macedonia's defeat at their hands.

The 30-year-old player told his official website that he's unhappy with the 1-0 scoreline. The russians were by far the better side in the first half, but their dominance did not translate to goals on the score-sheets: "As for the game, we were unable to seize the initiative in the first half.

"Hence, the difficulties in the game, due to the fact that we gave too much free territory to the Macedonians. They used this space quite confidently. Although we did not allow them into our penalty area, but their long balls were dangerous. Well, it’s good that we managed to open the score in the first half.

"It’s very important to go on a break leading 1-0. Besides, it turned out to be the winning goa,." he added.

Igor Semshov scored the only goal, but our playmaker believes former Chelsea man Yuri Zhirkov, who presently plies his trade in Russia for Anzhi Makachkala is the man of the match - thanks to his immense contributions in the midfield: "He was simply working miracles. And the fans as well as the team are very happy that he had such a great match," he concluded.