Russia's national football team thoroughly deserves to be ranked higher than Italy, the Italian coach of Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg said Thursday.
In fresh rankings published this week by world governing body FIFA, Russia climbed one place to 11th, while the Italians dropped from ninth to 12th after losing 1-0 to the United States in February.
"I only wonder why such a big country was dragging behind little Italy before," Luciano Spalletti said Thursday.
"Russia raises a lot of good footballers and only has to help them to progress."
Spalletti, 53, took Zenit to the Premier League title in his first season with the club in 2010, and has them on course to retain their crown this year.
The club are 11 points clear of second-placed CSKA with six games remaining.
The top two clash in St. Petersburg on Saturday, when anything less than a win for CSKA will go a long way to effectively sealing the title for Zenit.
