Zenit's match against Benfica starts the fifth campaign in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League
LISBON, 16 sen - R-Sport, Anatoly Samokhvalov. Petersburg " Zenith " on Tuesday, will host the opening match of the group stage of the Champions League against the champion of the Portuguese Cup And super Cup Lisbon Benfica.
The starting whistle Norwegian referee of Svein Moen will be performed at the stadium " Da Luz " in the Portuguese capital at 22: 45 GMT.
Last season was " Zenith " is ambiguous, the Team made it to the playoffs of the Champions League, but did it with a record low in the group stage, scoring just six points. In 1/8 finals stronger Zenit was Borussia Dortmund, which won with a very good result in, on the Neva river with 4: 2 And allowed the opposition to win in Germany, more for emotional discharge (2: 1). Before in the same season 2013/14 St. Petersburg beat two Portuguese clubs: group stage, they met with Porto" (1: 0, 1: 1) And deal with the " PACOS de Ferreira in the play-offs, scoring in 2 matches eight goals And conceding three times.
Zenit come on " Da Luz " after two and a half years. Then it was the Team coach Luciano Spalletti with rigorous lines And accelerations after transmission behind the defenders. In 2012, the unbreakable link " Zenith " was right infielder Alexander Anyukov, which is now replaced with the basics Igor Smolnikov, the target never let anyone Vyacheslav Malafeev, And Yuri Lodygin was known only to breeders Spartak Nalchik And Terek Grozny. On the left edge acted Tomas Hubocan, which now protects the color of the Moscow " Dynamo ", which, incidentally, is not so unconditional look the position of the supporting midfielder Igor Denisov, who once possessions currently reigns then Prodigy Benfica's Axel Witsel. Playing on the right brow Vladimir Bystrov solves the problems of different level in the " Krasnodar ", As a complement to his zest to any star organization Roman Shirokov was the player of Spartak Moscow.
Full analogue him in today's " Zenith " no, but Andre Villas-Boas has closed the gap collective interaction Danny, Hulk, Witsel, And probably the rest of the team, the benefit of the group attacking the Portuguese coach starts from the Smolnikova. And in this radical difference of the Portuguese from Spalletti. Konstantin Zyryanov see out in the " Zenith-2 "And Sergei Semak became a coach And brings a variety of workflow Fabio Capello in the national team of the Russian Federation. They all tried to beat Benfica in February-March 2012 from the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, but did not allow them to do the current St. Petersburg Javi Garcia And Witsel who were Then at the same time with Maxi Pereira. The last And still performs one of his main parties in the team from Lisbon, as well as nimble dreamer Nicolas Gaitan, And hard Central Player protection luis?o.
in the 2012/13 season, Benfica well acquainted with the Russian football in the group stage she dealt with the Moscow " Spartak " to " Da Luz " (2: 0) And lost " red-white " in the capital of Russia (1: 2). If you look at the statistics, scoring on " Da Luz " will be extremely difficult. In six of the Lisbon meetings with the participation of Russian teams Benfica have conceded just once - from Spartacus Rafael Carioca.
Zenit will start in the group stage of the Champions League for the fifth time. This time the path to group stage was passed to the class, but not without hassle in the beginning. The team of Villas-Boas gave Cyprus Alu on the road with minimum " dry", And the response meeting with Cypriot Petrovsky stadium was long kept in suspense, but over the final 3: 0 in favor of the hosts, And then Zenit without much issues knocked out Belgian standard" (1: 0, 3: 0).
Attention guests have plans to pay the ex-striker " Port " halko, for which it will be the 13th meeting with Benfica, whose gates he struck five times. In the last ten games for Zenit Brazilian scored 7 goals. The head coach of Benfica's Jorge Jesus even said that his Players will particularly take into account the presence of the Hulk on the field.
" Yes, it is configured that the Hulk will be in the starting lineup, that we base our tactics, " said Jesus at the press conference.- in the previous game (Dynamo ) Hulk showed himself very well, And we think he will be released from the first minute of the tournament ".
from " Zenit " on the field because of the disqualification will not be able to leave the midfielder Viktor Fayzulin. At Benfica out the application for the Champions League remained Ruben Amorim, damaged in last month of summer knee ligaments. And Zenit Anatoliy Tymoshchuk has not arrived in LISBON due to a thigh injury received in the national team. Hulk And Witsel, received a fracture in the championship game versus Dynamo, trained on the first day of the week on " Da Luz " in the General group.
" I feel at home, but tomorrow we have a difficult game, But we are well prepared, " said the day before game one of the St. Petersburg Portuguese Danny.- Former Players of Benfica (Javi Garcia And Witsel) know this stadium ( " Da Luz " ) And very motivated to succeed.
Both coaches did not allocate any of their team or the enemy, on the contrary in one voice said that players will play to win." We are complex, we are determined to win, And then, because it will be a home match for the Portuguese, cannot distract us from the main intentions, " said Villas-Boas.
" The players know what to do, they know the strategy of the game, And tomorrow they will show, " said the coach of Benfica.
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