Following an opening leg scoreless draw in Romania, Zenit Saint Petersburg welcome Unirea Urziceni to Petrovsky in the deciding match of their Champions League third qualifying round.
Zenit, who continued their unbeaten start to the Rosgosstrakh Championship of Russia with an empowering 2-0 win over Rubin Kazan and growing in confidence. Under manager Luciano Spalletti, Zenit is transforming into a side that can play at the heights of Europe and the additions of Alexandr Bukharov and Bruno Alves will only further their goals.
In the opening leg of the tie, the match was relatively even until Răzvan Pădureţu was sent off with a straight red-card before the break. The second half saw Zenit dominate much of the run of the play but the Romanian hosts were resolute in the final third and were able to hold out for the scoreless draw.
Against Rubin, the Italian tactician juggled his line-up with Danko Lazović sitting out and likely to see a prominent role on Wednesday evening. Zenit will need to show greater attacking inspiration and finishing if they are to beat goalkeeper Giedrius Arlauskis.
They should expect Unirea Urziceni manager Mihai Stoica to deploy a defending rich approach with great patience. Unirea has played two consecutive scoreless draws to open the Liga 1 campaign, including Saturday’s contest against Rapid Bucureşti and will likely keep the same compact approach and look to counter on Zenit's exposure.
Prepared by John Davies
... but nothing matches the thrill and challenge of having money on the line!
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