ZENIT WELCOME UNIREA TO PETROVSKY

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!

INTER? MANCHESTER? BARCELONA?

The head coach and players of CSKA spoke who and why they wanted to play in the Champions League quarterfinals.


Leonid Slutsky, head coach: "It would be unfair if I say that I do not care with whom to play in the Champions League. But most of all I do not want to get Manchester United, Barcelona and Inter as rivals."

"Probably if you ask any of our possible opponents who they want to play on this stage the answer would be one – CSKA. And it is quite easy to understand – Bordeaux, Lyon, Arsenal and Bayern are all recognized top teams. But to my mind the three mentioned undesirable clubs have an advantage in level."

Igor Akinfeev, goalkeeper: "Actually it does not matter to me what team to play. And I do not think it is wise to try guessing for we will know soon enough."

Evgeniy Aldonin, midfielder: "Choice on this stage of the competition is rather relative – only most serious teams are left. In this situation it does not matter who will you get."

"In terms of the tournament competition French clubs seems to be more favourable but look: Lyon has just kicked out Real Madrid of the competition and Bordeaux outplayed Bayern and Juventus to occupy the first place in the group showing great powerful football."

"So you can choose as much as you please but you will not get any advantage. The only thing I do not want on this stage already is to oppose Barcelona. This team is really stunning now especially at home. And the physical form of Messi impresses a lot."

Vasiliy Berezutsky, defender: "We are to play in Italy! Milos Krasic and I have said it together without previous arrangements while on the plane from Seville. And if an idea occurs in two heads simultaneously that means it is correct."

"But no matter what the results of the draw will be we will fight with any opponent. Moreover by the end of March – beginning of April the form of CSKA will improve – at the moment we are only acquiring it. On the contrary all the opponents have their championships drawing to a close. So we will definitely have some chances and we just need to grab them."

Alexey Berezutsky, defender: "The choice in the quarterfinals is quite conventional because there are no weak opponents. But I want to have a club with a name. And the greater the name the better."

Mark Gonzalez, midfielder: "Had I a choice to pick up our challenger I would prefer Manchester United. It turned so that when CSKA was playing this team in the group stage I was injured and could not take part in either of two matches. And for me, as a former player of Liverpool, it is very important to compete with the current English champion."

Milos Krasic, midfielder: "You cannot find a weak opponent in the Champions League quarterfinals – and it is quite obvious. So it is useless to choose anybody. But I have a feeling that the draw will bring us together with the Italian champions. Internazionale is a very strong club and it will be interesting to play against them."

Tomas Necid, forward: "I would prefer Barcelona – I have always wanted to play at the Camp Nou stadium. And actually the stronger the rival the more interesting it is."

Keisuke Honda, midfielder: Actually I do not care whom to play in the Round of 8. First of all because everybody there are strong, and secondly my favourite club – Real Madrid has already stumbled out of the competition. It would have been very attractive to play with them."

"But this way or other I am sure that CSKA will improve by the quarterfinals and we will be able to compete with any team."

Deividas Semberas, midfielder: "There is no much difference: no clubs are easy. And it is not a good thing to choose one’s opponent. For example Sevilla said to be happy when the draw brought it together with CSKA. And where is Sevilla now?"

SLUTSKY SATISFIED WITH CSKA READINESS

CSKA head coach Leonid Slutsky is satisfied with his team’s readiness for the Champions League clash against Sevilla and hopes that his club will surprise Spanish side with their play tonight.


"After the first matches of the new season I understand that I would get rid of only one thing – injuries", Slutsky told sport press. "Dzagoev, Krasic and Gonzalez would look much better if not their injury problems during winter preparations".

"I am satisfied with the team’s readiness, as we begin the season in perfect form. At the same time I am not glad with poor chance conversion, but it’s consequence of injuries of leading attackers".

"We really had few scoring chances against Sevilla, but in such games there cannot be many opportunities to score. In the match with Rubin there were enough scoring episodes and we didn’t convert them at all".

"Our best football is supposed to be enough, but we should outplay Sevilla. It’s necessary not to hope that they will make mistakes, but to be better in attack".

NECID EYES SEVILLA CLASH

CSKA striker Tomas Necid believes that his club will achieve necessary result in the Champions League clash against Sevilla.


"CSKA’s start of the season was rather contradictory", Necid said. "We played well in all three matches, created a lot of scoring opportunities, especially against Sevilla and Rubin, but achieved necessary result only in the last game with Amkar".

"It’s great that we grabbed victory in injury time, because it shows our fighting character and gives us emotional boost ahead of our trip to Spain".

"It’s hard to say why we don’t score many goals. I think that our problems will disappear after the first excellent match".

"I think CSKA is in good form now and if we manage to be united team in Sevilla, we will attain necessary result. In any case I believe it will be really so".

"I have already played against Sevilla when I was in Slavia, but both times without success – 2:4 in Spain and 0:3 at home".

SLUTSKY: WE WERE CLOSER TO VICTORY

CSKA head coach Leonid Slutsky is optimistic about the overall result of two-round battle against Sevilla.


"Of course we would like to achieve something more than 1:1 draw and we were closer to victory", Slutsky said. "This result is more useful for Sevilla, but we will fight in the return match".

"We have three weeks and we will hold two official games during this time – in the Super Cup and in the championship. Moreover I hope that Alan Dzagoev will be well fit for the match in Spain. I even believe that he will be able to help us against Rubin on March 7".

"The team looked well functionally and there was no replacement for the flank players, who are substituted more than others. And I didn’t see any sense in changing someone from other zones, since there were no problems there".