The Petrovsky faithful welcome Serie A giants Juvenus tomorrow in a critical "must win" Champions League match for Zenit Saint Petersburg. With only four points in four matches, two points behind Real Madrid and six behind Juventus, Zenit must win if they are to advance.In the opening match against in Torino, Zenit put forth a superb effort but came up short with finishing. Zenit Saint Petersburg manager Dick Advocaat said of the match:
"We didn't deserve to lose. We played a really good match against a top Italian club. If we play on Tuesday like we did in Italy then we'll get a result." The former head man for the Netherlands continued about the players resolve:
"Sometimes guys come to me and say that they are tired or have other problems, but that hasn't been the case for this encounter."
Zenit will be without Sébastian Puygrenier to suspension and Lee Ho is injured but otherwise the club is one of its healthiest in quite some time. Belgian international Nicolas Lombaerts faired well against Spartak Moscow and although he picked up a calf injury in the match he is said to be match-fit.
Mr. Advocaat explained:
"He's been back in training already so I think he'll be ready for the game"
Juventus mastermind Claudio Ranieri goes into the match with a place in the knockout stages already guaranteed. The bianconeri winning streak ended this past weekend at five as they fell 1-0 to Inter Milan and are dealing with a host of injuries including Jorge Andrade, Gianluigi Buffon, Mauro Camoranesi, Dario Knežević, Christian Poulsen, Tiago, David Trezeguet, Cristiano Zanetti and Jonathan Zebina.
Per the weekend match against Spartak Moscow, Zenit is playing with all cylinders, most notably with Danni producing at an electrifying rate. The hidden factor of the match will be the late autumn conditions with sub-zero temperatures at match-time and the chance of snow.
I will report on the match as it concludes.
