UEFA Cup holders Zenit could not have wished for a more harsh start to their first ever Champions League quest. Two defeats to Real Madrid and Juventus have left them bottom of Group H. BATE Borisov have managed a solitary point by claiming a 2-2 draw at home to Juventus last time. Defeat for either side would almost definitely mean no qualification to the next round.
Zenit’s coach will still be without Nicolas Lombaerts with a knee injury that has seen him sidelined since February. BATE Borisov will be without the promising teenage midfielder Maksim Zhavnerchik who has not played for the club since their defeat to Real Madrid on week one when he fell out of favour with coach Viktor Goncharenko. BATE will welcome back defender Anri Khagush who has just served his one match ban after his dismissal against Real Madrid on the opening day.
This has not been a particularly fruitful season for Zenit thus far. They have one of the best coaches around and one can expect them to make sure of their first win at this level.
REVIEW:
Zenit St Petersburg gained their first points of their campaign with a 1-1 draw with BATE Borisov. A number of missed chances denied the Russian outfit of maximum points against BATE Borisov.
BATE Borisov took a surprising lead shortly after the break when substitute Pavel Nekhaychik burst through the Zenit defence before blasting the ball past goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev.
Zenit had many opportunities to equalise but they had to wait until ten minutes before the end when a long pass down the field by Roman Shirokov was received by Fatih Tekke who beat the offside trap to blast past the BATE goalkeeper Sergei Veremko.