Football: St Pete face tough test away in Germany
Published 03 April, 2008, 15:28
FC Zenit will be trying to put an embarrassing league defeat to Rubin behind them when they take on Bayer Leverkusen in Germany in the first leg of the UEFA-Cup quarter-final.
Zenit goalkeeper, Vyacheslav Malofeev, says the defeat to Rubin could help them.
“The important thing for the team and, of course, for myself is to learn, so we don't make the same mistakes in the future. In that sense, it's even better to have those kinds of setbacks at this early stage,” Malofeev said.
Well, it's certainly not an early stage in the UEFA Cup, and if coach Dik Advocaat chooses not to replace Malofeev with second choice keeper Kamil Chontofalsky, he'd better have learnt his lessons quickly.
Advocaat himself serve out the suspension he received for unsportsmanlike conduct during the first knock-out round against Villareal, and will be banned from the touchline.
The two teams have never met before, but Leverkusen's Bay Arena is notorious for its tremendous home-crowd support.
In a previous tie against Marseille, Zenit were trailing 3-1 before the return leg in St. Petersburg – a scenario they clearly need to avoid this time around.
Having already seen off top European sides in Villareal and Marseille, the Russian champions shouldn't be intimidated by their quarter-final opponents.
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