Zenit out to complete Porto double

FC Zenit ended their wait for a first Group G victory when winning at FC Porto on matchday three and the Russian league leaders now hope to take a big step towards the last 16 as the teams reconvene at the Stadion Petrovski.

• Zenit's 1-0 success at Porto lifted them above Paulo Fonseca's side into second place in the standings. They would open up a four-point gap between the sides if they were to complete back-to-back victories over the Portuguese title holders, who have a strong record on Russian soil, even if they have yet to win in St Petersburg.

Previous meetings
• Zenit got the better of Porto in the 2011/12 group stage. Luciano Spalletti's men won 3-1 at home on matchday two, overturning James Rodríguez's tenth-minute goal with strikes from Roman Shirokov (20, 63) and Danny (72). Porto played the entire second period with ten men after Jorge Fucile's sending-off.

• When the clubs reconvened in Porto on matchday six, Vítor Pereira's home side needed to win to qualify while Zenit required only a point. The eventual 0-0 draw left the Russian visitors in second place in the section, a point better off than Porto. Hulk played for Porto in both games.

• The teams for that first meeting in St Petersburg on 28 September 2011 were:
Zenit: Malafeev, Anyukov, Hubočan, Lombaerts, Criscito, Zyryanov (Huszti 86), Denisov, Shirokov, Fayzulin, Kerzhakov (Bukharov 90), Danny.
Porto: Helton, Jorge Fucile, Rolando, Otamendi, Álvaro Pereira, João Moutinho, Fernando, Belluschi (Defour 72), Hulk, Kléber (Varela 33), James Rodríguez (Souza 46).

Match background
• Zenit were held 0-0 by FK Austria Wien in their first home fixture in Group G and can draw encouragement from an impressive sequence of results in St Petersburg in Europe. Including victories against FC Nordsjælland and FC Paços de Ferreira in this season's qualifying rounds, Zenit have won five of their last seven home outings and have lost just one of their last 24 – 3-2 to AC Milan last season.

• Porto's only points so far in Group G came from a victory at Austria Wien and they are now seeking back-to-back away wins in Europe for the first time since their triumphant 2010/11 UEFA Europa League campaign, when they won seven in a row. That season they won twice in Russia, beating PFC CSKA Moskva 1-0 at the Luzhniki Stadium in the round of 16, before returning to the same venue to overcome FC Spartak Moskva 5-2 in the quarter-finals with Hulk among the scorers.

• Helton, Jorge Fucile, Nicolás Otamendi, Fernando and Silvestre Varela are survivors of Porto's 2010/11 victories on Russian soil.

• During his first spell at Porto, Lucho González scored the second goal in a 2-0 away success at CSKA in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage. Porto's impressive overall away record against Russian sides is W4 D0 L1.

• Zenit have already won at home to one Portuguese team this season, having beaten Fonseca's former club Paços de Ferreira 4-2 in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off to complete an 8-3 triumph.

• Zenit have never lost at home to visitors from Portugal, their record reading W4 D1 L0. Andrey Arshavin scored the decisive second goal when they first hosted Portuguese opposition, beating Vitória SC 2-1 in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage. Zenit have since drawn 1-1 with CD Nacional in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League play-offs and defeated SL Benfica 3-2 in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League round of 16 – albeit they ended up losing both of those ties.

Team ties
• Hulk scored 54 goals in 99 league appearances with Porto, where he won three Portuguese league titles and the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League.

• Spalletti has encountered Portuguese opposition before in the UEFA Champions League group stage, guiding AS Roma to a 2-1 home victory and 2-2 away draw against Sporting Clube de Portugal in 2007/08.

• Axel Witsel spent 2011/12 in Portugal with Benfica, making 29 league appearances and scoring once. He faced Porto twice, drawing 2-2 at the Estádio do Dragão but losing 3-2 at home.

• Danny earned one win, one draw and one defeat against Porto while at CS Marítimo between 2001 and 2004.

• Luís Neto suffered a 5-0 defeat with Nacional at Porto in October 2011.

• Varela appeared as a substitute in Portugal's 1-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying loss last October away to a Russia side including Aleksandr Anyukov, Vladimir Bystrov, Viktor Fayzulin, Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Shirokov. Kerzhakov scored the only goal.

• Steven Defour and Eliaquim Mangala are former R. Standard de Liège colleagues of Witsel. Defour, playing alongside Witsel, suffered a 4-1 aggregate defeat by Zenit with Standard in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup first round. Defour and Witsel lined up against their Belgian international colleague Nicolas Lombaerts as well as Anyukov, Andrey Arshavin and Konstantin Zyryanov.

• Defour faced Arshavin, Kerzhakov, Shirokov and Zyryanov when helping Belgium win 2-0 away to Russia in a November 2010 friendly.

• In August 2009 Nicolás Otamendi featured for Argentina in a 3-2 friendly win away to a Russia team including Arshavin, Anyukov, Denisov, Kerzhakov and Zyryanov.

• Marat Izmailov has been a national team colleague of Zenit's Russia contingent and there are other players with similar international connections in this fixture: Silvestre Varela, Josué and Licá with Danny and Neto (Portugal); Danilo and Alex Sandro with Hulk (Brazil); Otamendi and Lucho González with Cristian Ansaldi (Argentina).