Berezutski fancies CSKA odds

Defender Aleksei Berezutski rates his PFC CSKA Moskva side's chances of reaching the UEFA Champions League semi-finals as a workable 45% as the Army Men look to overturn a 1-0 deficit at home against FC Internazionale Milano.

A fine second-half strike from Diego Milito denied CSKA a clean sheet in Milan last week, but the 27-year-old's spirits are far from crushed as he looks ahead to the quarter-final decider. "We are staying positive as we have nothing to lose," said the Russian international. "I really don't see any problem in going down 1-0 in Italy. We need to score, but we would be playing for a win anyway as we are at home. Even if we managed to get a 0-0 draw away, we would still push forward in Moscow."

Dangerous from set pieces, defending nonetheless remains Berezutski's priority, and he is not blind to the threat the Nerazzurri can pose. "Inter have a very unusual attacking formation," said Berezutski, who plays alongside his twin brother Vasili at CSKA. "Sometimes they play with four men up front. All of Inter's forwards are world-class players, and for me the most dangerous is Wesley Sneijder, who is in superb form. It's extremely difficult to play against any of them."

However, while he has nothing but respect for his opponents, Berezutski feels positive about CSKA's chances overall. "OK, we lost away from home, but the chances are still 45% to 55%, not in our favour," he said. "We were not very successful defensively in the first match, while our attack was below par as well, but we have one game left to make amends."

CSKA's Premier-Liga game against FC Zenit St. Petersburg at the weekend was postponed due to police concerns in the wake of the terrorist bombings in the Russian capital, but a bit of extra rest was not unwelcome for Berezutski. "We did not ask for the match to be postponed as we were ready to play, but frankly speaking it's a good thing for us to be able to have couple of extra days off," he said. "The return flight from Italy was a little bit difficult, so it's really nice to have had more time to get ourselves right."