History gives Zenit hope against Anderlecht

Still without a point in Group C, FC Zenit St Petersburg could do with repeating the two victories over RSC Anderlecht they managed in 2010/11 as the teams kick off their double-header at the Stadion Petrovski. Zenit were beaten by Málaga CF and AC Milan in their first two games although Anderlecht are only one point better off in third place having lost 3-0 at home to Málaga last time out.

Past meetings
• Luciano Spalletti's Zenit won 3-1 home and away when the clubs met in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage. Aleksandr Kerzhakov hit a first-half hat-trick (8, 33, 44) in Brussels on 16 September 2010, with Roland Juhász pulling a goal back (66). The return fixture took place on 1 December and Zenit prevailed through Aleksei Ionov (12), Aleksandr Bukharov (65) and substitute Szabolcs Huszti (88). Kanu (87) scored for Ariël Jacobs' Anderlecht.

• The lineups at the Stadion Petrovski were:
Zenit: Malafeev, Meira, Križanac, Lombaerts, Luković (Hubočan 80), Shirokov, Zyryanov, Ionov, Danny, Rosina (Huszti 73), Bukharov (Kanunnikov 65).
Anderlecht: Proto, Gillet, Mazuch, Juhász, Lecjaks, Legear (Suárez 46), Mareček (Badibanga 68), Kljestan, Polák, Lukaku (De Sutter 77), Kanu.

• Zenit finished top of the group with six straight wins, while Anderlecht ended second.

Match background
• Zenit, who surrendered a 16-game unbeaten home sequence in Europe against Milan on 3 October, have won all three home games against Belgian clubs.

• Zenit's triumphant 2007/08 UEFA Cup run featured a 4-1 aggregate win against R. Standard de Liège in the first round. Aleksandr Anyukov, Nicolas Lombaerts and Konstantin Zyryanov were in a Zenit team that won the first leg 3-0 in St Petersburg against a visiting side that included Dieudonné Mbokani and Axel Witsel, now a Zenit player.

• Zenit beat Club Brugge KV 2-0 in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup first round, but went down 5-0 in the second leg.

• Anderlecht won 2-0 at FC Lokomotiv Moskva in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, their first away victory over Russia opponents at the fifth attempt, through goals from Matías Suárez and substitute Mbokani. They later beat Lokomotiv 5-3 back in Brussels to secure a sixth straight win in the group stage. Sacha Kljestan, Fernando Canesin, Marcin Wasilewski, Suárez and Guillaume Gillet scored.

• Anderlecht won four of five away fixtures in last season's UEFA Europa League, play-offs included, and held Milan 0-0 at San Siro on matchday one.

Team ties
• Including Zenit's 2010 victories over Anderlecht, Spalletti has won all eight previous encounters with Belgian clubs in his coaching career. In only Spalletti's second European tie as a coach, his UC Sampdoria team beat KRC Zuid-West-Vlaanderen 4-0 on aggregate in the 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

• With AS Roma, Spalletti oversaw 2-1 home and away victories over Club Brugge in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup round of 32. His Roma side overwhelmed KAA Gent 10-2 on aggregate, winning 7-1 in Belgium, in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

• Wasilewski was in the Poland side that drew 1-1 with the Russia of Vyacheslav Malafeev, Anyukov, Igor Denisov, Zyryanov, Roman Shirokov and Kerzhakov in the UEFA EURO 2012 group stage.

• Mbokani and Milan Jovanović won two Belgian championships with Witsel at Standard in 2008 and 2009.

• Lombaerts began his career with Gent and played alongside Gillet in 2006/07. The pair were together in the most recent Belgium national squad along with Witsel.

• Jovanović spent two seasons at FC Lokomotiv Moskva in 2004 and 2005, making just four appearances.

• Hulk's only hat-trick in European competition came in FC Porto's 4-2 home win against KRC Genk in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League play-offs.

FARE Action Week
• Matchday three of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League will contribute to the fight against all forms of discrimination in football stadiums as UEFA gives its full support to Europe's biggest anti-discrimination campaign – the FARE Action Week. Forty matches across the competitions on 23, 24 and 25 October will restate UEFA's commitment to ensuring that European football is free of racism, intolerance and xenophobia.