Zenit scent last 16 as they visit Vienna

FC Zenit visit FK Austria Wien on matchday six seeking a victory to guarantee qualification for the UEFA Champions League knockout stage for only the second time.

• Zenit, who previously made it through in 2011/12, sit second in Group G, a point above FC Porto. A win would ensure their progress regardless of Porto's result at Club Atlético de Madrid, though any result will do if Porto fail to win in Spain.

• Austria's first UEFA Champions League group stage campaign has already brought elimination but they are seeking the consolation of a first victory in front of their home fans.

• The teams drew 0-0 in St Petersburg on matchday two on a night when Axel Witsel was sent off. Nenad Bjelica's Austria collected their second point, and first goal, in drawing 1-1 at Porto last time out.

Match background
• Austria are looking to provide their home fans with some belated cheer after three losses in a row at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in European competition – against GNK Dinamo Zagreb in the play-offs as well as Porto and Atlético in Group G. A fourth defeat against Zenit would extend what is already a club record run.

• Zenit have won three of their four away matches so far in this term's competition. They defeated FC Nordsjælland 1-0 in the third qualifying round and FC Paços de Ferreira 4-1 in the first leg of their play-off in August, and won 1-0 at Porto on matchday three, although they went down 3-1 at Atlético.

• Zenit are facing Austrian opponents for only the third time, and their two previous encounters came against the same club, ASKÖ Pasching – later renamed SK Austria Kärnten – in 2004/05 and 2005/06. In that first season, a Zenit side coached by Vlastimil Petržela prevailed on away goals in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round, recovering from a 3-1 away defeat with a 2-0 home success – the decisive second goal scored by Aleksandr Kerzhakov.

• Vyacheslav Malafeev, Vladimir Bystrov and Andrey Arshavin also featured in that tie, and Kerzhakov and Arshavin were the scorers when Zenit earned a 2-2 draw in Pasching when the teams met again at the same stage of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup. After a 1-1 draw in the return leg, Zenit advanced once more on goal difference.

• The Austrian champions overcame FC Dinamo Moskva 5-4 on penalties in the 1977/78 European Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals. After a 2-1 away defeat in Tbilisi, where the first leg was played owing to the freezing conditions in Moscow, Hermann Stessl's Austria levelled the aggregate scores with a 2-1 second-leg victory back in Vienna – Hans Pirkner (pen) and Julio César Morales scoring before their shoot-out success.

• Zenit earned a 1-0 away win over Austria in a friendly match on 4 July 2009, Pavel Pogrebnyak scoring the only goal in the 90th minute. The lineups were:
Austria: Almer, Standfest (Krammer 46), Dragovic (Suttner 46), Bąk, Ortlechner, Klein (Liendl 56), Junuzović (Baumgartlinger 46), Vorišek (Hattenberger 46), Ačimovič (Sulimani 46), Jun (Topic 56), Okotie (Diabang 76).
Zenit: Malafeev (Čontofalský 46), Anyukov (Šírl 46), Kim (Fayzulin 46), Meira (Hubočan 46), Križanac (Puygrenier 46), Shirokov, Denisov, Semshov (Ricksen 46), Zyryanov (Ionov 46), Huszti, Pogrebnyak.

• Vladimir Bystrov scored the opening goal when Zenit beat Austria 2-1 in the clubs' first friendly encounter in Marbella, Spain in February 2004. Zenit won 3-0 when the sides reconvened for another midwinter friendly in Alicante in February 2006.

Team ties
• As coach of Udinese, Spalletti's first experience of a major UEFA club competition a decade ago ended after defeat by Austrian opponents. Drawn against FC Salzburg in the first round of the 2003/04 UEFA Cup, Spalletti's Udinese won the first leg 1-0 in Salzburg and then took the lead at home in the second leg on 15 October 2003, but subsequently conceded twice in the second half to lose 2-1 and suffer elimination on away goals.

• Witsel struck both goals in Belgium's 2-0 away win against Austria in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier on 25 March 2011, having also featured in the teams' 4-4 draw in Brussels five months earlier when Nicolas Lombaerts was among the scorers.

• Tymoshchuk was 22 when he faced Austria Wien with FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup first round, losing the first leg 5-1 in Vienna before a 1-0 home win. Tymoshchuk faced Heinz Lindner and Markus Suttner in Ukraine's 3-2 loss to Austria in a pre-UEFA EURO 2012 friendly in Innsbruck in June last year.

• Roman Kienast played for SK Sturm Graz in a 3-1 reverse at FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Kaja Rogulj was in the NK Slaven Koprivnica side beaten home and away by PFC CSKA Moscow as they fell to a 3-1 aggregate defeat in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup first round.