Advocaat faces first Dutch opponents

FC Zenit St. Petersburg will be up against a team from the Netherlands for the first time, but Dutch coach Dick Advocaat will have plenty of knowledge about the opponents as AZ Alkmaar visit Russia in Group A.

• The two sides have never met in European competition.

• Zenit have never come up against Dutch opposition in UEFA club competition.

• AZ's only previous meeting with a Russian side came in the first round of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup and although they lost the away leg against FC Krylya Sovetov Samara 5-3, they won 3-1 at home to progress to the group stage on away goals.

• Zenit coach Dick Advocaat will have a wealth of information about Dutch football. The Hague-born coach spent most of his playing career in his native country and went on to coach PSV Eindhoven and the Dutch national team.

• Advocaat has faced opposition from his native country before when manager of Rangers FC. He led the Scottish side to back-to-back wins against former club PSV in the 1999/00 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Zenit midfielder Fernando Ricksen, who also played under Advocaat at Rangers FC, played for Alkmaar between 1997 and 2000. The only current AZ player who played alongside Ricksen in that period is central defender Barry Opdam. The two players' first season together at the club saw them win promotion back to the Eredivisie in 1997/98.

• Prior to the game between AZ and Krylya Sovetov, AZ coach Louis van Gaal had been involved in two previous meetings with Russian sides. His FC Barcelona team beat FC Lokomotiv Moskva 3-1 away and 1-0 at home in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• As a player, Van Gaal played against SK Spartak Moskva in a 1983/84 UEFA Cup third round game, with his Sparta Rotterdam side drawing 1-1 at home and losing 2-0 in the then Soviet capital.

• Zenit have not lost a European home game since going down 3-0 against Bologna FC in the first round of the 1999/00 UEFA Cup. They are unbeaten in 19 European home games.

• Still yet to lose a home game in UEFA club competition, AZ are more fragile on their travels. However, they won both of their away games in last season's group stage, beating Grasshopper-Club and eventual competition winners Sevilla FC.

• In their three previous UEFA Cup group stage campaigns, AZ have only lost one away game, winning the remaining five.

• Everton FC are at home against Larissa FC in the day's other Group A game.