Zenit seek a second celebration

Newly-crowned Russian champions FC Zenit St. Petersburg can earn a place in the knockout rounds as they take on 1. FC Nürnberg in their third Group A game.

• A 3-2 win at Larissa FC, coupled with a 1-1 draw against AZ Alkmaar on Matchday 1, has left Zenit second in Group A. Should a Zenit victory coincide with an AZ win against Larissa on Matchday 3, they will be sure of prolonging their European campaign into the last 32.

• Nürnberg are fourth after losing 2-0 at home against Everton FC in their first game in the section on Matchday 2. That result matched their heaviest home defeat in European competition.

• Zenit are playing in their first competitive game since winning their first Russian title since independence on 11 November. Radek Širl scored the only goal to ensure the all-important 1-0 win against FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast on the final day of the season.

• After that triumph, Zenit's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat said: "We deserved this victory. We got more points than anyone else and scored more goals. We played brilliant football in the second half of the season."

• Zenit and Nürnberg have never met in UEFA club competition.

• Zenit have played five previous games against German sides, losing four and drawing one. They have lost both of their home games against German teams by one-goal margins, but their most recent meeting with Bundesliga opposition ended in a 2-2 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup group stage draw at TSV Alemannia Aachen.

• That latter match was the only one they have played against a German side since changing their name from Zenit Leningrad in 1991.

• Advocaat has been involved in eleven games against German sides during his coaching career, winning four, drawing four and losing three. He has yet to be on the losing side in a home game against Bundesliga opposition, winning three games and drawing two.

• Nürnberg have never come up against Russian opponents in UEFA club competition.

• Zenit's Slovakian international goalkeeper Kamil Čontofalský replaced his Czech counterpart at Nürnberg, Jaromír Blažek, when the latter left CU Bohemians Praha to join AC Sparta Praha in 2000. Blažek played for the Prague club from 1996 to 2000 with Čontofalský a key player at Bohemians from 2000 to 2003.