Zenit eye more Group G joy against Hajduk

UEFA Europa League Group G leaders FC Zenit St. Petersburg will look to make it three wins from three as HNK Hajduk Split aim to end a five-match wait for European away success on Matchday 3.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition, and this is also Zenit's maiden experience of Croatian opposition.

• Hajduk have played four previous games against Russian teams, with the record W1 D0 L3 (W0 D0 L2 in Russia). They lost both of those away fixtures without scoring.

• Current coach Stanko Poklepović was in charge for their first meetings with Russian opposition, as they took on FC Dinamo Moskva in the first round of the 1984/85 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They lost 1-0 in Moscow and 5-2 in Split, with future Dinamo, PFC CSKA Moskva and FC Dynamo Kyiv coach Valeri Gazzaev scoring a hat-trick.

Match background
• Zenit have lost only one of their last seven games in Europe, going down 2-0 at AJ Auxerre in this season's UEFA Champions League play-offs.

• They are unbeaten in eight European home fixtures since losing 2-1 against Real Madrid CF in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• UEFA Europa League group stage debutants Hajduk are without a win in their last five European away fixtures, but three of those games ended in draws.

Team facts
• Zenit are one goal shy of 100 conceded in UEFA club competition. This will be their 85th UEFA game.

• Alongside Sporting Clube de Portugal, Zenit are the highest scoring side in the group stage. Both teams have struck seven times.

• Zenit have been quick off the blocks in their two Group G games, scoring six of their seven goals in the first half, and three inside the first 15 minutes.

• Zenit's Aleksandr Kerzhakov, Bayer 04 Leverkusen's Patrick Helmes and KKS Lech Poznań's Artjoms Rudņevs top the group stage scorers rankings with three goals; all three players scored hat-tricks on Matchday 1.

• Hired as Zenit coach in December 2009, Luciano Spalletti promptly led the club to Russian Cup success. A lower-league midfielder in his native Italy, he was lured to AS Roma after leading Udinese Calcio to a shock fourth-place finish in 2004/05. He won two Italian Cups in Rome before resigning in September 2009.

• Hired for his third spell as Hajduk boss in early 2010, Poklepović played for and coached his current side's neighbours RNK Split before first becoming Hajduk coach in 1984. Since then, he has led a host of clubs from the former Yugoslavia as well as the Croatia and Iran national selections, APOEL FC in Cyprus, Ferencvárosi TC in Hungary and a clutch of Iranian outfits.