UEFA Cup Preview: VfB Stuttgart - Zenit St Petersburg

This tie is finely poised after the first leg at an icy Petrovsky finished 2-1 to the Russians. It promises to be a night of excitement in Germany on Thursday...

Kick-off: Thursday, February 26 2009 (20:45 CET). Mercedes-Benz Arena, Stuttgart

The first-leg saw an early strike from Szabolcs Huszti put the Russians into the lead only for Super Mario Gomez to get Stuttgart level. However, a fine strike from Zenit captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk just before half-time handed Dick Advocaat’s side a slender lead to take into the second-leg.

Game On!

With the second leg at home and a potentially priceless away goal to their names, Stuttgart will go into the second leg on Thursday relatively confident of progressing. However, as holders of the UEFA Cup, Zenit will not go down without a fight -and showed enough quality in the first leg, even though they are still currently in their pre-season.
The Swabians have a valuable away-goal from the first leg, but that is a fact that doesn’t impress the man who scored it too much. "We can't be satisfied with the game here because we stopped playing football after we conceded the second goal," explained striker Mario Gomez to the club’s official website.
"We did a lot right in the first half; we held our own and played brave, attacking football. We didn't do that after the break. That's how St. Petersburg managed to force us back and create so many clear chances," he added.
Going into the second-leg at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, VfB trainer Markus Babbel is full of confidence and looking forward to the challenge.
"We hope to be able to turn over the 1-2 deficit. We are playing at home and can go into the game against the current title holders with every confidence," the Stuttgart trainer explained.
"We can go into the game with the comforting knowledge that we are always capable of getting a goal. If we are to do that though, we will have to go into this game with the same attitude and with the same mentality that we approached the Hoffenheim game in, but at the same time, we must put a stop to our individual mistakes.
"I appeal to everyone, despite the late kick-off time and the live television broadcasting of the match, to come to the stadium and support us. We could really do with that twelfth man," he stressed.

Missed Opportunity

Last season's UEFA Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg believe they missed the opportunity to put this tie beyond their German opponents when only scoring twice last week at the Petrovsky in St. Petersburg.
"The main thing is that we won," confessed Zenit captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who is set to join Bayern Munich in the summer. "Stuttgart are a household name in Germany with a lot of internationals in their squad. Still, we had a lot of good opportunities to score more goals."
Russian international forward Pavel Pogrebnyak wasted two second-half opportunities, though Zenit could have found themselves pegged back but for keeper Vyacheslav Malafeev's save which denied Mario Gomez a late equaliser.
The Zenit skipper though maintained that the icy conditions last week played into Stuttgart’s hands and that his side were looking forward to playing at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.
"The weather wasn't a positive factor for us. We have a lot of technically gifted players in our team. We like to play quick football, so the pitch suited our opponents more," the 29-year-old said.
"Our physical condition will get better; each one of us will make progress. It was our first competitive match of the season and it's over. It will now be easier for us to adjust."


FORM GUIDE

VfB Stuttgart

21/02/09 VfB Stuttgart 3 Hoffenheim 3 (Bundesliga)
18/02/09 Zenit 2 VfB Stuttgart 1 (UEFA Cup)
14/02/09 Hannover 3 Stuttgart 3 (Bundesliga)
07/02/09 Bayer Leverkusen 2 Stuttgart 4 (Bundesliga)
31/01/09 Stuttgart 2 Bor. Moenchengladbach 0 (Bundesliga)

Zenit St Petersburg

18/02/09 Zenit 2 VfB Stuttgart 1 (UEFA Cup)
14/02/09 Zenit 1 FC Khimki 1 (Friendly)
07/02/09 Zenit 3 Vojvodina Novi Sad 0 (Friendly)
04/02/09 Zenit 2 Slaven Koprivnica 1 (Friendly)
30/01/09 Zenit 3 Metalist Kharkov 1 (Friendly)


TEAM NEWS

VfB Stuttgart

VfB will be without Matthieu Delpierre (ankle ligament tear), Arthur Boka (knee ligament tear) and Yildiray Bastürk (calf strain), while full-back Ludovic Magnin is also a doubt with a heavy cold.
On a more positive note Timo Gebhart is back having recovered from a ligament tear. The trainer is also spoilt for choice as to who to select as partner for Mario Gomez, with Cacau fully fit and Ciprian Marica and Julian Schieber also battling for a first team place.

Probable Starting XI: Lehmann, Osorio, Tasci, Boulahrouz, Traesch, Khedira, Hitzlsperger, Lanig, Hilbert, Gomez, Cacau

Zenit St Petersburg

Zenit trainer Dick Advocaat has two key men suspended for the trip to Germany. Bookings picked up in the first-leg mean that captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and full-back Radek Sirl suspended are banned and will play no part.
Probable Starting XI: Malafeev, Anyukov, Krizanac, Lombaerts, Shirokov, Semshov, Zyryanov, Huszti, Fayzulin, Danny, Pogrebnyak


PLAYERS TO WATCH

VfB Stuttgart - Mario Gomez

The VfB striker is in fine goalscoring form of late, having hit six goals in his last four Bundesliga matches, while also bagging Stuttgart’s away goal last week in Russia. The home side have to score on Thursday and Super Mario is the one to whom they will turn for goals.

Zenit St Petersburg - Danny

The signing of Portuguese star Danny back in August 2008 for a record Russian fee of €30 million was surely an insurance policy against the inevitable sale of Andrei Arshavin. Now that Arshavin is firmly ensconced at the Emirates Stadium, the time has come for Daniel Miguel Alves Gomes to take over the starring role at Zenit. A match-winning performance against Stuttgart on Thursday would be a start.


PREDICTION

The tie is finely balanced following the 2-1 result from the first-leg. Stuttgart have to attack and score, but know that one goal would be enough to see them through. The longer the game goes on the more nervous both sides will become. Stuttgart have drawn their last two league games 3-3 so they have goals in them, but are also likely to concede. The loss of Tymoshchuk is a huge blow to Zenit, but when pushed, I’d have to go for them to edge it.

VfB Stuttgart 1-2 Zenit St Petersburg

Mathew Burt, Goal.com