Advocaat eager to sink Real

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Zenit coach Dick Advocaat is eager for his side to get off the mark when they welcome Real Madrid to the Petrovsky Stadium on Tuesday.Zenit came away empty-handed from their opening Champions League Group H game against Juventus a fortnight ago, going down 1-0 in Turin thanks to a late Alessandro Del Piero goal. The Russian champions' preparation could hardly have been better, having put in one of their performances of the season to beat Lokomotiv Moscow 3-0 at the weekend to provide the perfect 61st birthday present for Advocaat. And the Dutchman is fully aware of how vital it is for his side to maintain that sort of form in Europe, although he acknowledges it will not be easy against the group leaders. "We need to start collecting points otherwise we are going to be left behind," he told RIA Novosti. "We are playing at home against Real and we will have to use all our strengths to resist them. "If everything goes as expected then Real should finish top of the group, so in that sense we have nothing to lose. "(Madrid) have been figuring in the Champions League for many years now and have a wealth of experience in the competition. "Previously they made the mistake of signing up all the star players, but now everything has changed. They have brought together not names, but very strong footballers. "I'm not only speaking about the Dutch players. All their players interact superbly with one another." Other than long-term absentee Nicolas Lombaerts, Zenit are at full strength for the Spanish champions' visit, although there is a question mark over Andrei Arshavin's participation. The Russia playmaker was not even named among the substitutes against Lokomotiv, with Advocaat claiming the player remains distracted by the prospect of a possible transfer in January. Madrid, who top Group H on goal difference from Juventus following their opening 2-0 victory over BATE Borisov at the Bernabeu on September 17, head into the match buoyed by their last-gasp 2-1 Primera Liga win at Real Betis at the weekend. Portugal defender Pepe reckons the match in St Petersburg will be a similar type of game to that in Seville on Saturday. "We have to focus on a different competition now," he told www.realmadrid.com. "The match will be complicated and we'll have to perform very well in order to win. We are extremely motivated to earn a victory that would be good for the morale of the team. "(Zenit) is a great team with quality players. I believe the match will be similar to our clash with Betis and we'll have to work hard to take the three points. "Zenit is a talented side and it won't be easy to win over there because they will be anxious to defeat Real Madrid in front of their home crowd." Guti, Fernando Gago and Wesley Sneijder remain sidelined for Madrid with injuries, but Fabio Cannavaro returns after missing the Betis game due to coach Bernd Schuster's rotation system. Christoph Metzelder and Michel Salgado have not travelled to Russia for the same reason.

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Luis Aragones is not worried by Fenerbahce's poor domestic form ahead of Tuesday's Champions League Group G clash at home to Dynamo Kiev.The Istanbul side will be hoping to continue their impressive home record in Europe and kick-start a season which has so far been very disappointing. Having made the worst start to a league campaign in 20 years, Fenerbahce are eighth in the table and suffered a further setback on Friday when they lost 2-1 to Sivasspor. However, Aragones is not concerned and has every faith his team will improve. "I don't think losing points in Turkey will affect my players as I believe the Champions League is a completely different motivation," he said. "Despite taking the lead in the first half, we were not able to stop Sivasspor from scoring twice. Of course, this was not the impressive start we had wanted. We still need time to perform at our best, but our time will come." The Turks boast a fearful record at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, having won every match there in last season's Champions League en route to their quarter-final exit at the hands of Chelsea, and are unbeaten in 14 games stretching back to November 2004. They come up against a Dynamo side with a wretched record. Yuri Semin's men have drawn one and lost seven of their last eight group-stage games, scoring two goals and conceding 18, although they held Arsenal to a 1-1 draw in the opening fixture earlier this month and go into the game off the back of a 3-0 defeat of Kryvbas which sent them joint top of the Ukrainian Superliga. Fenerbahce have been reduced to the bare bones by injuries and woefully underperformed in their last Champions League fixture, a 3-1 defeat to Porto, to prop up the Group G table. Star striker Semih Senturk remains a major doubt, as do newcomer Juan Pablo Josico, winger Gokcek Vederson and defender Edu Dracena. Captain Alex De Souza, the heartbeat of the Fener team, is also on the injury list, but forward Daniel Guiza has a chance of recovering in time to make the bench on Tuesday. Dynamo coach Semin is likely to stick with the same players who impressed at home against Arsenal two weeks ago. He said after that game: "If I was told before the game that we would have a draw, I would have been very pleased. "This is a good start in the Champions League and the team did well, so overall I am satisfied." Midfielder Roman Eremenko was particularly impressive, as was Ismael Bangoura, who caused the Gunners defence problems all night and scored the opener from the penalty spot. Playmaker Oleksandr Aliyev was also heavily influential and scored twice in Friday's resounding league win.

[ 本帖最後由 cchl8 於 2008-9-30 01:18 AM 編輯 ]