The Russian representation in the Champions League was halved after Lokomotiv lost to Bayer in the fifth round of the group stage. But there are still chances of reaching the playoffs at St. Petersburg Zenit. Despite the fact that in four matches, Sergei Semak’s wards scored only four points and while still occupying third place in their quartet, they even have a theoretical opportunity to take first place.
The next match, “Zenith” with the French “Lyon” will be of decisive importance for St. Petersburg. They only need a victory in order to equal the points with the wards of Rudi Garcia and rise to second place due to additional indicators, since the first match between the two teams ended in a draw. The repetition of this result will put Zenit in a very difficult, but not yet hopeless situation, but the defeat will completely deprive it of the opportunity to stay in the Champions League until spring.
But for the sixth consecutive time it will be much easier for the Semak team to break into the playoffs of the Europa League. To do this, you also need to defeat Lyon in your stadium, but everything will be finally decided in the final game of the autumn against Benfica. It remains to be seen how the Portuguese club will play with RB Leipzig in the fifth round, and the Zenit European Cup prospects depend on it very much.
“Lyon” could well be a draw in the match against “Zenith” - with a score of 0: 0 and 1: 1, the chances of the French to take second place in the group will be large, and if there are even more goals, then even guaranteed. So you can expect cautious and closed football from the guests with the expectation that Zenit will open too much in an attempt to win. St. Petersburgers need to take risks, and guests can benefit from this for themselves.
However, recently “Lyon” has been quite successfully playing in the attack, and therefore it is not necessary for him to abandon the usual manner of playing. The French have won four victories in the last five games in all tournaments, losing only to Marseilles in League 1. A goal series of Garcia’s wards lasts six games.
Moussa Dembele scored four goals in the French championship during this time. Memphis Depay has five goals in all tournaments over the same period, and in the Champions League he has never left the field without a goal, including at the Zenit goal. But the Dutchman will not fly to St. Petersburg due to an injury, so his series will be interrupted, and Lyon will have to rely only on Dembele and one of the trio of attacking midfielders.
For Lyon, the best time to attack will be the second half - Zenit has recently been playing in the defense significantly weaker after the break. In the Champions League, the Russian club conceded five out of six goals in the second half of the match, and another in the fifth offset of the first half. Even in the last game with Rubin, this unpleasant tendency could not be avoided - the only goal Zenit conceded in the 66th minute. Semak acknowledged this problem before meeting with Lyon, speaking at a press conference.
“In each match, players and coaches are set to win. The situation is dictated by our place in the table, we all perfectly understand. Sometimes it turns out to win, sometimes not. To win, you need to score. The balance is always important, thanks to which you can score and not miss a counterattack. What we miss indicates the level of our rivals. This is an occasion to think about what level we are now, ”Semak quoted the“ Championship ”.
But in that game with Kazan for the fans from St. Petersburg there was one pleasant event. Artyom Dziuba interrupted the goalless series, which totaled five matches in the club and the national team. Now the attacker has a difficult time due to excessive pressure from fans who began to insult him even in matches in which he does not participate. Dziuba completely refused to communicate with the press, which is quite unusual for him. On what mood the captain and leader of Zenit will be in will determine the outcome of each next game in many respects.
As for the losses before the match with Lyon, Petersburgers risk being left without Yuri Zhirkov on the left flank of the defense due to an injury received in the Russian national team. However, in the Champions League, the 36-year-old player does not enter the field anyway, and in the RPL he is successfully replaced by Douglas Santos. Zhirkov, even if he has time to recover, will surely come in handy for the team in the next match with the Moscow Spartak, which in terms of the intensity of the fight can even exceed the Champions League meeting.