Benfica vs Zenit St Petersburg preview - Warmer weather boosts Benfica - Luisao

Posted Tuesday, March 06, 2012 by PA

Benfica captain Luisao is looking forward to balmier conditions when his side host Zenit St Petersburg in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

The Portuguese team trail 3-2 from the first match, which was played in freezing conditions at the Stadion Petrovskiy, with Roman Shirokov scoring his second goal of the night to win the game after Oscar Cardozo had levelled late on.

Defender Luisao told www.uefa.com: "The players are not used to playing in those conditions; the weather, the state of the pitch, and facing a tough team playing in their own country.

"But we know that was just the first half of the cup tie and, even though they are leading on goals, we still have a chance of going through to the next round.

"I think we will try to show something else, try to show our technical skill, play some more football, because the first game was more physical than anything. It was two teams fighting."

Benfica, the European Cup winners in 1961 and 1962, have made the knockout stages for the first time since 2005/06, when they beat holders Liverpool in both legs before losing to eventual champions Barcelona in the quarter-finals.

They have a fearsome record at the Estadio da Luz, having lost only one of their past 19 European home games, while Russian champions Zenit have not won any of their past five European away matches.

Benfica coach Jorge Jesus will be without defender Ezequiel Garay, who picked up a knee injury in Friday's league defeat by Porto, while Pablo Aimar serves a one-match ban.

Zenit boss Luciano Spalletti will be without striker Aleksandr Bukharov and playmaker Danny, who are both injured, but Vyacheslav Malafeev is fit to take his place in goal.

The club are already making history and striker Aleksandr Kerzhakov sees no reason why they cannot extend their run further.

He said: "This goes down in the club's history, because until now the club had never qualified from the group stage. But we strive for the best and aim to advance as far as we can, step by step, and continue moving forward and winning.

"I believe that in the near future a Russian club will certainly win the Champions League, and I hope it will be Zenit."