FC Zenit St. Petersburg vs Futebol Clube do Porto UEFA Liga dos Campeões (Grupo G - 2ª Jornada) Wednesday, September 28, 2011 Petrovski Stadion 17:00 in Portugal --Note the kickoff time, as UEFA starts the matches in Russia earlier due to the time difference. --We've had a lot of success in Moscow in recent seasons, including defeating CSKA and Spartak during last year's Europa League run. But this'll be our first time playing Zenit. I've watched a few of their home matches in recent years, and they have a smaller, more intimate atmosphere (about 20,000 fan capacity) that can be loud and intimidating to deal with. --They're in first place in the Russian league and are the defending champs there, but lost their first CL match in Cyprus to APOEL. That was definitely a huge shock, and puts a ton of pressure on them to get something out of this match. I think a draw would obviously be fine for Porto, but I'm sure VP will want the win after 2 straight league draws. --Big Bad Bruno Alves will be suspended for Zenit, but hopefully he'll get a chance to play in front of the Porto crowd when they visit Portugal later. I think Zenit usually field a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Danny as their main creative attacking threat. I'm confident that Porto's midfield can really take control of this match, but it won't be easy against a tough team in a hostile environment. [Some stuff on Zenit] http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=52826/index.html http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=52826/domestic/index.html
Squad Called: GK: Helton & Bracali DF: Fucile, Rolando, Maicon, Mangala, Otamendi & Alvaro MF: Fernando, Souza, Belluschi, Defour & Moutinho FW: Hulk, Djalma, Kleber, James, Cristian Rodriguez & Varela SUSPENDED: Guarin INJURED: Sapunaru NOT REGISTERED: Walter, Iturbe & Alex Sandro --So Guarin is still suspended from the straight red vs Barcelona, while Sapunaru is obviously still hurt from the Feirense match. Nice to have James back. --Also, Alex Sandro is finally getting fit and should be ready to play in the league pretty shortly. That's good news.
Pretty straightforward eleven, I guess. Helton, Fucile, Rolando, Ota, Alvaro, Fernando, Moutinho, Belluschi, Hulk, Kleber, James. I have a bad feeling that VP will put Varela, Hulk and James but I hope I'm wrong. If we can get a nice result in Moscow we would basically be with one foot in the door with only 2 matches gone. A draw would be nice, but mostly I'd like to see the same attitude that Porto had last year on away games.
Zenit is a crap team Porto should win, If it was Sporting id be more confident especially with the new van basten (ricky van wolfswinkel) on our team but you guys are stuck with shit like kleber so all the best to you lot and gday lads.
You are right, Ricky's 4 goals the league will be a tough mountain to reach for Kleber with only 3 goals.
if only he started every game hed probably have more and if SCP wasnt robbed by the refs in first couple games we could be in first. even though we have 17 new players LOL
Starting XI: Helton Fucile-Rolando-Otamendi-Alvaro Fernando Belluschi-Moutinho Hulk-Kleber-James Bench: Bracali, Maicon, Souza, Defour, Varela, Djalma, Cristian Rodriguez Zenit: Malafeev; Anyukov, Lombaerts, Hubocan, Criscito; Shirokov, Zyryanov, Denisov, Fayzulin, Danny; Kerzhakov.
I haven't been able to watch them much, but from what I've heard: --They usually employ a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Denisov and Shirokov as the central midfielders, Fayzulin on one flank and Kerzhakov as the lone striker. In Europe they often prefer to play on the counter, which could favor our possession-oriented style of play. --Criscito really loves to bomb forward from LB, but maybe Hulk's presence will slow him down. Anyukov can also get forward from RB pretty effectively, so they utilize their FB's in a manner that's similar to what Porto does. --Danny is their best attacker, and drifts around looking for space. He might start out as a #10 and match up against Fernando, but might also drift out to the left wing to have a go at Fucile. We'll obviously need to watch him closely. --I think if Porto wins this match, it'll be because of the midfield domination. Zenit's goal will be to isolate Danny in space, but if we can prevent that and control possession then I think we'll be fine. Wouldn't shock me to see a pretty cautious approach from both teams in the first half, and 0-0 isn't out of the question.
GOAL! 1-0 PORTOO Beautiful ball from James to Hulk who did well to control it, showed patience and beat his defender to put the ball across back to James for an open net tap in. 1-0
1-1. Tough to blame Helton there IMO, the ball was fired across with flare, tough to catch; he did well to parry, unfortunately to a waiting Zenit offender. Fucile almost stopped it too. 1-1
Fucile with a red card before the half. Damn, just our luck 2 minutes into extra time he's called for a hand ball (2nd yellow card). Kleber also got hurt and it looked pretty bad as they had his shoulder wrapped. Varela was brought on for him. That's why you need to always carry AT LEAST three strikers. Drives me insane we only carry two! If Kleber is lost for a long time which could be realistic, we either take Hulk away from the wing (move him to striker) which I don't like or start an unfit Walter with 0 other striker options available. Started off so well but ended up being disastrous second part of the first half with Kleber's injury and Fucile's red card. Danny has been phenomenal by the way, wow. I wish Portugal utilized him more like Zenit does in a free roaming role.
Let's see what VP is made out of this second half. He needs to make some important subs this half. Bring in Maicon and take off Varela, even though he just came in.