AEL vs Zenit

A spectacular event awaits all football fans - Russian Zenit football club is having a match with Cypriot AEL team. The third qualifying round of the Champions League is scheduled for 29^th of July 2014 and will be played in Larnaca. The second match is planned for 5^th of August and will take place in St. Petersburg.  The winners will get qualified for the playoff game and join the rest of the teams: "Arsenal" (England), "Port" (Portugal), "Bayer" (Germany), "Napoli" (Italy) and "Athletic" (Spain).

During the 2013-14 season, the football club of St. Petersburg got second place in Russian Premier League. The third qualifying round of the Champions League with Cypriot AEL team might turn out to be unexpected and bring surprises for the Russian team. Andre Villas-Boas, the head coach of St. Petersburg’s team, said: "We want to reach the group stage of the Champions League, so we must strive through this step in front of us!  We will meet with opponents who are able to surprise us at any time, thus we should be aware of that and get prepared”. He also added that other important issues to consider while travelling are climate conditions, food and the flight itself.

During the Champions League 2011-12 season, Zenit played with another Cypriot football club – APOEL . At that time Zenit has lost the game scoring 1-2 and following with 0-0 back at home. Andre Villas-Boas has stated out that - "We must use that match as a lesson."  A famous newscaster from Russia - Gennady Orlov is predicting this game to be different and hoping that Zenit – “has managed to extract the right lessons from the defeat three years ago.” Nevertheless, he admits that all of the teams that are participating in the Champions League are well trained and qualified.

Good luck to both teams!