Zenit victims of their own success

Highs and lows
From clinching their first Russian title at the end of 2007, to beating the likes of FC Bayern München and Manchester United FC in clinching the UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup, and making their UEFA Champions League debut, the good times kept on rolling for Dick Advocaat's side. However, their bright brand of football now looks somewhat faded, as despite producing results like last month's 8-1 defeat of FC Luch-Energia Vladivostok, slips to the likes of FC Shinnik Yaroslavl have left them fifth in the league and struggling to secure a European place for 2009/10. In the UEFA Champions League, they have lost to Real Madrid CF and Juventus before being held at home to FC BATE Borisov, leaving them bottom of Group H.

Nerves
The threat of a European exit puts in question whether Zenit can keep hold of strikers Andrei Arshavin and Pavel Pogrebnyak or goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev, who admits ahead of Wednesday's visit to BATE that the euphoria had gone. "This kind of uncertainty make us all nervous, players and coaches alike," Malafeev told uefa.com. "It would be good if everyone decided on their future quickly, yet you can't really blame anyone in such a situation. When a team loses, all the problems surface straight away. This is how it happens everywhere and unfortunately we're not an exception."

Hectic schedule
Zenit's cause has not been helped by a fixture pile-up caused by a total of five postponements ahead of UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup matches. Now also contending with UEFA Champions League games, Zenit have had to juggle a 16-man squad, with Nicolas Lombaerts having been out since spring with a knee injury. Advocaat's assistant Cornelius Pot, who will leave at the end of the season, admitted: "It's hard for the boys to play two games a week."

Worth it
Malafeev reflected: "You can feel now that many of us have overdosed on football, but if in the spring we were made to choose between a UEFA Cup victory with a guaranteed flop at the end of the season or uncertainty in the UEFA Cup with a good finish to the year, we would still choose the first option. The most important is that we have won a European trophy. The result is there, which means that everything was done correctly, despite the current setbacks."

Luck
However, that does not stop the 29-year-old cursing ill fortune. "Let's be honest, at the end of last year and at times this year we were very lucky in some matches," Malafeev said. "Now it's different. It's no secret that we waste loads of chances. We create five chances and in return we concede a goal. This is all because of psychological and physical weariness." Fighting to keep their European campaign going as well as booking a place in UEFA competition for next season means there is little time for Zenit to catch their breath.