Zenit v Monaco background

FC Zenit have a home record in European competition to rival any club and will be keen to record another victory when they entertain AS Monaco FC on matchday two.

Match background 

Zenit
• Zenit came out on top in their first two home-and-away encounters with French sides but were defeated in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League play-offs by AJ Auxerre, a 1-0 home win overturned in a 2-0 loss away.

• Before that they had twice defeated Olympique de Marseille in the UEFA Cup round of 16. In 2005/06 Aleksandr Kerzhakov scored in a 1-1 draw in the home leg which followed a 1-0 away win, Andrey Arshavin scoring.

• Zenit prevailed again two seasons later en route to lifting the 2007/08 UEFA Cup. Trailing 3-0 in the first leg in Marseille, Arshavin struck an 82nd-minute reply and this proved decisive when Zenit won the return 2-0 to advance on away goals.

• Zenit are in their fifth group stage campaign. Last season they finished second in the group with six points – the lowest total for a team progressing in UEFA Champions League history – to qualify for the knockout rounds for only the second time. In the round of 16 they lost 4-2 at home to Borussia Dortmund and 5-4 overall.

• In this season's third qualifying round, Zenit beat AEL Limassol FC 3-0 at home to overturn a 1-0 away defeat. In the play-offs against R. Standard de Liège, they matched that home scoreline to complete a 4-0 aggregate win.

• Zenit have a formidable European record at the Stadion Petrovski, losing only three of 48 games, including qualifying, during the past 12 years before last season's Dortmund defeat. Thirty of those matches were won.

Monaco
• This is Monaco's sixth group stage campaign and their first since 2004/05, when they reached the round of 16. They were runners-up the previous year.

• The French side are back in European competition after an absence of nine years.

• Last season's Ligue 1 runners-up have made three previous trips to Russia – all to Moscow – in European competition, losing on two occasions and drawing the other.

Coach and player links
• Those who have played on the same side are:
Ricardo Carvalho, João Moutinho and Luís Neto (Portugal)
Moutinho and Hulk (FC Porto, 2010–2013)
Moutinho and Danny (Sporting Clube de Portugal, 2004/05)
Bernardo Silva and Ezequiel Garay (SL Benfica, 2012–2014)
Lacina Traoré and Oleg Shatov (FC Anji Makhachkala, 2012–2013)
Jérémy Toulalan and José Rondón (Málaga CF, 2011/12)

• Moutinho played for Porto under André Villas-Boas in 2010/11.

• Dimitar Berbatov scored twice as Bulgaria drew 2-2 in a Sofia friendly against Russia on 30 March 2004. Kerzhakov came on as a substitute.

Match facts

Zenit

• Viktor Fayzulin is available after serving a suspension on matchday one.

• Zenit's Russian Premier-Liga record eight-match winning start to the season ended on Saturday with a 0-0 draw at home to FC Spartak Moskva.

• Zenit had won their previous 13 matches in all competitions, since a 1-0 loss at AEL Limassol FC on 30 July.

• José Rondón scored a hat-trick in Zenit's 5-0 win at FC Rostov on 20 September. The striker has seven league goals to his name this season, as many as he managed in ten league outings for the club after joining from FC Rubin Kazan two thirds of the way through the 2013/14 campaign.

• The Blue-White-Sky Blues progressed to the Russian Cup round of 16 on 24 September, winning 2-1 at second-tier FC Anji Makhachkala thanks to goals from Oleg Shatov and Rondón.

• Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, out since injuring an adductor muscle in the Ukraine v Moldova friendly on 3 September, has returned to full training.

• Six Zenit players − Yuri Lodygin, Igor Smolnikov, Pavel Mogilevets, Oleg Shatov, Fayzulin and Aleksandr Kerzhakov − were included in the provisional Russia squad for the forthcoming UEFA EURO 2016 qualifiers against Sweden and Moldova.

Monaco

• Monaco had won three successive games 1-0 before losing by the same scoreline at home to OGC Nice on Saturday.

• Monaco had scored at least once in each of their previous 16 games before the Nice reverse.

• Valère Germain (v Montpellier Hérault SC, 24 September) and Nabil Dirar (v EA Guingamp, 21 September) have both scored their first goals of the season since matchday one.

• Anthony Martial suffered concussion against Guingamp but returned to action for Saturday's Nice game.

• Lacina Traoré (hamstring) and Borja López (knee) are yet to play this season because of injuries.

• Aymen Abdennour has been sidelined with a left thigh injury.

• Monaco managed just four attempts on goal on matchday one, joint-fewest of the 32 teams.

• Fabinho earned his first senior call-up for Brazil's friendly against Ecuador in September.