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Hitzfeld sure Bayern will bounce back

Although FC Bayern München could not kill off FC Zenit St. Petersburg when they had the chance, home coach Ottmar Hitzfeld believes his team will prevail in Russia.

Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld (left) believes Bayern can win in Russia
Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld (left) believes Bayern can win in Russia ©Getty Images

After Lucio's own goal gave FC Zent St. Petersburg a 1-1 draw at FC Bayern München, home coach Ottmar Hitzfeld bemoaned his side's inability to take advantage of chances before and after the equaliser. However, he did warn the Russian side that his team often play as well away from the Allianz Arena as at home. For his part, Zenit's Dick Advocaat pronounced himself "very pleased" with the performance and thought his side could have gone on to grab the winner.

Ottmar Hitzfeld, Bayern coach
Of course I'm not very happy about the result. We played very well in the first half and we could have scored a second goal. In the second half we weren't able to reach the same level and to win the decisive duels. Zenit came more and more into the match. It was obvious that they have good players, their specialty is fast counterattacks and so they made life very hard for us. Unfortunately Lucio scored an own goal after they attacked down their left-hand side. Afterwards we had some good chances to win, but at the same time we were lucky, especially when Zé Roberto had to clear off the goalline. Now both teams have an equal chance [to progress] and I'm still optimistic that we will reach the final, because we are no weaker in away games than at home.

Dick Advocaat, Zenit coach
After the 90 minutes I am very pleased with the way we played and the result we achieved here in Munich. In the first 45 minutes, Bayern were the better team – we needed 30 minutes to get into the game. We were nervous, but I couldn't understand why. In the second half we did much better and had a few chances, to score even a second goal. We have to think about how we are going to replace the missing players like [Andrei] Arshavin and [Fernando] Ricksen – this is a big problem for us. We do not have the same strength in depth as Bayern, who can replace eight players in the Bundesliga and are still strong enough to win.

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