Champions League preview and odds: Zenit vs Benfica

Published on: 07/03/2016

strong> Champions League preview and odds: Zenit vs Benfica (0-1)

March 09, 2016 18:00pm - Stadion Petrovskij

Champions League

Zenit will be chasing down a one goal deficit while trying to avoid conceding an away goal, when they host Benfica in the second leg of this Champions League Round of 16 match.

Zenit back in league action

Since losing the first leg of this contest, Zenit have progressed to the next round of the Russian Cup, and restarted their league campaign - following the winter break - with a 0-0 draw away to Krasnodar.

Andre Villas-Boas will be hoping that his team can extend their unbeaten home record to 14 games in all competitions by securing a sufficient winning margin over the Portuguese side. His team won all three of their home matches in the Group Stage of the tournament.

Benfica strong on the road.

Benfica will travel to Russia with a slender one-goal advantage, but buoyed by the fact that they have won their last nine away games in all competitions, and are unbeaten in 14 matches on the road.

In the Group stage of the competition, they secured an impressive away win at Atletico Madrid but were beaten at Galatasaray and could only manage a draw at Astana. However, they did manage to score in all of those away games.

Team news

Javi Garcia and Domenico Criscito are both suspended for the home side, while Vjatjeslav Malafejev, Aleksandr Ryazantsev and Viktor Fajzulin are all injured.

The visitors will be without the suspended duo of Jardel and Andre Almeida, while Lisandro Lopez, Ljubomir Fejsa, Nuno Santos and Luisao are all nursing injuries.

Recent form (All competitions)

Zenit: DWLWW

Benfica: WWWWL

Betting odds and tips

Zenit have been dominant at home in the competition and should have enough to win over 90 minutes.

The home win can be backed at 11/10 with Bet365.

Benfica have scord in 17 of their last 18 away games.

You can back Both Teams to Score at 10/11 with Bet365.

By Neil Morris

Published on: 07/03/2016

Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (07/03/2016 14:39:17) but are subject to change.