SL Benfica welcome FC Zenit at the start of Group C with the visitors boasting a Portuguese coach in André Villas-Boas and three players who used to turn out for the Lisbon club.
Previous meetings
• Benfica beat Zenit 4-3 on aggregate in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League round of 16, a 2-0 home win overturning a 3-2 away defeat. Maxi Pereira scored in both legs with Nélson Oliveira also on target.
• The lineups in Lisbon on 6 March 2012 were:
Benfica: Artur, Maxi Pereira, Luisão, Jardel, Emerson, Javi García, Bruno César, Witsel, Gaitán (Matić 72), Rodrigo (Nolito 62), Cardozo (Nélson Oliveira 80).
Zenit: Malafeev, Anyukov (Bruno Alves 53), Hubočan, Lombaerts, Criscito, Denisov, Bystrov (Lazović 46), Zyryanov (Fayzuin 70), Shirokov, Semak, Kerzhakov.
Match background
Benfica
• Benfica recorded another 2-0 home victory against FC Spartak Moskva in the 2012/13 group stage. That maintained an unbeaten home record against Russian opposition which reads W4 D2 L0 with only one goal conceded.
• The Portuguese champions – European Champion Clubs’ Cup winners in 1961 and 1962 – are in their tenth UEFA Champions League group stage campaign.
• Last season they finished third in their group having begun with a 2-0 home win over RSC Anderlecht, extending an unbeaten first-night record to four games (W2 D2). At home, they also drew 1-1 with Olympiacos FC before beating Paris Saint-Germain 2-1.
• In the UEFA Europa League, the Eagles reached the final for the second successive season, drawing 0-0 with Sevilla FC in Turin but losing 4-2 on penalties. At home they had recorded three wins and a draw.
Zenit
• Zenit, runners-up in the 2013/14 Russian Premier League, are in their fifth group stage campaign.
• Last year they won 1-0 at FC Porto on matchday three with an Aleksandr Kerzhakov goal, drawing 1-1 with the Portuguese side at home.
• They also won 4-1 away at FC Paços de Ferreira in the 2013/14 play-offs first leg (8-3 on aggregate), their first victory in Portugal.
• Last season Zenit finished second in the group with six points – the lowest total for a team progressing to the next round in UEFA Champions League history. In the round of 16 they won 2-1 at Borussia Dortmund but lost 5-4 overall.
• They began 12 months ago with a 3-1 defeat at Club Atlético de Madrid. In all three previous campaigns they had also started with an away loss, and they lost at FK Austria Wien on matchday six, too.
• 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.
