FC Zenit have an outstanding home record in European competition and, as they welcome AS Monaco FC on matchday two, will be seeking to continue in that vein.
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.
• 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.
• 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.
