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Advocaat tells Zenit to believe
By Pavel Gognidze from St Petersburg
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Dick Advocaat wants to finish the job against
Bayern (¿Getty Images)
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FC Zenit St. Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat said his players
must give more than 100 per cent in Thursday's UEFA Cup semi-final if
they are to overcome FC Bayern Munchen without a string of first-teamers.
Key absentees
Zenit got a well-deserved 1-1 draw in Munich last week, but this time
face Bayern minus star striker Andrei Arshavin, left-winger Radek Sirl,
the versatile Fernando Ricksen - all suspended - and defenders Nicolas
Lombaerts and Kim Dong Jin who are injured. Nonetheless, Advocaat refused
to count these absences as an excuse for possible failure, saying: "There
is no sense talking about the players who are not here. We must speak
about the players who will play. The key thing is that we go out feeling
we can do something."
'More than 100 per cent'
Advocaat, short on cover and having to find a makeshift defender to fill
the left-back berth, added: "You will see the lineup tomorrow [Thursday].
All I can say is that those who play will give even more than 100 per
cent. So Bayern, despite being one of the best teams in the world, face
a difficult task." The same applies to Zenit's reshuffled back line,
who will have to concentrate on the UEFA Cup's ten-goal top scorer Luca
Toni - back from a ban. "We need to pay attention not just to Toni,
but to the whole Bayern side. They have a lot of star players and we need
to contain them all, otherwise we'll be in trouble," warned Advocaat.
Winnable game
The Zenit supremo knows all about Bayern's inexorable threat having coached
VfL Borussia Monchengladbach in the Bundesliga in 2004/05. "Bayern
were already among the continent's best clubs but they still signed three
world-class players last summer. They can afford to buy the best although
that doesn't mean we can't beat them." Such an outcome is unthinkable
to Ottmar Hitzfeld. "Every defeat is a small catastrophe for Bayern,
but I don't even think about it," the visiting coach said. "Yet
we know how strong Zenit are because we could see that in Leverkusen and
then in Munich. Zenit are in the semi-finals on merit, having knocked
out some top clubs. We certainly know what to expect after the draw in
Munich."
Returning players
Hitzfeld confirmed that Oliver Kahn, Philipp Lahm and Miroslav Klose will
be available while Lucio - rested for Sunday's league victory over VfB
Stuttgart following the misery of his own goal in the first leg - should
return to the side. Bayern will, the coach continued, go on the offensive
at the Petrovsky Stadium. "It will be a very tense and interesting
match. Both teams respect each other, but Bayern are not going to play
defensive football because we need to score a goal." Hitzfeld also
dismissed similarities between this game and Bayer 04 Leverkusen's 1-0
quarter-final success here. "Zenit had already won 4-1 away and were
not at their best."
Ambition
What the hosts will not have wanted to hear is that the final in Manchester
on 14 May could cap a dream campaign for Bayern - triumphant in the German
League Cup, German Cup, Bundesliga and, if all goes to plan, the UEFA
Cup. "You always want to win, and the whole squad and I will do everything
possible to prevail, especially because Bayern are used to winning,"
he said.
UEFA.com,
30 April 2008
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