Next Wednesday, 26th of November 2014, the current Russian League leaders, Zenit St. Petersburg, will measure forces with the Portuguese champions, Benfica, at Stadion Petrovsky for the UEFA Champions League, on a what will be a decisive match for both sides' aspirations for this season’s competition.

After an excellent start both on domestic and international competitions, Zenit now seem to be slowing their pace as the cold Russian winter approaches. Nevertheless, André Villas-Boas’ team is still in a comfortable position at the top of the Russian Premier League table with eight points more than Krasnodar and they still keep their chances of following through on the UEFA Champions League intact. Last Saturday, Zenit experienced some difficulties to overcome a well organized Kuban side at home, but a first-half scorcher by the powerful Brazilian winger Hulk was enough to seal the win.

When the Russian side visited Lisbon back in September, they put up a fantastic display and claimed the three points fairly easily, by scoring twice during the first-half. Hulk opened the score on the 2nd minute of the match and former Benfica’s Belgian midfielder Witsel netted in the second with just 22 minutes of match played.

For the match against Benfica, André Villas-Boas should not change much of his usual 4-3-3 system, but he will probably promote the return of the crafty Russian footballer Viktor Fayzulin to the starting line-up, replacing Ryazantsev at the attacking vertice of the midfield triangle. The Portuguese playmaker Danny should also return to the team’s attacking trio, together with Hulk and Rondon.

As for Benfica, the current Portuguese champions are not experiencing the best of times at the UEFA Champions League, but their last match’s win over AS Monaco in Lisbon has probably increased their motivation levels.

Contrary to what they are doing at international level, Benfica are currently at the top of the Portuguese league and, although they don’t appear to be as strong as they were last season, they seem to have everything under control for now.

Over the weekend, Benfica smashed the first tier side of Moreirense by 4-1 for the Portuguese Cup, thanks to two goals by Jonas and Salvio, who delivered a vintage performance for that particular match.

The last time both sides measured forces at Petrovsky was back in 2012 and, back then, the home side clinched a narrow 3-2 win.

Despite their somewhat inconsistent moment, Zenit are favourites for next Wednesday’s decisive clash, but they will certainly need to dig deep in order to overcome an always complicated Benfica side.

Zenit

Stats: W-2 L-3 D-0

Recent Form - WLLWL

Benfica

Stats: W-4 L-1 D-0

Recent Form - WWWWL

Possible Line-ups

Zenit (4-3-3) - Lodygin - Anyukov - Garay - Lombaerts - Criscito - Javi Garcia - Witsel - Fayzulin - Danny - Hulk - Rondon

Benfica (4-4-2) - Julio Cesar - Maxi Pereira - Luisão - Jardel - Almeida - Perez - Samaris - Talisca - Salvio - Gaitan - Lima

Prediction

Zenit 2 Benfica 1