Champions League preview: Zenit St. Petersburg v Benfica

Benfica's 11-match winning streak in all competitions will come under threat when they travel to Russia to meet Zenit St. Petersburg.
The first leg of the round-of-16 Champions League tie will see the leaders of both the Portuguese and Russian top flights collide on Wednesday.
Jorge Jesus' Benfica are five points clear of Porto atop Liga Sagres after a superb run of form.
The free-scoring side have hit the back of the net in their last 38 competitive fixtures; the last time they failed to score was in a 1-0 Europa League loss in the second leg of their semi-final against Sporting Braga.
The form of Oscar Cardozo has been crucial, with the Paraguayan having bagged 20 goals for the club in all competitions this season, including 11 in his last 10 appearances.
Spanish forward Rodrigo has 13 goals this season, and with five in his last four matches he also enters the match in red-hot form.
Benfica's terrific record in the Champions League this season will give them further confidence, with the Portuguese outfit one of just three sides to go through the group stages undefeated.
Another battle that Benfica face is the freezing weather in Russia, which is sure to play into the hands of the first-leg hosts.
Forecasts suggest the temperature will be below minus 10 degrees, which will surely make life difficult for the visitors.
Zenit have not been in especially good form this season in Europe and they have not played a competitive match since snaring a point in a goalless stalemate at Porto on December 6.
Prolific striker Alexander Kerzhakov will be Zenit's main threat having netted 16 goals from 22 league appearances this season.
Portuguese playmaker Danny will miss out for Zenit due to a knee injury, as will Vyacheslav Malafeev (calf) and Domenico Criscito (food poisoning).

Benfica are likely to be without Javi Garcia (knock) but Emerson and Luisao (thigh) should feature.

Milan´s Seedorf ready for Arsenal testAC Milan veteran Clarence Seedorf is wary of the threat posed by Arsenal in Wednesday's Champions League round-of-16 first leg. Serie A champions Milan finished second in Champions League Group H, behind holders Barcelona. In this week's first knockout stage they take on English Premier League side Arsenal, who topped Group F ahead of Marseille, at San Siro. Arsenal reached the final of the Champions League in 2006, and Seedorf has a healthy respect for Wenger's European regulars. "Every year, Arsenal take part in the Champions League to win it," Seedorf told Sky Sports. "They have the right combination of young and experienced players. They are one of the sides to beat." In 2003, Seedorf became the first player to win the Champions League with three different clubs (Ajax, Real Madrid and Milan), before lifting the trophy a fourth time in 2007. The 35-year-old compared the emotion of winning the Champions League to that of becoming a father. "Winning the Champions League is a joy than can be compared to the birth of a child," Seedorf said. "Every player dreams of winning it."

AC Milan veteran Clarence Seedorf is wary of the threat posed by Arsenal in Wednesday's Champions League round-of-16 first leg.
Serie A champions Milan finished second in Champions League Group H, behind holders Barcelona.
In this week's first knockout stage they take on English Premier League side Arsenal, who topped Group F ahead of Marseille, at San Siro.
Arsenal reached the final of the Champions League in 2006, and Seedorf has a healthy respect for Wenger's European regulars.
"Every year, Arsenal take part in the Champions League to win it," Seedorf told Sky Sports.
"They have the right combination of young and experienced players. They are one of the sides to beat."
In 2003, Seedorf became the first player to win the Champions League with three different clubs (Ajax, Real Madrid and Milan), before lifting the trophy a fourth time in 2007.
The 35-year-old compared the emotion of winning the Champions League to that of becoming a father.
"Winning the Champions League is a joy than can be compared to the birth of a child," Seedorf said.

"Every player dreams of winning it."

Henry set for Arsenal goodbye

hierry Henry wants to sign off on a high when his Arsenal loan spells ends with trip to face AC Milan in the Champions League.
Henry, 34, re-joined the north London club last month as part of temporary switch from New York Red Bulls during the Major League Soccer off-season.
He heads back to the US this week, but not before a first-leg clash with Serie A title holders Milan in the Champions League round of 16.
Henry scored the winning goal for Arsenal in their 2-1 English Premier League victory over Sunderland on Saturday.
When asked about the prospect of scoring one last time for Arsenal in Wednesday's match at San Siro, Henry told The Independent: "I have not thought about it. I just want to help Arsenal on the night."
"I am an Arsenal player for one more game. Milan is Milan. It is another type of game and it is never easy to win away in the Champions League."
Henry said the pleasure of such an unexpected opportunity to extend his Arsenal career was yet to sink in.
"I will look back on it afterwards and see what happened," he said.
"It has all been kind of unreal."
Team-mate Aaron Ramsey praised the influence of the former France international, before saying Arsenal should aim to take the initiative in Milan.
"It's been a fantastic period for (Henry), coming back to the club that he supports, and (he) has done so much for. It's a great story for him so far," Ramsey said.

"If we can go (to Milan) and get a few goals and then come back to the Emirates then that's going to be a fantastic result for us. Hopefully, we can get a couple of goals and keep them out as well.

Porto chief tips Villas-Boas for Inter

Porto president Pinto da Costa believes Chelsea coach Andre Villas-Boas will join Inter Milan if he leaves the English Premier League club.
Villas-Boas, 34, took over at Chelsea in June after guiding Porto to an impressive treble of the Liga Sagres, Portuguese Cup and Europa League in 2010/11.
He has struggled to reproduce such success during his first season at Stamford Bridge - Chelsea are fifth in the Premier League standings, 17 points back from leaders Manchester City.
Serie A club Inter were reportedly unable to secure Villas-Boas' services because of a 15 million-euro release clause in his Porto contract.
But if Chelsea were to dismiss him, Da Costa thinks the San Siro would be an ideal destination for his former employee.
"If he were to leave Chelsea, I am sure he will become the next coach at Inter," Da Costa told La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"He has the right personality to coach the Nerazzurri."
"In the past, I said the same thing about (Jose) Mourinho. However, in my opinion Villas-Boas made a mistake to leave Porto so soon."
"He thought that this was a unique opportunity, but he would surely get other offers like that."
Da Costa, 74, believes Villas-Boas needs time to put together a team capable of mounting a Premier League title challenge.
"I think that Villas-Boas is doing well at Chelsea," he said.
"He only needs time to fine-tune the squad, but this is impossible when there are players exchanging text messages with Mourinho."
"The only thing that could make him leave Chelsea will be the team's failure to qualify for the Champions League."
Inter appointed Gian Piero Gasperini as coach at the start of the 2011/12 season.

After failing to record a victory in five matches, he was sacked in September and replaced by Claudio Ranieri.

Ravanelli tells Juve to focus

Fabrizio Ravanelli believes his old club Juventus face a test of mental strength if they are to regain their lead in Serie A.
Juventus' league fixture against Bologna was postponed last weekend, and they were subsequently displaced from top spot by AC Milan, who earned a dramatic 2-1 victory over Udinese.
Juve remain undefeated in Serie A this season, and sit two points back from the defending champions.
They have played two matches fewer than Milan, but former Italy international Ravanelli knows better than to consider those games as points in the bag.
"Points and games to recover, do not count. Mentally you may think you have six points, but they count only the real ones," he told La Stampa.
The two-time Scudetto winner believes the pressure is on Juve, who can move above Milan if they win a re-arranged fixture against Parma this Wednesday.
"Well, now it is Juve who are chasing," he said.
"For this they will face the recoveries with a remarkable psychological weight."

Juventus could move four points clear at the top should they win both their games in hand.

Baldini: No Serie A return for Capello

Former England general manager Franco Baldini does not think Fabio Capello will return to Italian coaching in the near future.
Capello, 65, is without a job after stepping down as coach of England last week following the Football Association's unilateral decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy.
A move to Inter Milan has been mooted as a possibility, with Claudio Ranieri under considerable pressure at San Siro, but Baldini expects Capello to continue working outside his native country.
"I do not believe that a return to Italy is in his plans, I would be very surprised if that happened," Baldini told Mediaset.
Russian Premier League outfit Anzhi Makhachkala are believed to be in pole position to secure Capello's services after Yuri Krasnozhan left the club on Monday.
Meanwhile, Roma sporting director Baldini rued his team's display in their 1-0 Serie A defeat at Siena on Monday.
"We saw one side who wanted the victory and one who did not want it that much," he said.
"We did not play the game we usually play, I think it was one of our worst performances this season."

"Roma missed more than the result tonight. The coach and the players must question themselves."

Moratti powerless on Eto´o loss

nter Milan president Massimo Moratti says the club were unable to retain the services of key men Samuel Eto'o and Thiago Motta.Cameroon striker Eto'o signed for Russian Premier League side Anzhi Makhachkala last August in a deal reportedly worth 28 million euros, while Motta made the switch to Paris Saint-Germain last month.
Inter's attempts at reinforcing their squad have been the subject of much scrutiny, with the club sitting a distant fifth place on the Serie A table.
While the loss of Eto'o appears to have damaged Inter's prospects, but Moratti stressed the club was helpless in preventing the duo from leaving.
"I think I am an Inter fan and if some players left, it is because the conditions to keep them were no longer there," Moratti told Corriere della Sera.
"Nothing was done accidentally or superficially, we always considered the needs of that particular moment."
Moratti conceded his side may have made some poor recruitment moves, and acknowledged the fans' unhappiness at their relative lack of success in the past two seasons.
"It is possible that we have made some wrong decisions," Moratti said.
"But I do not think we made many errors, or even serious ones."
"The problem is that we had become too well-accustomed; in the last years we found players who were able to quickly enter the mechanism of the team."

"Football is not maths and strategies, as a renewal which seemed correct sometimes do not deliver the results that you wanted."