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Malafeev makes plans to upset Madrid
Focus by Oleg Sokol from St Petersburg
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Russian international Vyacheslav Malafeev
is in bullish mood for Zenit (¿Getty Images)
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FC Zenit St. Petersburg goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev
may believe that Real Madrid CF "are the favourites" to win
their UEFA Champions League Group H encounter on Tuesday, but he is still
hopeful that his team can get off the mark when they welcome the Spanish
Liga title-holders to Russia.
Confidence
Zenit were beaten 1-0 at Juventus in their competition debut a fortnight
ago, and three days later lost 3-1 at home to PFC CSKA Moskva to leave
the UEFA Cup holders further adrift in the race for 2009/10 European places
in Russia. However, they recovered to win 3-0 at FC Lokomotiv Moskva on
Saturday and Malafeev is in good spirits. "We were not worse than
[Juventus] in my opinion and for sure were better then CSKA, but in both
games our opponents took their chances but we wasted ours," the 29-year-old
told uefa.com. "[Saturday's] game showed that we are in good shape
and we look forward to getting our first points on Tuesday."
'Quality football'
While Dick Advocaat's side lie sixth in Russia, Madrid are in ominous
form, winning their last four league games and beating FC BATE Borisov
2-0 on Matchday 1. "Of course Real are the favourites," Malafeev
said. "But we are at home and, as I said, are in good shape."
As for whether both teams will use their usual attacking strategies, the
Russian international mused: "It depends on the tactics Advocaat
chooses. The only thing I know is that the teams will play quality football."
Danny quality
Up front there is a huge boost for Zenit with the return of Andrei Arshavin,
suspended on Matchday 1, to form a formidable three-man attack with Pavel
Pogrebnyak and Danny, signed for a Russian record ?30m from FC Dinamo
Moskva in late August. "Danny has been in the team for just a month
and I am surprised how quickly he has adapted to a new city and a new
team," Malafeev said. "He is displaying a high-quality game
and scoring goals."
UEFA.com,
29 September 2008
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