UEFA Champions League 2013: The 'new' League of Champions

Zenit St. Petersburg

Experienced striker Roman Shirokov will lead the line for Zenit (Getty Images)

The Russian team might not enjoy celebrity status in Champions League circles, but no one can deny them their European presence after their UEFA Cup win in 2008 and subsequent defeat of Manchester United in the Super Cup. The team came second in the Russian Premier League last season and were knocked out of the Europa League by FC Basel. They had defeated Liverpool in the process, but that can hardly be counted as an achievement.

The team is financed by a major oil company “Gazprom” and they are steadily building a strong squad to compete in Europe. They might not have spent millions and millions on wasteful signings, but have shown enough intent in the transfer market after the capture of Hulk and Axel Witsel on the same day for a staggering total of £64 million. The two of them have enough talent amongst them to take on the big boys of Europe.

The more recent capture of Andrey Arshavin on a free transfer from Arsenal looks to be a sensible piece of business and his experience might be handful in crunch games.

The team is placed with FC Porto and Athletico Madrid as their main competitors for the knock out place. They have talented players, but lack consistency on the big stage. Hulk has been accused of trying to do too much on the field and his frustrated often gets the better of him.

They have enjoyed decent success under manager Luciano Spalleti, winning the Russian league in 2011 and 2012. The team had reached the knock out stage for the first time in the 2011-12 season of the UCL and would definitely try to better that record this year.

Opponents: Athletico Madrid, FC Porto, FK Austria Wien

Players to watch out: Hulk, Arshavin, Alex Witsel.