Zenit - Rosenborg
Stadium:"St. Petersburg"
Start of the match: 20:00
Arbitrator: Tobia Stilller (Germany)
Petersburg “Zenith” confidently won two starting matches in the group stage of the Europa League and now it is waiting for the first round of confrontation with “Rosenborg”. Successful games against the Norwegians will allow the Petrograd players to advance to the playoffs and be able to rotate the roster, because Zenit is leading in the national championship, but it still misfires, allowing competitors to get close at arm's length.
Many are already crowning Zenit, saying that they will surely win gold medals, nodding at unstable competitors who cannot impose a struggle on the Petersburgers. Mancini's team really has the best roster, the Russian national team players are sitting on the bench, who would strengthen any RFPL club, nevertheless, it is impossible to go through the tournament path without losses. “Zenith” after a brisk start began to lose points more and more often, it became more difficult for Petersburgers to break into the defense of the teams, which spend all 90 minutes in their own penalty area, counting on one counterattack.
“Anji” punished “Zenith” twice, but still missed the victory in the last minutes, “Arsenal” did not repeat this mistake, inflicting the first defeat on Mancini's team in the Premier League. All losses of points “Zenith” - games against outsiders or middle peasants. Tula “Arsenal”, “Anji”, “Dynamo”, “Ural” and “Rostov” - all these teams were closed in their own penalty area. Zenit also lost to the FNL team in the Russian Cup. The mood for strong teams is completely different, so there is a hope that in the Europa League, Petersburgers will be able to show a high-level game.
Rosenborg are a solid European team that celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. Reigning champion Norway. He began his European career this season with the second qualifying round of the Champions League, where he beat the Irish “Dundalk”, but then lost to Celtic and flew to the Europa League. There, the draw brought the Norwegians to the finalist of the last tournament, "Ajax", whom the "little trolls" (as they call "Rosenborg") won twice (1: 0 and 3: 2). In the group stage, the team was first defeated by Real Sociedad, and then beat Vardar, now it has three points and third place.
The most famous player is Niklas Bendtner, who has notably traveled around Europe. In addition to Arsenal, he played for Birmingham, Sunderland, Juventus, Wolfsburg, and came to Norway from Nottingham Forrest. At Rosenborg, the Dane revived his career, scoring 15 goals in 24 league games, and scoring twice in the Europa League.
Interesting Facts confrontation:
The teams previously played each other in the 1/16 finals of the UEFA Cup 05/06, Zenit won both matches (2: 1 and 2: 0)
Rosenborg have always scored in Russia, but they have always lost (2: 1 - Zenit, 5: 1 - Dynamo in 1992 and 4: 1 - Spartak in 1995). In six games against Russian teams, they managed to win only once (against Dynamo, but the Muscovites went further on aggregate).
“Zenith”, in addition to “Rosenborg”, met with the Norwegian “Valerenga” in 1985. They managed to win both matches with a score of 2: 0.
Oleg Shatov may play his 50th match in European competition.
Approximate compositions:
"Zenith": Lunev, Mevlya, Ivanovich, Mammana, Krishito, Paredes, Kranevitter, Kuzyaev, Rigoni, Driusi, Kokorin.
Rosenborg: Hansen, Hedenstad, Meling, Reginiussen, Jensen, Konradsen, Bendtner, de Lanlay Shelvik, Lundemo, Adegbenro.
Match prediction
“Zenith” is the favorite of the match, Petersburgers must confidently beat their opponent and take a step towards the playoffs. Bookmakers offer odds of 1.30 for Zenit's victory, 5.80 for a draw, and 10.00 for Rosenborg.
Vyacheslav Gorbachev
Zenit is preparing for the match with the Norwegians in full force. Rosenborg's flank forward Yann-Erik de Lanle is injured. No disqualified. We predict the line-ups and consider the opposition between the players of the teams of Roberto Mancini and Kore Ingebrigtsen.
Andrey Lunev - Andre Hansen - 1: 0
Zenit has an advantage in the goalkeeper line: Lunev is generally more reliable than 27-year-old Hansen. In particular, in this Europa League, the Rosenborg goalkeeper conceded after unsuccessfully hitting the ball, and sometimes he acted too self-confident and risked when playing with his feet. Hansen has good statistics (4.8 shots on target per goal), but Lunev's performance is higher in both the LE and the Premier League. By the way, in the qualifying round of the 2018 World Cup, the candidate for the Norwegian national team got into the application for the matches of the national team five times, but never entered the field.
Branislav Ivanovic - Vegar-Eggen Hedenstad - 2: 0
In the Europa League there is no limit on foreign players, and Mancini, apparently, will again practice a large number of foreigners, repeat the "base" from the match with Real Sociedad. However, it is possible that the coach will decide to give Ivanovich a rest before the game against CSKA, and Igor Smolnikov will appear on the right from the first minutes. The 26-year-old Hedenstad is an attacking defender who is capable of connecting forward and making a dangerous cross. At the same time, he is the leader of Rosenborg in tackling the ball in the championship (2.4 on average in 90 minutes).
Emanuel Mammana - Tore Reginiussen - 3: 0
Mammanoy's skipping of the match with Tula Arsenal was hardly connected with his mistakes against Anji, most likely it was the defender's flight to Argentina and back. Emanuel will return to the "base" to, along with Mevla, neutralize ex-Arsenal player Bendtner. Reginiussen, 31, is the absolute best at Rosenborg in clearing (7.7) and interceptions (2.4). However, with Zenit's high-speed attacks, it will be difficult for him to keep up with his opponents.
Micha Mevlja - Jorgen Shelvik - 4: 1
The performance of the freshest newcomer blue-white-blue Mevli still leaves an ambiguous impression. That in “Zenith”, that in the matches for the national team of Slovenia, against the background of a confident game in general, he makes at least one serious mistake, leading to a scoring chance or a conceded goal, which reminds Luis Neto. Shelvik, 26, has a knack for positioning, but can get confused under pressure. It is possible that Johan Bjerdahl or Jakob Rasmussen will play instead in the center of defense.
Domenico Criscito - Birger Meling - 5: 1
The Zenit captain must show by his example that the bad match with Arsenal was an accident, wake up his partners and make the team angry. Krishito is to blame for the Tula's goal no less than the Ivanovich - Mevlya pair, since he allowed the pass to Kirill Kombarov. Meling is a sharp, fast, aggressive defender. At the same time, the 22-year-old player still lacks experience, he often loses his position, leaves freedom to the opponent and makes mistakes when working with the ball.
Matthias Kranevitter - Morten Konradsen - 6: 1
In order for Zenit to function effectively in the center of the pitch, next to the Argentine defensive midfielder, a midfielder with a good middle and long pass is needed. Christian Noboa may appear in the “base” of the hosts for this game, but it will not be surprising if the Ecuadorian comes out instead of Kranevitter himself. 27-year-old Konradsen is capable of playing any position in Rosenborg's top three. In any case, this is a footballer with a lot of work aimed at tackling the ball.
Leandro Paredes - Mike Jensen - 7: 2
To open the defense of Rosenborg, it is necessary that the ball, after its transfer to Zenit, is quickly delivered forward to the attackers - behind the backs of tall stoppers. The main hope here is on Paredes, whose "radio-controlled" passes will be awaited by Kokorin and Driussi, as well as high-speed Rigoni. The Dane Jensen is one of the key figures in the ranks of Rosenborg. The 29-year-old Norwegian captain has great ball control and is quite agile and uncompromising for a player playing the role of a playmaker.
Daler Kuzyaev - Anders Tronnsen - 8: 3
Kuzyaev played for over an hour with Arsenal, although Stanislav Cherchesov said that the Zenit midfielder played for the Russian national team amid injury. If Kuzyaev does not get into the “base” at Rosenborg, Oleg Shatov or Yuri Zhirkov will appear on the left. The Norwegian coach, in turn, chooses between 22-year-old Tronnsen and 23-year-old Marius Lundema. They are also very hard-working players, like Konradsen, trying to ensure quality selection and keep the ball.
Emiliano Rigoni - Milan Evtovic - 9: 3
Rigoni's speed will stumble upon the speed of the left-back Meling - we look forward to an extremely interesting opposition of fast players on this flank. However, the "two-legged" Rigoni can take a place on the left edge: it all depends on the tactical decisions of Mancini. 24-year-old Serb Evtovic seemed more like a "runner" than a creative flank striker, it does not seem that he has some kind of cunning dribbling. Perhaps he will be replaced by the more acute and productive in the championship Paul-André Helland.
Sebastian Driussi - Samuel Adegbenro - 10: 4
We continue to look forward to seeing Driussi take the next step in his progress, improve his implementation and score in Europe as often as in the Argentine Championship. Driussi's chances of playing Rosenborg are probably better than those of Dmitry Poloz and Artem Dziuba, especially if Mancini does not change 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. Adegbenro is a fast striker who loves to dribble and attack the goal on his own. The 21-year-old Nigerian will be remembered as a double for Ajax, so he needs an eye and an eye.
Alexander Kokorin - Niklas Bendtner - 11: 5
In the last three matches of the Europa League, Kokorin made a double, and, of course, the guests are primarily afraid of him. It is intriguing how Zenit and Rosenborg's top scorer (15 league goals) Bendtner will look against each other. Kokorin's story with champagne is nothing compared to the scandals in which a Dane nicknamed Lord got drunk. However, at Rosenborg, 29-year-old Bendtner is good, he works a lot for the team, clings to the ball, gives smart passes and scores.
Roberto Mancini - Kore Ingebrigtsen - 12: 5
Rosenborg is one step away from winning gold in the national championship, so Ingebrigtsen has the opportunity to concentrate one hundred percent on the Europa League. The Norwegians play 4-3-3 with him, they are unlikely to deviate from their usual pattern in the match against Zenit. If anything will surprise the opponent, it is a tricky corner kick. Ingebrigtsen does not have such titles as Mancini, nevertheless he is a fairly experienced specialist.
So, on Thursday evening the Europa League returns, and we will have a match between Zenit and the Norwegian Rosenborg.
The upcoming duel, I think, is of great strategic importance for the Petersburgers. “Zenith” needs to take three points in this meeting in order to almost certainly guarantee itself a ticket to the playoffs of the tournament, which in the future will make it possible to feel more confident in the domestic championship, where recent times Mancini's team is having difficulties.
“Zenith” has lost points in two games in a row, and if at first there was an away draw 2: 2 with “Anji”, then a terrible home defeat from “Arsenal” followed, the reasons for which we tried to consider in this article.
Zenit has no margin of safety and a tangible advantage over its pursuers, and therefore the team needs to quickly solve its problems in the Europa League in order to fully concentrate on the domestic arena.
I would like to believe that Roberto Mancini also adheres to this opinion, and therefore, in a duel with the Norwegians, he will definitely put up the main squad and abandon adventurous experiments with the squad, which have already cost the “blue-white-blue” several lost points in the Premier League.
First of all, I look forward to returning to the base of Paredes, who was the team leader at the start of the season, but then was in the reserve. First because of injury, and then, apparently, because of the coaching decisions of Mancini, who for some reason decided that Leandro was not an unconditional member of the team, but a rotation player. It seems that Mathias Kranevitter is more suitable for this role, whose football is still quite unconvincing and unstable - the defensive player alternates bright matches with frankly disastrous ones.
In addition, I would like to see Rigoni in action from the first minutes, which is also used by Mancini only from time to time. Meanwhile, in those fights in which Emiliano came out at the base, he looked very, very good and even scored important goals - as it did in the fight against Real Sociedad.
In general, Mancini, most likely, will again have no choice but to release an almost entirely legionnaire squad, supplemented by only a couple of Russians. Lunev, Kuzyaev and Kokorin. All other performers with a national passport are still extremely ambiguous, and therefore trusting them with a place from the first minutes in the game, where you need to take three points and nothing else, is not the best idea.
What can you say about Zenit's rival Rosenborg? This team is now confidently leading in the Norwegian championship, and 5 rounds before the end of the season has a 10 point lead over the closest pursuer. Simply put, Rosenborg's title is already in his pocket.
In Norway, Rosenborg have not known defeats since August 20, when they unexpectedly lost 0-1 at home to Haugesund. At the same time, 3 of the last 4 matches in the Norwegian league "Rosenborg" won with a score of 3: 0, and in another match, again, a rather unexpected draw at home 1: 1 with "Sarpsborg" was recorded. Such unpredictable results suggest that Rosenborg is, to some extent, a team of moods. On her day, she loves to take out rivals in one wicket, at the same time, if things are not going well, then at least take out the saints. And in some ways, you see, it is similar to Zenit, which this season, if it fails, so with a bang - home defeats 0: 1 from Bnei Yehuda and Arsenal are evidence of this.
In the Europa League, “Rosenborg” things are also ambiguous. In the first round, the Norwegians were beaten 4-0 by Real Sociedad in Spain. And then at home they won 3: 1 "Vardar". Although this last match certainly not an indicator due to the frankly low level of the Macedonian team. So the real test, which can confirm Rosenborg's claims to reach the playoffs, awaits the Norwegian team on Thursday in St. Petersburg. And “Zenith” needs to be prepared for the fact that the opponent will tune in to this meeting as the last battle.
Indicative compositions.
Two weeks have passed since the first match between the teams, in which Zenit confidently beat Rosenborg (3: 0). After the match with the Norwegians, "St. Petersburg" has not yet won, moreover, they have lost their leadership in the championship, losing to Lokomotiv in a home match (0: 3). Now we can say with confidence that Zenit is in crisis. The duel against Rosenborg could become a lifeline for Mancini, which will help pull the team out of this situation, because entering the European Cup spring can wake anyone up.
The Norwegian team will try to surprise the Russian club, because they failed to do it in the first match. Rosenborg must defeat the St. Petersburg team in order to keep the chances of qualifying from the group. In the Norwegian championship, Rosenborg is doing well. Three rounds before the end of the championship, they are in the lead with an advantage of eight points, and can direct all their forces to today's match.
Starting line-ups "Rosenborg" - "Zenith"
In Rosenborg's match against Zenit, two main players, the team's midfielder Andres Konradsen, and the attacking midfielder Yann-Erik de Lanlay were forced to miss.
Daler Kuzyaev did not fly to Norway with the team. The player was injured in the match with Lokomotiv. This loss will be the only one for Mancini, and Paredes will appear in the center of the field instead of Kuzyaev.
The problems of the St. Petersburg team are more connected with the problems in the attack. In the Russian championship, Zenit has not been able to print the gates of their rivals for three matches in a row.
Rosenborg:
Hansen - Hendenstad, Reginiussen, Skjelvik, Meling - Jensen, Luendemo, Trondsen - Zhevtovich, Bendtner, Adegbenro.
"Zenith":
Lunev - Smolnikov, Mevlya, Mammana, Krishito - Kraneviter, Paredes, Erokhin - Rigoni, Kokorin, Driussi.
Forecast for the match "Rosenborg" - "Zenith"
Most likely, the fate of the match will be decided by one goal scored... Rosenborg must take control of the game and try to score an early goal.
Bookmakers see Zenit as the favorite of the match, the victory of which is quoted with a coefficient 2,00 ... Rosenborg's victory is estimated by the coefficient 4,00 , and a draw - 3,60 .
The bookmakers' views on the number of goals scored in the match differed, so the odds for the total total of the match are almost equal. The probability that teams will be able to score more than 2.5 goals in a match is estimated by the coefficient 1,85 , less than 2.5 goals - 1,95 .
Considering not very good shape Petersburgers and practically solved the problem of getting out of the group, we can assume that Zenit will not be very active. Forecast for the fight from the editorial site
