Advocaat: We Can Beat Juve & Madrid

Zenit were drawn alongside the Italian and Spanish giants in Group H, in what is unsurprisingly being billed as the ‘Group of Death’.

Although Madrid and Juventus will be favourites to go through, Zenit certainly have a fantastic chance too, given the fact they are UEFA Cup holders, and recently beat Manchester United to win the European Supercup.

"I think what we showed last season, coming so far and even winning the UEFA Cup, was an incredible achievement but I think we still must be considered as an outsider for the tournament," Advocaat told uefa.com.

"Even in our group, Real Madrid and Juventus will be seen as the teams to beat while we and BATE will be viewed by everyone as fighting for third or fourth place.

"Our group is tough but, in principle, this is the Champions League and if you want to do well you have to expect to face and beat teams like Manchester United and Juventus.”

On Wednesday, Zenit kick off their Champions League campaign with a trip to Turin to play an in-form Juventus side, but Advocaat is not unduly worried.

"So for me it's not a problem, it's a challenge. Regarding Juventus, we've needed to update our information because they've not been in Europe for a couple of seasons,” he explained.

"The newer players are the ones our scouts have been analysing because Pavel Nedvěd, Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet are well known to us. If they have their day, which we mustn't allow, then Juventus can beat anyone. But I have faith that Zenit can damage some teams."


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