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Zenit hosts Torino in Sankt Petersburg with the cold russian weather as their ally in the first leg of this interesting Europa League Round 16 tie.
Zenit was a little disappointed to miss qualification in the Champions League, but looking at how Leverkusen and Monaco played in the competition, it becomes understandable. The Russians went into the Europa League and destroyed the in form PSV 1-0 away and 3-0 at home, playing like a seasoned and experienced side … despite being in the mid season break. Now Zenit finally started the league and beat Ural 3-0 in the first game (Rondon hattrick), so they have some matches under their belt. The hosts are almost fully healthy for this game and can field more or less their best lineup.
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Torino qualified to this stage after a 3-2 win in Bilbao, preceded by a 2-2 draw at home. The Italians deserved to win both games, were better than Bilbao and played an amazing match away … but of course Bilbao was out of form and is not in the same quality league as Zenit. After the win in Spain Torino got another big one vs. Napoli, but their momentum ended last weekend with a 3-2 defeat vs. Udinese.
Zenit should have too much for Torino today and this tie can be similar to the one between Zenit and PSV … Torino is an exuberant team, they attack very well, but they do not have experience at this level and we saw how that worked out for PSV. I see Zenit putting on another solid defensive performance and taking advantage of Torino’s defensive problems to score a couple of goals. Hosts have a healthy lineup and home court advantage is big in the cold Russian weather (just over 0 degrees Celsius at game time) … so my tip will be Zenit to win. Correct score prediction: Zenit St Petersburg – Torino 2-0.
Pick: Zenit
Odds: 1.65 @ Winner
Stake: 8
Possible profit: 5.2
Event date: 12 March
