St. Petersburg, Oct 2 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Zenit St. Petersburg have the quality to win this season’s Champions League football tournament, said Russian FA president Nikolai Tolstykh.
Zenit broke the Russian transfer record when they spent 80 million euros to sign Brazil striker Hulk and Belgium’s midfielder Axel Witsel, but have not won a league game since as well as suffering a 0-3 opening Champions League group stage defeat to Malaga.
When asked what sort of goal Zenit are capable of achieving in Europe this year, Tolstykh said the Russian champions could go all the way.
“Zenit can win but it’ll be a difficult task,” he said, adding: “I think Zenit can overcome that.”
Last season, the Gazprom-backed side reached the Champions League knockout stages for the first time in their history, but were eliminated by Benfica.
“I think that Zenit can be ranked among the leading European clubs. Zenit should set the toughest sporting goals. They have every opportunity for this,” Tolstykh said.
The Russian side host AC Milan Wednesday and enter the match with one win in their last six games in all competitions.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
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