Saint Petersburg: Russian league leaders Zenit St Petersburg have returned from their winter break determined to win the Europa League title after their early Champions League exit.
“Zenit’s line-up is strong enough to win the Europa League title this season,” Ukrainian international midfielder Anatoly Tymoshchuk told Russian daily Sport Express.
“I believe that it will certainly be done.”
Zenit, who were eliminated from the Champions League after the group stage, will face Dutch league high-flyers PSV Eindhoven in the Europa League’s last 32 round.
Meanwhile, Belgian full back Nicolas Lombaerts also said Zenit had a fair chance of going all the way in the Europa League, provided they overcome PSV.
“The matches with PSV will definitely be tough for us,” Lombaerts told Zenit’s official site.
“For us it will be the first official matches after the winter break, while Eindhoven lead the Dutch championship, which is currently in full swing.
“But in case of a success (against PSV) everything is possible. We have an excellent team and we’re all hungry for the wins.”
His fellow-Belgian, midfielder Axel Witsel, said he believed that the club are capable of beating PSV.
“PSV are good opponents for us,” Witsel said. “We should win both matches with them to go through to the next round. We have everything we need to do that.
“And we also have no other choice but to win the Russian title this season. For me it’s obvious.”
Zenit currently top the Russian league table with 41 points from 17 matches, seven ahead of the second-placed champions CSKA Moscow.
The Russian Premiership will restart after the winter lay-off in March.
