Russians wait for Ivanovic
BRANISLAV IVANOVIC could hand Zenit St Petersburg a boost after Roberto Mancini admitted he is in contention to start against Celtic tonight.
The former Chelsea defender looked to be out of the first leg of the Europa League clash with an eye injury but Mancini will give him until the last possible minute to prove his fitness.
Serbian stopper Ivanovic
had been training on his own during the Russian side’s winter camp in Turkey but is desperate to feature in Glasgow.
Mancini said of the vastly experienced 33-year-old: “Maybe Branislav can play or go on the bench. We will decide tomorrow.
“He has a problem with his eye. He is getting better but he is not 100 per cent yet. With his experience he is important to us.”
Mancini was in charge of Inter Milan when they eliminated Ronny Deila’s Hoops at the same stage of the competition three years ago.
They battled out a dramatic 3-3 draw in the first leg in Glasgow before the Serie A side ran out 1-0 winners in the San Siro.
The Zenit gaffer is preparing for another tough night in Scotland and says he isn’t reading too much into Celtic’s results in the Champions League.
The Hoops conceded 18 goals, suffering heavy defeats home and away against PSG and losing twice to Bayern Munich as well as Belgian cracks Anderlecht at home.
But Mancini admitted his side could be rusty after not playing a competitive game for two months and said: “Celtic played in a difficult group. Most teams would lose to PSG and Bayern.
“It was a tough group and they will be better in the Europa League.”
The Italian could come up against a couple of familiar faces having signed Scott Sinclair for Man City at a time when Olivier Ntcham was coming through at the Etihad.
He also had Dedryck Boyata although the Belgian is out injured tonight.
Mancini said: “Boyata played the first game in the Premier League and got a red card against Arsenal at home. He was really young at the time.
“I bought Scott from Swansea and he was unlucky as our team was really strong. They are all good players.”
Zenit are the top scorers in the Europa League with 17 goals and defender Miha Mevlja hopes to keep up their formidable form in attack against a Celtic backline that has been warned to sharpen up.
He said: “True, we are leading scorers in the Europa League which was important to get us to this stage. However, this is a different competition.
“But I do hope we can keep scoring as we have been doing so far. We are in good shape and looking forward to this match after not playing for two months.”