Last Chance Looms for Holders Zenit

After Werder Bremen and Olympique de Marseille survived scares to book spots in Friday's UEFA Cup quarter-final draw, the spotlight switches to tonight's remaining six games.

Zenit task
Much of the attention will be focused on holders FC Zenit St. Petersburg, who are in danger of losing their grip on the trophy as they trail Udinese Calcio by two goals ahead of the return in Russia. Zenit looked set for a satisfactory scoreless draw in the Round of 16 first leg at the Stadio Friuli before late strikes from Fabio Quagliarella and Antonio Di Natale left them with an uphill task this evening.

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Déjà vu
However, this is not an unusual position for Dick Advocaat's men, who recovered a similar deficit at this stage of last season's competition, overturning Marseille's 3-1 advantage by winning 2-0 in St Petersburg to progress on away goals. The French club avoided a second successive Round of 16 elimination, and the lottery of penalties, when Tyrone Mears scored in the 110th minute against AFC Ajax on Wednesday to earn a 4-3 aggregate win. Their Ligue 1 rivals, AS Saint-Etienne, also drew 2-2 on the night although it was not enough to progress despite a spirited comeback against Bremen.

Former champions
With Ajax out it means that as well as Zenit, there are two other former winners still standing and both are on course for the quarter-finals. Galatasaray AŞ (2000) have the benefit of an away goal for the visit of Hamburger SV to the Ali Sami Yen after holding Martin Jol's team to a 1-1 draw in Germany, while PFC CSKA Moskva (2005) journey to FC Shakhtar Donetsk with a 1-0 cushion thanks to Vágner Love's penalty – his eleventh goal of the UEFA Cup campaign.

Treacherous trips
FC Dynamo Kyiv (v FC Metalist Kharkiv) also lead by the narrowest of margins ahead of their return trip although Manchester City FC (v Aalborg BK) have a little more breathing space after they ended the Danish club's 16-match unbeaten run in all competitions with a 2-0 win. In the remaining tie, Paris Saint-Germain FC go to SC Braga after the pair served up the only scoreless draw of the round.

( UEFA )