The Football season has returned in Russia as Zenit travel South East to Ulyanovsk on the banks of the Volga River at the weekend to face Volga Ulyanovsk at the Trud Stadium in the next round of The Russian Cup.

The reigning Champions last competitive game was a fiery 0-0 draw in the last round of the Cup against rivals Spartak Moscow, with Zenit winning 4-2 on penalties. Six red cards were dished out between the two sides with Rodrigao, Malcom and Wilmar Barrios all facing suspension for the upcoming clash.

During the winter break Zenit took on teams from Malaysia, Armenia, the United Arab Emirates and most recently Iran during the winter's Gazprom Training Cams. The final game saw Iran's Sepahan edge out the blue-white-sky blues in a 2-0 friendly. 

Volga were promoted to the FNL after finishing the 21-22 season in first place as group four winners, but currently linger in the relegation zone in 17th place. Their cup run so far has seen them beat league rivals Rubin Kazan, Neftekhimik and Kuban Krasnodar, all with 2-1 wins.
Manager Sergey Zhukov took over the helm at Volga after managing Tom Tomsk in October ‘22 and has six matches under his belt. As a player, Zhukov played in a holding midfield role for Rubin Kazan, Mainz and Lokomotiv Moscow, and this is reflected in his preferred formation of 4-2-3-1 with two holding midfielders allowing the attack to flow through the flanks. 

Belarus International goalkeeper Andrey Klimovich has sat out the last few games on the bench and so Russian keeper Semen Morozov is expected to feature between the sticks on Saturday. 
Former Russia U17s defensive midfielder Kirill Morozov has scored a single goal in the cup this season and provides the backbone for Volga’s defensive resilience. Dmitri Efremov, who has been capped for Russia, has two goals from three cup appearances so will look to add to the tally from the right side.  
On the opposite side of the pitch, left winger Daniil Arsentjev has made four appearances in which he has scored obe goal and assisted another. The talisman for the side is new striker Valeriy Solomakha. Joining in February on a loan transfer from Rodina-2 Moscow, Solomakha already has six goals and five assists in 14 games this season, and will be looking to add to this against Zenit.  

This will be the first meeting between these sides so it really is all to play for in a tantalising Cup game. 

Sergei Semak spoke to us in his pre-match press conference, alluding to the conditions on the pitch making for a good contest: “The worse the quality of the pitch is, the more any difference in the class and technique is levelled out. The match becomes simpler, movement, tackles, 50-50 balls, rebounds, all that becomes important.” Semak also hinted the inclusion of new signing Robert Renan after coming to Russia following his time with the Brazil U20 side during the winter break: “He has had a few training sessions with us and has made a good impression. We’ll see if he plays in the game a bit later.”

Volga v Zenit takes place this Saturday and kicks off at 2.30pm St. Petersburg time. The game will be live on Match-TV