CSKA wary of Sevilla despite weather

CSKA Moscow v Sevilla:CSKA MOSCOW must overcome a prolonged winter break and the possible loss of playmaker Alan Dzagoyev when they host Sevilla tonight. The Russians said the first leg would go ahead as scheduled despite the fact a huge storm hit Moscow this week, dropping more than half a metre of snow on the capital over the last few days.

CSKA fans were hoping cold weather and Luzhniki’s artificial turf would give their team the edge, but full back Vasily Berezutsky was taking nothing for granted.

“It would be a big mistake to think the Spaniards would just fall over on the slippery surface and give us a clean path to their goal,” he said.

“As far as the cold, both teams will be on equal terms. We must also have to get used to the cold after spending the last several weeks training in Spain and Turkey.”

CSKA have played only one competitive match in almost three months – a 2-1 win over Besiktas in Istanbul on December 8th – that clinched them a place in the last 16 for the first time.

Berezutsky’s twin brother, Alexei, and fellow defender Sergei Ignashevich are available after serving a one-match ban for breaking doping regulations at November’s Champions League match against Manchester United.

The players escaped a longer suspension when Uefa’s disciplinary committee ruled they had been the victims of a procedural error by the club’s medical staff.

However, Dzagoyev, one of CSKA’s key players, was likely to remain on the bench, nursing a painful groin injury.

Sevilla go into the match on something of a high after they became the first team to come away from Real Mallorca’s Ono Estadi with any points this season thanks to Saturday’s 3-1 victory in La Liga that cemented their hold on fourth.

Coach Manolo Jimenez will be without striker Luis Fabiano and winger Diego Capel, who are injured, but Frederic Kanoute is available after the Mali forward shook off a muscle injury that sidelined him at the weekend.