FC Zenit St. Petersburg missed a chance to further their claim for a top-two finish in Group H after a goalless home draw against already-qualified Juventus.

Resolute display
Needing a victory to leapfrog Real Madrid CF – who lead Zenit by a point ahead of their match at FC BATE Borisov – Dick Advocaat's side dominated possession for long periods. Yet it was their resolute visitors who passed up the best opportunities, hitting the woodwork twice in the first half, leaving Zenit without a victory from their three home matches and Russia without a group-stage win since 17 October 2006.

Early chance
Zenit made just one change from the team which won at BATE on Matchday 4, with Nicolas Lombaerts drafted in for his UEFA Champions League debut in place of the suspended Sébastien Puygrenier, and it was the Belgian defender's foul which led to the first opening on two minutes. Vincenzo Iaquinta lured the Zenit No6 into a challenge on the touchline and from Mauro Camoranesi's ensuing free-kick, Iaquinta headed over from six metres. The Bianconeri could have forged ahead seven minutes later. Making only his third appearance since coming back from an nine-month injury lay-off, Lombaerts again felled Iaquinta in an almost identical position to the first incident. And from another Camoranesi set-piece, Olof Mellberg rose highest to head against the outside of the far post.

Zenit escape
Speculative long-range efforts aside, Zenit were creating little and it was the woodwork which came to their rescue once more midway through the half when Pavel Nedvěd played in Cristian Molinaro, whose cut-back was fired against the post by Iaquinta. Zenit continued to play some neat football but with Juve defending in packs, clear sights of the Serie A team's goal were scarce. They did, however, have the ball in net six minutes before half-time, only for the assistant referee's raised flag to curtail Ivica Križanac's celebrations.

Swift break
Possession at the break was 64-36 in Zenit's favour, a sign of how pressing their need for a goal was, yet they were nearly behind within seconds of the restart following a swift Juventus break. Up from right-back, Zdeněk Grygera crossed for Alessandro Del Piero, whose volley was beaten out by Vyacheslav Malafeev. At the other end, Danny's bending shot forced Alex Manninger to tip around the post. The Juve captain then tested Malafeev twice before guiding Iaquinta's pull-back wide with the goal at his mercy.

Zenit pressure
Led by Danny, Zenit continued to probe for the goal which would ignite their Group H campaign, and it was the Portuguese playmaker who thought he had it only to be denied by a last-ditch tackle from Claudio Marchisio. Pogrebnyak then fired a long-range shot against the base of Manninger's right-hand post as Zenit went for broke, while Danny's toe-poke drifted agonisingly wide with six minutes left.

Thirteen months after leaving Anfield with a shock 1-0 victory, Olympique de Marseille must repeat the trick if they are to avoid UEFA Champions League elimination against opponents just one step away from securing their last-16 place.

• Mathieu Valbuena's 77th-minute goal on 3 October last year earned Marseille their first win on English soil – as well as the first for any French team at Liverpool – but the backdrop to their latest visit to Merseyside is bleak for the Ligue 1 side.

• Since that memorable night, Erik Gerets' men have lost six of their subsequent seven away fixtures in UEFA club competition while Liverpool, by contrast, have built an eight-match unbeaten run at Anfield, the third qualifying round win against R. Standard de Liège included.

• Moreover, Liverpool have since beaten Marseille twice at the Stade Vélodrome and will enter this latest contest hungry for the victory that would assure them passage to the knockout stage for the fifth season running.

• Rafael Benítez's team are tied with leaders Club Atlético de Madrid on eight points at the Group D summit – five points clear of both Marseille and bottom-placed PSV Eindhoven. Given this gap, the Premier League club can also tie up their qualification with a draw provided that PSV fail to beat Atlético in the section's other Matchday 5 fixture.

• Liverpool will hope for a more comfortable evening than Atlético gave them at Anfield on 4 November when it took a Steven Gerrard penalty deep into added time to salvage a point in a 1-1 draw.

• Marseille breathed fresh life into their campaign on the same evening by collecting their first points with a 3-0 home win against PSV thanks to goals from Bakari Koné (30) and Mamadou Niang (63, 71).

• While the French side can harbour realistic hope of at least securing third place – and a UEFA Cup berth – their earlier results in Group D do not augur well for the trip to Anfield given they lost away games at Atlético (1-2) and PSV (0-2), as well as going down 2-1 at home to Liverpool on Matchday 1.

• Although Lorik Cana gave OM a 23rd-minute lead against the English club, Gerrard soon turned the score around with a quickfire double after 26 and 32 minutes.

• Gerrard also found the Marseille net – together with Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Ryan Babel – when Liverpool secured their place in the last 16 at Marseille's expense last season, with a 4-0 victory at the Vélodrome on 11 December last year.

• On the plus side for Marseille, though their first three trips to Premier League clubs ended in defeat they are unbeaten in their last four visits to England and, as mentioned already, recorded a first victory on the other side of the Channel at Anfield last term.

• The lineups for last season's encounter in Liverpool – which was Gerets' first game at the Marseille helm – were as follows:
Liverpool: Pepe Reina, Steve Finnan, Jamie Carragher, Sami Hyypiä, Fábio Aurélio (Andriy Voronin), Yossi Benayoun, Mohamed Sissoko, Steven Gerrard, Sebastian Leto (John Arne Riise), Fernando Torres, Peter Crouch (Dirk Kuyt).
Marseille: Steve Mandanda, Laurent Bonnart, Julien Rodriguez, Gaël Givet, Taye Taiwo, Lorik Cana, Benoît Cheyrou, Mathieu Valbuena (Wilson Oruma), Karim Ziani, Boudewijn Zenden (Salim Arrache), Mamadou Niang (Djibril Cissé).

• Marseille's previous visit to Anfield brought a 1-1 draw in the fourth round of the UEFA Cup in 2003/04 as they became the first French visitors to avoid defeat there at the sixth time of asking. Didier Drogba cancelled out Milan Baroš's opening goal for Liverpool and the Ligue 1 club won the return leg 2-1 en route to reaching the final of that season's competition, where they lost to Benítez's Valencia CF.

• The lineups for that first Merseyside meeting were:
Liverpool: Chris Kirkland, Steve Finnan (Igor Bišcan), Stéphane Henchoz, Sami Hyypiä, Jamie Carragher, Danny Murphy (Emile Heskey), Dietmar Hamann, Steven Gerrard, Harry Kewell, Milan Baroš, Michael Owen.
Marseille: Fabien Barthez, Habib Beye, Brahim Hemdani, Abdoulaye Méïté, Sébastien Pérez (Demetrius Ferreira), Sylvain N'Diaye, Mathieu Flamini, Manuel Dos Santos, Laurent Batlles (Camel Meriem), Steve Marlet, Didier Drogba.

• History as well as the present standings suggest a tough assignment awaits Marseille with Liverpool having won eight of their ten previous home games against French opposition.

• The most famous of Liverpool's home wins against French visitors was arguably the first, against AS Saint-Etienne in the 1976/77 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-final. En route to their maiden success in the competition, Liverpool, trailing 1-0 after the first leg in France, fell a further goal behind in the return before fighting back to win 3-2 on aggregate.

• Marseille coach Gerets suffered a 3-2 defeat when he took former club Galatasaray AŞ to Liverpool in the 2006/07 group stage.

• Marseille midfielder Benoît Cheyrou's brother Bruno had a two-year spell at Anfield between 2002 and 2004.

• The French club's Dutch midfielder Boudewijn Zenden spent two seasons with Liverpool from 2005, making his last appearance in the 2007 UEFA Champions League final defeat by AC Milan.

Denied early qualification for the last 16 by a penalty equaliser five minutes into added time at Anfield in their last outing, Club Atlético de Madrid will try again when they take on PSV Eindhoven in the Spanish capital on Matchday 5.

• Atlético's 1-1 draw at Liverpool FC on 4 November kept them top of the Group D standings with eight points, ahead of the English club on goal difference. Despite the frustration of dropping two points at the last, they remain strongly placed to progress from the section and will do so if they beat PSV.

• With Atlético and Liverpool both lying five points clear of Olympique de Marseille and PSV, Javier Aguirre's side will also qualify if they draw against the Dutch champions and Liverpool avoid defeat in their home fixture against Marseille.

• PSV, by contrast, missed the chance to close the gap on the top two when losing 3-0 at Marseille on Matchday 4, a defeat that sent them to the foot of the table, with the French side leapfrogging them thanks to a superior head-to-head record.

• Huub Stevens' men now must win in Spain to avoid elimination from the UEFA Champions League although a more realistic aim now would be to try and secure third place ahead of Marseille.

• PSV's recent record on their travels in the UEFA Champions League does not augur well – they have lost four and won one of their last five – and they face opponents with a formidable home record in Europe's élite club competition. In 24 matches, Atlético have recorded 17 wins, four draws and just three losses.

• Atlético were 3-0 winners at PSV on Matchday 1, Sergio Agüero (9, 36) and Maniche (54) the scorers. They subsequently recorded a 2-1 victory against Marseille and 1-1 draw with Liverpool, both at the Vicente Calderón, prior to their previous outing, the draw at Anfield.

• PSV's solitary victory so far was a 2-0 success at home against Marseille on Matchday 3 and they have lost both of their away fixtures so far, going down 3-1 at Liverpool, then 3-0 at Marseille.

• Atlético's home record against Dutch opposition reads three wins and one defeat from four matches, although in each of those ties they finished up losers on aggregate.

• AFC Ajax were the first and also most recent Eredivisie side to come to the Vicente Calderón. Atlético beat them 1-0 in the first leg of their European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-final in 1970/71 but lost the tie 3-1 overall.

• In the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals Atlético drew 1-1 in Amsterdam but then lost 3-2 at home after extra time.

• In between, the Madrid club recorded 2-1 home wins against FC Groningen in the first round of the 1983/84 and 1988/89 UEFA Cup competitions only to crash out after away defeats.

• Atlético's overall record against Dutch sides is P9 W4 D1 L4.

• This is PSV's eleventh away match against Spanish opposition and they are stilll seeking a first victory. Their record in Spain is P10 W0 D4 L6.

• PSV have never visited Atlético before but they have taken on their cross-city rivals Real Madrid CF four times in the Spanish capital, recording one draw and three defeats. That solitary draw came in the first leg of their 1987/88 European Cup semi-final – the 1-1 scoreline setting up an away goals triumph for PSV after a goalless second leg. Gerets featured in both of those matches as well as the final which the Dutch club won on penalties against SL Benfica.

• PSV coach Stevens has a good record against Spanish opposition. As a player with PSV, he was in the team that beat Real Sporting de Gijón 1-0 on aggregate in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup first round.

• As coach of FC Schalke 04, Stevens oversaw victories against Valencia CF and CD Tenerife en route to their 1996/97 UEFA Cup final win against FC Internazionale Milano. His Schalke side lost 1-0 at home against RCD Mallorca in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League group stage but then defeated them 4-0 on their travels.

• PSV trio Otman Bakkal, Dirk Marcellis and Erik Pieters were in the Netherlands team beaten by an Argentina side featuring Atlético's Sergio Agüero in the last eight of the Olympic Football Tournament in China. Bakkal scored for the Netherlands but it was not enough to prevent a 2-1 extra-time reverse.

• Atlético's Dutch international defender, John Heitinga, will need no introduction to PSV having spent seven seasons in the first team of their Eredivisie rivals AFC Ajax, prior to decamping to the Spanish capital last summer. In his time at Ajax Heitinga played nine Eredivisie matches against PSV and finished on the losing side in five of them, all bar one of those losses coming in home matches.

• Atlético forward Diego Forlán had a brief spell playing alongside PSV defender Jan Kromkamp with Villarreal CF during the 2005/06 season.

• Atlético's Luis García played for Liverpool FC against PSV in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage while goalkeeper Grégory Coupet was in the Olympique Lyonnais side that eliminated the Eindhoven club in the first knockout round the previous season. He was also part of the team that lost on penalties to the Dutch side in the 2004/05 quarter-finals.

• The Spanish club's Czech defender, Tomáš Ujfaluši, featured in the Fiorentina side that beat PSV 3-1 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals last term.

• PSV's French defender Jérémie Bréchet made 20 league appearances for Real Sociedad de Fútbol during a two-year stay in Spain between 2004 and 2006.

A UEFA Cup place is the goal for FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Basel 1893 when the bottom two teams in Group C meet in Ukraine on Matchday 5.

• With FC Barcelona and Sporting Clube de Portugal sewing up the top two spots in the section on 4 November, Shakhtar and Basel are left to contest the consolation prize of third place and entry into the UEFA Cup's Round of 32 in the new year.

• Shakhtar must be considered favourites given they are the side in third place at present, with three points to Basel's one. A home victory will settle the issue in their favour but any other outcome will leave them hanging on the results of the Matchday 6 fixtures, when Shakhtar visit Barcelona and Basel host Sporting.

• The fact Shakhtar hold home advantage should count in their favour for while they have suffered defeats by both Barcelona (1-2) and Sporting (0-1) at the RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium in the past two months, they have never failed to record at least one home victory in their four previous UEFA Champions League group-stage campaigns.

• Mircea Lucescu's men may also draw encouragement from their Matchday 1 victory against Basel in Switzerland. Goals from Fernandinho (25) and Jadson (45+1) secured the three points for the Ukrainian visitors before David Abraham halved the deficit in added time at the end of the match.

• While Shakhtar suffered their third reverse of the campaign when succumbing 1-0 at Sporting last time out, Basel finally collected their first point after Eren Derdiyok's 82nd-minute strike cancelled out Lionel Messi's goal to earn a 1-1 draw at Barcelona.

• If that result provided a glimmer of hope, Christian Gross' men may also take heart from their relative durability on their travels in Europe as they prepare for their first visit to Ukraine. Their last nine away matches in the UEFA club competition – qualifiers included – have brought two wins, five draws and just two defeats.

• Shakhtar, for their part, can look to the fact they have only taken the wooden spoon once in four previous group-stage campaigns – not to mention their 100 per cent home record against Swiss opposition.

• The Donetsk outfit have won their three previous home matches against teams from the Alpine nation and boast an overall record of W4 D1 L2.

• Their most recent home victory came against FC Lugano in the second qualifying round of the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League. Shakhtar recorded a 3-0 first-leg success through goals from Alexey Bakharev, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk and Andriy Vorobey and finished up 4-2 aggregate winners.

• Prior to this season, Basel's only previous encounter with Ukrainian opposition in UEFA club competition had come at home against Shakhtar in a UEFA Intertoto Cup Group 7 game in June 1996 which finished 2-2.

• Hakan Yakin's 79th-minute goal earned a draw for Basel that day after Shakhtar's Oleksandr Ostashov and Volodymyr Pyatenko had overturned the early lead given the hosts by Dario Zuffi. The draw did neither team any favours, with both failing to progress any further.

• As coach of Grasshopper-Club, Basel boss Gross oversaw a 3-1 aggregate success against Ukrainian side FC Chornomorets Odesa in the first round of the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

• Shakhtar coach Lucescu was once part of a Romania side beaten 7-1 by Switzerland in a UEFA European Championship preliminary round Group 6 tie in 1967.

Anorthosis Famagusta FC came close to a famous victory against two-time European champions FC Internazionale Milano on Matchday 4 and, with five points from four games, they are well placed to claim one of the two qualifying places in Group B. Werder Bremen are at the foot of the section with just three points but a first win could take them up to second place.

• The Cypriot debutants gave Inter a real fright in the GSP Stadium in their most recent UEFA Champions League outing and Nikolaos Frousos's goal five minutes into the second half pointed them towards victory only for Julio Cruz to equalise with ten minutes remaining. Mario Balotelli had given Inter an early lead before Nicolás Burdisso's slip allowed Cédric Bardon to level. Marco Materazzi put the visitors ahead once more but Georgios Panagi equalised again before half-time. The point maintained Anorthosis' place behind leaders Inter and a Matchday 5 victory would put them through to the first knockout round provided the Serie A champions also win at home to Panathinaikos FC.

• Also on 4 November Bremen suffered a 3-0 home defeat by Panathinaikos and face a difficult task to continue their fifth campaign in Europe's premier club competition beyond the group stage. Vangelis Mantzios opened the scoring with Giorgos Karagounis making it two. The visitors' emphatic victory was then sealed by Petri Pasanen's own goal.

• When these sides met on 16 September, Thomas Schaaf's Bremen team missed several chances and were left frustrated. Claudio Pizarro, Mesut Özil and Hugo Almeida all failed to convert when well placed as Anorthosis earned a point on their group stage debut.

• The Cypriot champions then beat Panathinaikos 3-1 at home after a José Sarriegi own goal and a Siniša Dobrašinović header in the first 15 minutes gave them a marvellous start. Dimitris Salpingidis reduced arrears from the spot before Iraqi substitute Hawar Taher put the result beyond doubt with 12 minutes remaining.

• Temuri Ketsbaia's men faced a more difficult examination away to Inter three weeks later. They seemed to have weathered the first-half storm at San Siro when Adriano struck, his header proving enough to earn a narrow win for the Milan team.

• In three previous home games with German visitors in UEFA club competition Anorthosis have scored just once. That came in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup first round against Karlsruher SC which ended 1-1. In the 1999/00 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round they drew 0-0 at home against Hertha BSC Berlin and lost 1-0 at home to FC Bayern München in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup first round. In a total of seven meetings with German opponents, home and away, Anorthosis have still to register a victory, although three of their last four meetings have ended all square.

• Before Matchday 1 Bremen had met sides from Cyprus on three occasions, two of which ended in 5-0 victories. Those came home and away in the European Champion Clubs' Cup preliminary round against APOEL FC in 1966/67. The Bundesliga runners-up also won 2-0 at Apollon Limassol FC in the 1996 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

• After their 0-0 draw on Matchday 1, Bremen drew confidence from their next two fixtures, coming from behind at San Siro after Inter led through Maicon's 13th-minute goal to earn a 1-1 draw thanks to an equaliser from Pizarro, who Inter coach José Mourinho had signed for Chelsea FC in summer 2007.

• Their two games with Panathinaikos began at the OACA Spiro Louis Stadium in what turned out to be a tense encounter. Bremen led in the 29th minute when Per Mertesacker lashed in a free-kick only for two superb headers from Mantzios either side of half-time to turn the match around. However, Almeida's late equaliser altered the script once again.

• Clemens Fritz scored for Germany in their 4-0 UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying victory against Cyprus in Hannover on 17 November 2007. Fellow Bremen defender Per Mertesacker also played in the game while Anorthosis duo Lambros Lambrou and Georgos Theodotou were on the opposite side.

• Lambrou and Theodotou were also in the Cyprus team that earned a 1-1 draw against Germany in November 2006, with Fritz in the visiting side.

Having flirted with an unexpected defeat at Anorthosis Famagusta FC on Matchday 4, FC Internazionale Milano will look now to confirm their passage into the knockout rounds of the UEFA Champions League. Victory against a reviving Panathinaikos FC side would ensure they progress as winners of Group B.

• Winning the section – which would be the Italian club's fourth such feat in the last five campaigns – was a long way from Inter's minds in the GSP Stadium in their last fixture when the Cypriot underdogs took an improbable 3-2 lead five minutes into the second half through Nikolaos Frousos' goal. Ten minutes from time Julio Cruz rescued José Mourinho's side to leave Inter three points clear of Anorthosis at the top of the section.

• Mario Balotelli had given the visitors an early lead only for Nicolás Burdisso to slip and allow Cédric Bardon to level. Marco Materazzi put Inter ahead once more with Georgios Panagi finding a second equaliser before half-time.

• On the same night, Panathinaikos, who had just one point to show from their first three fixtures, won 3-0 in Germany against Werder Bremen to breathe new life into their own qualifying prospects. Vangelis Mantzios opened the scoring just before the hour with former Inter midfielder Giorgos Karagounis registering his first UEFA Champions League goal since February 2002 to make it 2-0. The third came seven minutes from time when Petri Pasanen turned an Alexandros Tziolis drive into his own net.

• A draw would also be enough to take Inter through to the next stage while they could also lose on the night and still progress, as long as the fixture in Cyprus between Anorthosis and Bremen ends in a draw.

• The game in Athens between the sides on Matchday 1 produced a 2-0 victory for the Serie A champions. Goals in each half from Mancini and substitute Adriano – both taking advantage of Zlatan Ibrahimović assists – gave Inter a contrasting start to the previous two seasons when they were opening-day losers on both occasions.

• Inter's ninth attempt to win the UEFA Champions League – their best achievement to date came in 2002/03 when they reached the semi-finals only to lose to their city rivals AC Milan – then continued as the Nerazzurri took on Bremen at San Siro. It ended 1-1 with the home team pegged back by Claudio Pizarro's equaliser – a player Mourinho had signed just over a year previously for Chelsea FC – to cancel out Maicon's 13th-minute goal. Adriano's header at home to Anorthosis three weeks later enabled Mourinho's men to get back to winning ways.

• Panathinaikos' victory in the Weserstadion was their first away win in the competition since a 3-1 triumph at Rangers FC in December 2003 and ended a run of seven away games that featured five defeats and two draws. After starting with the home defeat by Inter this time round they then made the short journey to Cyprus to take on Anorthosis. Two goals for the home team in the first 15 minutes put Henk ten Cate's team on the back foot and although Dimitris Salpingidis reduced arrears from the spot, Iraqi substitute Hawar Taher put the result beyond doubt with 12 minutes left.

• The first of their two fixtures with Bremen was a tense encounter with the Athens club denied by Hugo Almeida's late equaliser. The visitors had gone ahead at the OACA Spiro Louis Stadium when Per Mertesacker lashed in a free-kick. Two superb headers from Mantzios before and after half-time set up Panathinaikos for a first victory but Almeida had different ideas with a third headed goal of the night seven minutes from time.

• Inter have an unblemished record at home to Greek teams in UEFA club competition, winning every game. AEK Athens FC provided the opposition on all three occasions, Inter scoring a total of nine goals and conceding only two. The last contest, a fourth round UEFA Cup tie in 2001/02, ended in a 3-1 home victory.

• In eight visits to Italian sides Panathinaikos have still to taste victory with only draws at UC Sampdoria (1-1, 1991/92 European Champion Clubs' Cup Group 1) and Juventus (0-0, 1992/93 UEFA Cup second round) preventing a clean sweep of defeats. A crumb of comfort for the Greek side is that of those six reverses, only two have been by a margin greater than a single goal. Their last visit, in the group stage of the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League, resulted in a 3-0 defeat by Udinese Calcio.

• These opponents will stir fond memories for Mourinho because Panathinaikos were one of the sides his FC Porto team defeated en route to lifting the UEFA Cup in 2002/03. In the quarter-final the Greek side won 1-0 away from home to make themselves favourites to go through but Porto hit back to triumph 2-0 in Athens.

• When Mourinho left Chelsea after Matchday 1 in last season's competition he was replaced by Avram Grant with Ten Cate appointed as his assistant.

• Karagounis spent two seasons with Inter between 2003 and 2005, making 21 Serie A appearances for the Milan club.