Borussia Dortmund will be feeling confident of protecting a 4-2 lead from the first leg in spite of the weekend’s league defeat to Borussia M’gladbach.

Zenit, on the other hand, have just appointed Andre Villas-Boas as their new coach, but he will take over only after the clash at Signal-Iduna Park.

This season hasn’t exactly gone according to plan for Borussia Dortmund, who continued to struggle on domestic stage, although at least they remained a force to be reckoned with in Europe.

The Millionaires will be contesting a DFB Pokal semi-final against Wolfsburg, but their top 4 place in the league is in serious danger following weekend’s home defeat to Borussia M’gladbach.

In all fairness, Jurgen Klopp was without a number of creative players on Saturday, and at least one or two of them will be back for the Zenit clash.

In spite of the comfortable lead from the first match, the Millionaires plan to take this game very seriously, and they are 1.36 (4/11) favourites to win.

Jurgen Klopp will welcome back Henrikh Mkhitaryan from domestic suspension, whereas Marco Reus could also return into action.

Lars Bender, Ilkay Gundogan, Neven Subotic and Jakub Blaszczykowski, however, remain in the infirmary and will not be in contention.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Weidenfeller – Piszczek, Hummels, Papastathopoulos, Schmelzer – Kehl, Sahin – Grosskreutz, Mkhitaryan, Reus – Lewandowski.

Zenit fans were probably delighted to see the back of Luciano Spalletti after the team had consistently underperformed for a couple of years.

The managerial change didn’t have an instant impact as the team went on to lose the league derby against CSKA Moscow, with Andre Villas-Boas now set to be appointed the new boss.

The Portuguese coach will have a difficult task in an attempt to save the current season, and he will not be in the dugout in the return leg against Borussia.

Nevertheless, his players can be trusted to try and impress the new boss, and Zenit look a good bet to score at 1.73 (8/11).

The visitors look set to be without Andrei Arshavin, Cristian Ansaldi and Egor Baburin, but the attacking trio of Danny, Hulk and Rondon could prove a handful for Dortmund defenders.

While struggling on home soil, Zenit have impressed in the away matches in Europe, winning four of last six matches on the road.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-2-1): Lodygin – Anyukov, Hubocan, Lombaerts, Smolnikov – Ryazantsev, Witsel, Faizulin – Danny, Hulk – Rondon.