Giampaolo Pazzini partners Bojan Krkic and Kevin-Prince Boateng as Milan welcome Zenit in their final Champions League Group C game.

Giampaolo Pazzini partners Bojan Krkic and Kevin-Prince Boateng as Milan welcome Zenit in their final Champions League Group C game.

The Rossoneri have already qualified for the next phase of the competition. Zenit and Anderlecht are stuck together on four points each, so will be determined to get a result in order to take third place and go into the Europa League.

As expected, Massimiliano Allegri rotates the squad and gives Pazzini a rare chance to shine.

Philippe Mexes is suspended, while Kevin Constant, Luca Antonini and Alexandre Pato are injured, so the defence is completely revamped with Djamel Mesbah, Francesco Acerbi and Cristian Zapata.

Goalkeeper Christian Abbiati is back in goal after his thigh injury, but it’s Gabriel on the bench rather than Marco Amelia.

The Diavolo won 3-2 in St Petersburg earlier in the group, a crucial result for their qualification and one of only two wins.

Zenit are coached by ex-Roma and Udinese” data-scaytid=”32″>Udinese boss Luciano Spalletti, but he has to do without the banned Vladimir Bystrov and injured Domenico Criscito.

If Milan fail to get a victory tonight, it’ll mean they qualified without a single home win in the group phase.

History does not look kindly upon Zenit, who have only ever won one Champions League tie on their travels – at BATE Borisov in 2008-09.

Milan: Abbiati; De Sciglio, Acerbi, Mesbah, Zapata; Flamini, Ambrosini, Emanuelson; Boateng, Bojan; Pazzini

Milan bench: Gabriel, Yepes, Nocerino, De Jong, Robinho, Petagna, El Shaarawy

Zenit: Malafeev; Anyukov, Bruno Alves, Lombaerts, Hubocan; Witsel, Denisov, Shirokov; Semak, Hulk, Danny

Zenit bench: Baburin, Zuev, Lumb, Zyryanov, Evseev, Djordjevic, Kaunnikov

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