UEFA Cup winners Zenit St Petersburg must hold on to their best players to make an impression in next season's Champions League, according to manager Dick Advocaat.
Zenit have built on the success of winning the Russian title last year by celebrating their first European triumph on Wednesday night after a 2-0 win over Rangers at the City of Manchester stadium.
Zenit are backed by the seemingly limitless reso
urces of Russian energy giant Gazprom, but Advocaat fears they will become victims of their own success, with Europe's top clubs ready to prize away top assets like Russia playmaker Andrei Arshavin.
"It will be a problem now, there is no doubt that some players will go," Dutchman Advocaat said. "Then you have to start again. That's a problem when you become successful. We must keep not only Arshavin, but other important players."
Advocaat, who has also managed Rangers, said the sale of Slovakia defender Martin Skrtel was a case in point.
Skrtel, an important part of Zenit's run to the Russian championship, joined Liverpool in January and has impressed for the Premier League side in the second half of the season. "Those kind of players you have to keep," said Advocaat, who plans to add to his squad before Zenit make their Champions League bow in September.
"You have to try and keep this team together and buy three or four other players to make the squad better, then you can rotate in the different competitions.
"At the moment with Zenit it is 12, 13, 14 players who have played in all the games."
Holding on to Arshavin could be tricky for Zenit, with the Russian playmaker producing another elegant performance on Wednesday to showcase his considerable talents.
Arshavin is also an important part of the Russian national side but he may only get the chance to play one game in Euro 2008, depending on how Guus Hiddink's side fare. The 26-year-old was sent off in the last qualifier against Andorra and misses the first two Group D games in the June finals against Spain and holders Greece.
Rangers manager Walter Smith bracketed Zenit at the same level as the sides his team had faced in the Champions League earlier this season. "Barcelona are excellent, but after that Zenit are on a par with other sides we had – Lyon and Stuttgart. They are at that level," said the Ibrox manager.
Zenit midfielder Fernando Ricksen, meanwhile, insists the Russians will be more than a match for their opponents in the Champions League next season.
Ricksen, who was also at Rangers during Advocaat's reign but was an unused substitute on Wednesday night, said: "We will have to see who we get in the group but I think this is one of the best teams in Europe.
"I'm not saying that just because we won this cup but also because of the way we play. If we play as well as we can play, I think there are not many people who will beat us."
Zenit fans were outnumbered both in the stadium and on the streets of Manchester, with around 150,000 Rangers supporters estimated to have made the journey from Glasgow.
However, Ricksen said that there will be a huge welcoming party back home. "I'm very, very happy for Zenit and there will be about five million people back in Russia waiting to meet us – just as many as there are in Scotland," he added. "It will be crazy."
The full article contains 586 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
