CSKA hope to freeze out Sevilla in snowy Moscow, although their head coach says snowfall won't be an advantage for his team on artificial turf at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.
CSKA Moscow must overcome a prolonged winter break and the possible loss of playmaker Alan Dzagoyev when they host Sevilla in the Champions League first knockout round on Wednesday. (February 24) The first leg of the round of 16 showdown will go ahead as scheduled despite the fact a huge storm hit Moscow this week, dumpin Read more

CSKA hope to freeze out Sevilla in snowy Moscow, although their head coach says snowfall won't be an advantage for his team on artificial turf at Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium.
CSKA Moscow must overcome a prolonged winter break and the possible loss of playmaker Alan Dzagoyev when they host Sevilla in the Champions League first knockout round on Wednesday. (February 24) The first leg of the round of 16 showdown will go ahead as scheduled despite the fact a huge storm hit Moscow this week, dumping more than half a metre of fresh snow on the capital.
During an open training held by CSKA at the match venue on Tuesday (February 23), Luzhniki Stadium workers continued to clear snow from around the playing surface.
While observers will feel CSKA has a big advantage knowing the conditions well, their head coach Leonid Slutsky insists both teams will be on an even footing.
"You don't feel it too much on the artificial turf," he said.
"Both teams will be playing on the artificial field and I don't think weather conditions will be an advantage for us.
"We have been preparing for this match not under minus temperature conditions as well," he added.
CSKA harbours ambitions of going deep in this season's Champions League and their goal keeper Igor Akinfeyev believes the team must be unified if they're make a strong start to the tie.
"We don't have any other chance," he said.
"This is the first knockout round, it might be a great match but there are no insignificant games at this stage.
"We need to be a united team, then we will be able to reach our goal."
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.
Berezutsky was quoted as saying by local media that it would be a big mistake to think the Spaniards would just fall over on the slippery surface and give CSKA a clean path to Sevilla's goal.
CSKA have played only one competitive match in almost three months -- a 2-1 win over Besiktas in Istanbul on Dec. 8 -- that clinched them a place in the last 16 of Europe's premier club competition for the first time.
Berezutsky's twin brother Alexei and fellow defender Sergei Ignashevich are available for Wednesday's game 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 that 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. Close