Group C of the UEFA Champions League is pefectly poised, with just one point separating third-placed Bayer Leverkusen and top of the table Zenit St Petersburg - with AS Monaco sandwiched between the two - after two fixtures each. When Andre Villas-Boas' Zenit side travel to the BayArena to face Roger Schdmit's Leverkusen on Tuesday, both managers and teams will know it is all to play for on the night.

"That was a game we simply had to win, we can't allow that sort of thing to happen"

- Karim Ballarabi

Schmidt's side will be licking their wounds as they prepare to face Zenit, after sensationally blowing a three-goal weekend to Stuttgarat this weekend, eventually drawing 3-3. Leverkusen winger Karim Bellarabi - whose goal put his side 3-0 up and seemingly out of sight - has called for tighter focus throughout the entirety of the game against Zenit, after the weekend's shenanigans: "That was a game we simply had to win," Bellarabi told the Bundesliga's official website. "But we ended up conceding three goals from three set-pieces.

"I'm not really sure what went wrong, whether we lost focus a little bit or not, but we just can't allow that sort of thing to happen. We were brilliant in the first half and could have scored four or five, so to play that way in the second half is really annoying… we ended up throwing away two points," the 24-year-old said.

Zenit head coach Villa-Boas has recognised the tightness of his side's Champions League and has offered a healthy dose of respect for Zenit's German opponents: "(Leverkusen) is a very, very good team who will require a lot of us," the Coach said. The 37-year-old talked about how his side must be professional and disciplined in an effort to leave themselves in the best possible position after three games - atop Group C: "That's obviously our goal, then we'll be in a really good position after three games," said Villas-Boas. "If we produce our best performance, we'll be able to hold our own in Leverkusen."

Zenit head coach Villas-Boas could welcome back midfielders Anatoliy Tymoschuk and Axel Witsel following their absences through injuries.

Leverkusen manager Roger Schmidt will be without Gonzalo Castro due to a knee injury, while Sebastian Boenisch and Simon Rolfes are sidelined with heel and ankle injuries respectively. However, Lars Bender could return to the side after the midfielder was left out for Saturday's disappointing 3-3 draw against Stuttgart.