Barça leads from front as Russian weather threatens to chill ambition

Iberian teams are becoming increasingly familiar with Russia in the Champions League and Europa League this year. The Premier League is on the up, with finances pouring in and star names, especially in the case of Anzhi Makhachkala, being lured East by the call of the ruble.

This season, Zenit and CSKA are through to the last 16 of the Champions League while Lokomotiv and Rubin Kazan are in the mix in the Europa League. The former, bankrolled by gas giant Gazprom, won a glorious match against Benfica on Wednesday to give the Portuguese side food for thought ahead of the return leg.

The visiting side capitalized on two errors from stand-in goalkeeper Yuri Zhevnov and with the game tied at 2-2 with minutes remaining it appeared the spoils would be shared. Roman Shirokov had other ideas. Probably best remembered for a bumbling display at the back in Russia's 4-1 loss to Spain at Euro 2008, Shirokov has been recast as a box-to-box midfielder and bagged his second of the night on 88 minutes to hand Zenit the win. It was his fifth of the tournament and his fourth against Portuguese opposition. "I think I have a few left in me," he said of the return leg.

"It was tough; the pitch had no grass and we had to play on a patch of dirt," noted Benfica coach Jorge Jesus in a refrain that may well be repeated if Real Madrid leaves frozen Moscow empty-handed next week: it was so cold last weekend that CSKA, returning from a mini-tournament in Spain, made a beeline for Turkey instead. Barcelona had no such concerns in Germany on Tuesday, where it eased to a 3-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen on the heated turf of the BayArena courtesy of a brace from Alexis Sánchez and a late Leo Messi strike that made him the tournament's top scorer with seven goals in as many games.

Rubin Kazan and Lokomotiv both opted to move their Europa League matches to the artificial turf of Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium, which CSKA plans to do for its Champions League encounter. "It's cold in Moscow so it's better to play on an artificial pitch," noted Lokomotiv president Olga Smorodskaya. Athletic therefore went prepared, with thermal shirts and other measures to keep temperatures forecast to drop to -10 degrees Celsius at bay.

"The most difficult opponent will be the cold," said former Zaragoza midfielder Alberto Zapater when asked about the key men in each side, adding: "In Bilbao they're already thinking about the match at Old Trafford."

That potential glamor tie was put on ice until the return leg as Athletic subsequently let a goal advantage escape it in a 2-1 loss. Iker Muniain scored a potentially vital away goal in the first half before Denis Glushakov and Felipe Caicedo - he of Levante-rescuing fame - hit back after the break. Athletic will be confident of going through; it has scored twice at home in every Europa League game so far.

Atlético traveled to a slightly balmier Rome to face Lazio in the same competition and took a huge step toward a last-16 match-up against either 2011 finalist Braga or Besiktas with a 3-1 victory.

Valencia managed a tidy 0-1 win in the first leg of its Europe League match against England’s Stoke City.