Zenit will play with China's Shanghai Shenhua in the Equality Cup. The match will take place on 8 February. The St. Petersburg team is systematically preparing for the second part of the season and has already played five friendly matches, four of which were won and one was a draw. Zenit (5-1), Jeonbuk Motors (5-1), Ural (1-0) and Al Duhail were defeated. The draw, on the other hand, was with Al-Fateh (1-1). The Blue-Belo-Blues are currently in second place in the national championship. The team from St Petersburg have 36 points and are two points behind second-placed Krasnodar and four points ahead of third-placed Dynamo. The reigning Russian champions managed to hit the opponent's goal 35 times and conceded 17 times in their own. St Petersburg also lost in the first quarter-final game of the Russian Cup to Dynamo (0:1), but they will have a return meeting to get back on track.

The championship for Zenit will resume on 2 March with a match against Spartak. Sergey Semak's wards are preparing for this match. Zenit have also strengthened this off-season specifically to win both the national championship and the Cup.

Shanghai Shenhua has also started preparing for the new season already under the leadership of a new head coach, Russian specialist Leonid Slutsky. The team from Shanghai sets high goals for the new season. Last year the team from the city of the same name finished only fifth. It scored 52 points in 30 meetings and missed Shanghai Port, Shandong Taishan, Zhejiang Professional and Chengdu. As a result, the team was left without any international matches for this season. Also last year, Shanghai Shenhua was able to win the China Cup. In the semifinals, the Shanghai team coped with Qingdao Hainiu (1:0), and in the final defeated Shandong Taishan (1:0). On 25 February, the team will now face Shanghai Port in the Chinese Super Cup.

Shanghai Shenhua has high expectations in the new season, but whether it can justify them, only time will tell. For now, it's hard to predict anything. With the arrival of Leonid Slutsky, some players left the team, some, on the contrary, came, so conclusions can only be drawn after time. Most likely, Zenit will win in the upcoming meeting.