Steven Thompson
Former Scotland striker on BBC Sportsound

The teams emerge into the stadium, which looks about half full.

The players are in the tunnel as the atmosphere slowly builds in the stadium.

Zenit in their traditional light blue and Celtic in their green and white hoops.

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland in St Petersburg

With less than 10 minutes to kick-off, the crowd looks rather bare.

If it remains so, it’s a big boost to Celtic’s chance as it seemed the setting might play a part.

It is the first time Zenit have hosted Scottish opposition and they will be happy to repeat the 2-0 victory they achieved in their one previous encounter against Scottish opposition - versus Celtic's Glasgow rivals, Rangers, on neutral territory of Manchester in the Uefa Cup final back in 2008.

But Celtic have never lost on Russian soil, drawing once and winning on their last two visits - over Dinamo Moscow in Champions League qualifying in 2009 and against Spartak Moscow in the group stage in 2012.

Image source, SNS

Indeed, overall, the Scottish champions have won four and only lost one of their seven matches against Russian opposition.

The exception was in the first leg of that win over Dinamo, when the scorer of the only goal was one Aleksandr Kokorin, the 26-year-old Russia winger now with Zenit.

Image source, SNS

Scott McDonald
Former Celtic striker on BBC Sportsound

Celtic, who have a nine-point lead domestically, were held to a draw at home to St Johnstone in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday, but Brendan Rodgers had made a host of changes for that game and is back to what he views as his first-choice line-up.

That first leg was, of course, Zenit's first game for nearly two months because of the winter break in the Russian top flight, in which Roberto Mancini's side sit second, eight points behind Lokomotiv Moscow.

Image source, SNS

Zenit head coach Roberto Mancini got the better of Celtic the only time they reached this stage previously - when he was in charge of Internazionale in 2015.

And, rounding off the coincidences, it has been well documented that Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers was in charge of Liverpool when they went out to Zenit in the round of 32 in 2013.

Image source, SNS

Martin Dowden
BBC Sport Scotland

Zenit’s record here as written below is strong and little wonder.

It is an imposing arena that looks capable of generating incredible noise, although the only thing muting the small band of travelling fans right now is the concert-like PA system in this fabulous stadium.

The surface is perfect. The main question is whether Zenit will find their feet after their winter break. It seemed not last week.

There seems an air of expectation about Celtic tonight, which flies in the face of most away results over the years.

It was the nature of that first-leg performance that has instilled belief. Can they now deliver?

An away goal would leave Zenit having to score at least three to progress and, despite their fine unbeaten record at Krestovsky Stadium, their results in the Europa League group stage show a chink in their armour.

While they won all three of their home games, against Real Sociedad, Vardar and Rosenborg, they conceded one goal in each of them.

That could encourage Brendan Rodgers to be more attacking than he might otherwise be away from home in Europe.

Pat Bonner
Former Celtic goalkeeper in St Petersburg

"I thought Brendan Rodgers' tactics, playing with the diamond in the middle of the pitch, having that spare player, Zenit struggled to cope with it.

"The only question I had was whether Scott Sinclair would come in, but the starting XI probably deserve to go again.

"I don't see Zenit changing their formation too much, although they might swap their personnel a little bit.

"I was shocked that Aleksandr Kokorin, who scored against Celtic before when he was a young boy, played almost in the right-hand side doing a defensive job.

"They might change to have him up front or playing off the front man and then they will become much more dangerous."

Playing European football beyond Christmas is often seen as the height of Celtic's European ambitions in the current financial climate, but it has become an annual expectation for Zenit.

The Russians, who finished third in their domestic league last season, have qualified from the group stages of one of the Euro competitions eight seasons in a row - and this is their fifth appearance in the Europa League round of 32.

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They defeated Young Boys, Liverpool and PSV Eindhoven in their first three appearances but lost their next two.

Indeed, they were knocked out a year ago on away goals by, wait for it, Anderlecht, who Celtic edged into fourth place in their Champions League group this season.

You can catch the build-up to tonight's match followed by live commentary on BBC Radio Scotland 810MW.

Richard Gordon is your host, Liam McLeod is your commentator from the Krestovsky Stadium, while former Celtic men Pat Bonner and Scott McDonald joined by former Scotland striker Steven Thompson to add expert analysis.

Zenit have made Krestovsky Stadium a fortress in European competition and have never lost there in the Europa League, winning 16 of their 17 games.

Only Sevilla, in the 2014/15 quarter-finals, escaped with a draw and the Russians have won 11 of their last 13 home games in all European competition, although they have suffered defeat twice there in the Champions League.

Image source, Getty Images

Celtic, meanwhile, have never won away from home in the Europa League and their 3-0 win over Anderlecht in this season's Champions League group stage is their only European away win outside the qualifying phase in 19 matches since a 3-2 success at Spartak Moscow in 2012/13.

However, adding another draw to the eight they already have in 13 trips abroad would be enough to take them through to the next round.

Former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic has recovered from the eye injury that forced him to miss the first leg in Glasgow and returns to Zenit's starting line-up.

Argentina midfielder Matias Kranvitter, who came off the bench in Glasgow, is handed a starting place.

Two Russia internationals drop out - defender Igor Smolnikov and midfielder Aleksandr Yerokhin are on the bench.

Image source, SNS

Zenit have only fought back to progress five times out of 15 after losing the away leg in European competition.

Celtic have triumphed in 32 of the 45 ties in which they won the home first leg.

On the 12 occasions they have won the first leg 1-0 at home, they have progressed seven times.

Meanwhile, Zenit have recovered twice to win on three occasions after losing 1-0 on the road.

Zenit St Petersburg head coach Roberto Mancini: "All the players are ready and we don't change a lot. For us, it's important to change the result.

"We always play well at home in the Europa League. I'm confident and we need to play a good game.

"We didn't play an official game for two months. I'm confident we can improve.

"Probably a mistake when we conceded a goal. But, overall, we played a good game after two months."

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "At the beginning of the first leg, I was being a realist. I think everyone will probably expect Zenit to go through.

"What we showed in the first leg is we're going to make it very difficult for them. Probably, they were surprised by the quality of our football.

"What we've shown is, when we play with our quality and play to the top of our level, we can match any team.

"Our concentration and quality was at a really high level. We know we need to replicate that.

"If they play with that aggression and quality and that intensity then it gives us a great opportunity."

Hearts' Craig Levein is the latest club boss to be touting one of his players for a call-up into new Scotland head coach Alex McLeish's first squad.

Former Scotland manager Levein thinks John Souttar's form, combining with Christophe Berra, who became a regular starter laterally under Gordon Strachan, could be a solution to that problem central defensive partnership.

Earlier this week, Jose Mourinho was promoting Scott McTominay for a first cap so loudly that McLeish apparently plans talks with the 21-year-old, who also qualifies for England.

What new faces, if any, would you like to see in the Scotland squad?

Give us your thoughts #bbcsportscot on Twitter or the BBC Sport Scotland Facebook page.