Zenit St. Petersburg boss Dick Advocaat has praised his battling troops after securing a historic qualification for the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup after seeing off Bayer Leverkusen by 4-2 on aggregate.

"It is a historic moment for our club to reach the semi-finals," Advocaat said.

"Fully deserved, I must say. We didn't play well in the first half and looked nervous. Leverkusen outplayed us in fact, and we were lucky to stay only one goal down by half-time.

"But we were a better team after the break and I feel we deserved a draw. We were a bit inhibited during that opening period and played very cautiously as we had six players one yellow card away from suspension. In the end the players did a great job not to get a single booking.

"It's a pity Anatoliy Tymoschuk didn't convert the penalty to level the scores but he will remain our regular penalty taker despite the miss.

"The most important thing is to go through, I don't really care who we play in the next round.

"It is too early to think about winning the UEFA Cup but we definitely have a chance. At the moment, though, I'm just pleased to be in the semi-finals."