Zenit St Petersburg and Monaco have both failed to score during the opening half of this evening's Champions League clash in Russia.

The visitors dominated early on and they nearly took the lead with just four minutes played when Dimitar Berbatov had a shot pushed away by goalkeeper Yuri Lodygin.

Monaco came close again moments later through Nabil Dirar's speculative effort, while Lucas Ocampos headed wide to cap a threatening opening after 10 minutes for the away side.

Zenit struggled to get a grip on the match, but they had Monaco worried on 29 minutes when Jose Rondon's miscued shot from close range went out for a goal kick.

Rondon was in the thick of the action once more with 10 minutes remaining in the half, though he was unable to connect with Aleksandr Anyukov's wicked cross from the right.

A final chance of the half fell the way of Monaco and Ocampos, whose strike from the edge of the penalty area was kept out by the acrobatic Lodygin.