Group C rivals Zenit St Petersburg and Monaco have played out a goalless draw in their Champions League encounter in Russia.

The stalemate means that both teams have four points from their first two matches of the campaign.

© Getty Images

The visitors dominated early on, with Dimitar Berbatov and Nabil Dirar both coming close to giving their side the lead during the opening 10 minutes.

Monaco carved out another chance soon after, but Lucas Ocampos could only head wide from close range after being left unmarked in the penalty area.

Zenit struggled to keep pace with their opponents in the first half, though they had Monaco worried on 29 minutes as Jose Rondon's miscued shot in a crowded box went out for a goal kick.

Rondon was in the thick of the action once more 10 minutes before half time when he almost connected with Aleksandr Anyukov's wicked cross from the right.

A final chance of the first half fell the way of Monaco and Ocampos, whose strike from around 20 yards was kept out by the acrobatic Yuri Lodygin.

Zenit were much improved at the start of the second period, and they should have gone ahead on 50 minutes through Rondon. However, the forward scuffed his shot into the arms of goalkeeper Danijel Subasic with the goal at his mercy.

With the game opening up, Monaco came within inches of taking the lead with 74 minutes played when Yannick Ferreira Carrasco skimmed the post after persisting down the right side.

A late chance could have seen Monaco claim the spoils and take a firm grip of the group, but Jeremy Toulalan dragged his effort wide of the post.