Football. Dortmund not as strong as last season

The Zenit midfielder believes that the German side are a shadow of last season’s Wembley finalists after a poor start to the Bundesliga season

Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk believes that his side's Champions League opponents Borussia Dortmund are not as strong as they were last term.

Jurgen Klopp reached the Wembley final of the 2012-13 edition of the competition and topped a tricky group containing Arsenal and Napoli this time out.

They were drawn against Luciano Spalletti's men in the last 16 and Tymoshchuk, who was part of the Bayern Munich team who beat BVB in London, believes the German giants have declined since May.

“Borussia are third in the Bundesliga. In my opinion they are not in the best form right now,” Tymoshchuk told reporters.

“They collected points against other leaders of the league and in the Champions League, but it's not the same team that reached the final last season. They were much stronger at that time."

Zenit, who qualified in their group behind Atletico Madrid, will host the first leg on February 25, before travelling to Signal Iduna Park on March 19.