Villas-Boas named new coach of Zenit

                                    

The Portuguese coach will start work on Thursday after Zenit's Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.

"Zenit has agreed terms on a contract with new head coach Andre Villas-Boas," the club said in a brief statement. "The contract will be signed and Mr Villas-Boas will be presented in St Petersburg as Zenit's new head coach on March 20."

"Mr Villas-Boas' contract begins in March, 2014, and is valid for two seasons."

Former Russia captain Sergey Semak will take charge of the game in Dortmund with the Russians trailing 4-2 from the first leg.

Villas-Boas replaces Italian Luciano Spalletti who was sacked last week.

Former AS Roman and Udinese boss Spalletti took charge in December 2009 and led the side from Russia's second city to two Premier League titles and one Russian Cup during his tenure and was named Russian coach of the season in 2010 and 2012 season.

However, the club's hierarchy decided to change their manager, whose contract ran until 2015, despite being very much in the title race.

Zenit are currently in second place, three points behind leaders Lokomotiv Moscow, although they did lose their last match 1-0 to CSKA Moscow with Semak in charge.

Villas-Boas has been out of work since December when he was sacked as Tottenham manager following a 5-0 drubbing against Liverpool.