The unfortunate shadow of racism hangs in the air as Liverpool travel to Zenit St. Petersburg for the first leg of their round of 32 Europa League clash.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers while acknowledging that there might be a problem, said his side were equipped to deal with the situation.

"I haven't spoken directly with the players at the moment," Rodgers said. "We still have another few meetings with the players to go. I will make reference to it because we have players that maybe it could affect, but we're here for football.

"We're very hopeful it'll be a terrific game of football and anything that goes on outside off the field can be taken care of."

Rodgers has named black players Glen Johnson, Raheem Sterling and Andre Wisdom is his squad, but insisted he did not consider not picking them due to the abuse they might face from the Zenit fans.

"These are young players that have experienced this in their lives before," he added. "We'll go into the sporting arena and hopefully everyone -- from football, UEFA, referees, officials and us all -- we can all support any player it may affect.

"I didn't think of it too much because I know they are players who want to play. Some of them are young players trying to progress in the game, and Glen is a very experienced top international who has experienced a lot of things.

"Obviously they understand and the likes of young Raheem has been through situations like this, but it's something that will very much unite and make (us) one group."

Liverpool are seriously targeting the Europa League, with their chances of winning a trophy this season diminishing considerably following their shock loss to Oldham in the F.A. Cup.

"It's a competition we want to do well in -- it's the last cup competition we're involved in," Rodgers said. "We'll have a strong squad and team playing tomorrow (Thursday) night. We know the opponents are the Russian champions and a very strong team, but we want to progress in the tournament."

To watch Zenit St. Petersburg vs Liverpool Live Stream, click here.

Expected lineups: Zenit: Malafeev; Anyukov, Lombaerts, Alves, Hubocan; Witsel, Denisov, Shirokov, Fayzulin, Danny, Hulk.

Liverpool: Reina; Johnson, Skrtel, Agger, Enrique; Lucas, Gerrard, Allen, Downing, Suarez, Suso.

Prediction: 1-1