The Russian champions lost 1-0 on Thursday thanks to Dimitri Bulykin's first-half goal but went through 4-2 on aggregate after their comprehensive win in Germany last week.

Anatoliy had a chance to equalise with a penalty late on but his spot-kick was saved, although it did little to dampen celebrations in the Russian city.

"It is a historic moment for our club to reach the semi-finals," Advocaat said.

"Fully deserved, I must say. We didn't play well in the first half and looked nervous. Leverkusen outplayed us in fact, and we were lucky to stay only one goal down by half-time.

"But we were a better team after the break and I feel we deserved a draw. We were a bit inhibited during that opening period and played very cautiously as we had six players one yellow card away from suspension. In the end the players did a great job not to get a single booking.

"It's a pity Anatoliy Tymoschuk didn't convert the penalty to level the scores but he will remain our regular penalty taker despite the miss."

Advocaat insists he is not bothered who Zenit draw in the last four and he is not getting carried away.

"The most important thing is to go through," he added. "I don't really care who we play in the next round.

"It is too early to think about winning the UEFA Cup but we definitely have a chance. At the moment, though, I'm just pleased to be in the semi-finals."

Leverkusen coach Michael Skibbe praise the performance of Advocaat's troops.

"I would like to congratulate Zenit on their aggregate win and wish them luck in the semi-final," he said. "They fully deserved to go through."

He added: "I'm really pleased we were able to win today to redeem ourselves for a dreadful performance in the first leg.

"We played with a lot of pace and purpose in the first half but unfortunately we couldn't find the second goal to make Zenit a little bit nervous."