The players of St. Petersburg “Zenith” could not go further in the Europa League. On the night of February 25, they played away with the Spanish “Betis” (0:0) in the second leg of the 1/16 finals. This was not enough for success, as a week ago the blue-white-blue lost at home 2:3.
For most of the past day, there were rumors about the postponement of the match due to the events in Ukraine that began in the morning of the same day. However, towards evening it was announced that the meeting would take place at the appointed time. And the head coach of Zenit Sergey Semak managed to surprise with the starting lineup.
The place at the gate was taken by 19-year-old Daniil Odoevsky, for whom this was the first official match of this level for the main team. Previously, on his account there was only a meeting of the final round of last year’s Russian championship against the outsider “Tambov” (5: 1), played by “Zenith” after he had secured gold for himself. Goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov, who made a gross mistake in the first match with Betis, remained on the bench, while Stanislav Krytsyuk has not yet recovered from his November injury.
Also, the central defender Yaroslav Rakitsky, who had an unsuccessful St. Petersburg match, remained on the bench. In his absence, in the center of defense, the bet was made on the three in the person of Dmitry Chistyakov, Douglas dos Santos and Wilmar Barrios, who dropped there from the support zone. Aleksey Sutormin and Danil Krugovoi are located on the flanks.
Due to an injury, Daler Kuzyaev could not play in the middle line. There, as usual, Wendel and Claudinho came out. In the attack, Semak released Malcolm, Yuri Alberto and Artem Dziuba. It is worth noting the return of attacking midfielder Nabil Fekir, the 2018 world champion in the French national team, to Betis. He was on the starting list.
A lot of sharpness emanated from him during the meeting, but in general, Zenit managed to neutralize the star player. As well as another rival leader Sergio Canales. In the first half, the Petrograders defended themselves almost exemplarily, not allowing the Spanish club to create a single dangerous moment at the gates of Odoevsky.
The young goalkeeper himself was nervous in some episodes and did not play very carefully, but they did not turn into serious consequences for the blue-white-blue ones. Zenit created little before the break in attack. Betis defended very tightly, Dzyuba and Alberto did a lot of work, but were blocked. Only in the middle of the half, Artem was able to take the ball well in the center of the penalty area, but after his pass, the defenders of the Sevillian team managed to knock him into the middle of the field.
Immediately after the break, Alberto scored a goal, but it was not counted due to Sutormin’s offside. Betis responded with two shots to the post, but otherwise he was very careful in this match and never hit Zenit’s target. In the middle of the second half, Ivan Sergeev came out instead of Dzyuba.
Immediately almost scored Barrios, who did not have time to close the chamber in front of an empty net. Towards the end of the match, Alexander Erokhin replaced Alberto, and Andrey Mostovoy replaced Sutormin. And both almost saved this confrontation for Zenit.
At the beginning of stoppage time, Mostovoy received a pass to the move in the right corner of the penalty area and crossed it to the goalkeeper’s line, where Chistyakov headed into the goal. But the joy of the Petersburgers was quickly overshadowed by the referee, who, after watching the VAR, did not count the goal scored – next to the episode, Erokhin stepped on the foot of one of the Betis players. In the last seconds, Alexander almost rehabilitated for this violation, breaking his head just above the gate after a corner kick. Zenit has completed its European Cup season.
“Zenith had chances to go further,” Alexander Mostovoy, former midfielder of the Russian national team, told Izvestia. – But he lost only because he brought goals into his own net in the first match out of the blue. If he had been a little more attentive in both games, he would now be waiting for the draw for the 1/8 finals. But well done for the game. It is a pity that they did not realize their moments. And very disappointing in the episode with Chistyakov’s goal. But VAR was invented for that, in order to find moments, like Erokhin’s. The attack was there. It is clear that it is random. But was. Alexander did not want to attack. And it seems that the episode did not affect the goal, although theoretically the player who was fouled by Erokhin could interrupt the pass to Chistyakov. But nothing can be done. Today VAR is against you, tomorrow for. He is also VAR, which is impartial. It is unpleasant that you have already experienced the emotions of the goal, but it was not counted. But what to do? Moreover, as Zenit can complain about bad luck, so Betis can complain about the fact that he had two bars. In general, the St. Petersburg team with such a game will definitely become the champions of Russia next spring.
Of the Russian representatives in the current continental season, only Spartak Moscow remained, which in March will play in the 1/8 finals of the Europa League. The draw for this stage will begin on Friday at 14:00 Moscow time.
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