Slavia wiped out Zenit, yet leave with no point

Zenit started without Marchisio and with Kokorin or Smolnikov on bench, in the other hand, newly appointed captain of Russian national team Artem Dzyuba started from the first minute. Manager Trpišovskýs chose usual line-up of last games with young Jan Matoušek as a lone striker.

Zenit created first two opportunities. After 12 minutes Kúdela managed to block dangerous cross aiming to Dzyuba, 5 minutes later Yerokhin sent a through pass to Nabiullin, but his left-foot shot aimed hingh above crossbar.

But Slavia took the reins of power then. On 19th minute Matoušek won the ball by the corner flag and passed it to the box to Zmrhal. His shot aimed just to Miroslav Stoch, who tried to surprise Lunev with another curled attempt, Zenit goalkeeper managed to punch the ball away.

Close to 25th minute Zmrhal tried his luck from behind the box at first, followed by magnificent shot by Miroslav Stoch who hit the crossbar from 25 meters.

Zenit goalkeeper then denied Hušbauer with his shot following Ngadeu’s pass, on 40th minute Stoch passed the ball to Matoušek, whose low shot was saved by Lunev again.

Slavia set the pace of the game for most of the second half as well. On 49th minute Stoch fired another one, but Lunev – who made it to the team of the week – saved his attempt again. Just few minutes later Matoušek proved his skills on the right side, jinked past Ivanovic and fired with his left foot, Lunev was on his position again, as well as when Hušbauer fired from the brink of the box on 63rd minute.

Zenit equalled the game just 15 minutes before the end. At minute 76 Kokorin, who replaced Driussi, created a 100% chance after Dzyuba’s pass inside of the box, but fired above the crossbar. On 80th minute Alexandr Kokorin was successful already when he latched onto a long through pass behind our defence and sent the ball past Kolář into the net.

On 84th minute Ngadeu could equalize following a corner kick, but Lunev blocked his header from below the crossbar. Four minutes before the full time, Paredes fired from behind the box and Kolář had to deny him with a flying save.

Slavia thus dropped all 3 point in St. Petersburg despite being better team for most of the game. The red-whites stand third in the group C with 3 points behind Zenit and Copenhagen who are both one point ahead.