The Russian midfielder laments Zenit St. Petersburg's UEFA Champions League defeat against the Portuguese outfit and hailed the Primeira Liga club.
In the latest UEFA Champions League action, Zenit St. Petersburg were knocked out of the competition by Benfica 4-3 on aggregate. Zenit suffered a 2-0 defeat in the return leg at Estádio da Luz after winning the first leg 3-2 against
the Eagles at Petrovsky stadium.
Though Zenit started the crunch European tie on a high, they conceded a goal before half time. Benfica were undoubtedly the better side for the rest of the 45 minutes and went on to double their lead late in the game.
In the aftermath of the outcome, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sergei-Semak-c32976 has bemoaned the situation and admitted that the Portuguese outfit bettered them on the pitch despite their one-goal advantage during the first leg.
The Russian Cup winner went on to praise the Portuguese outfit, admitting that they played quality football throughout the match. Semak opined that Benfica had the home advantage and used it fully in the game.
Zenit played the crunch European macth three days after starting the Russian Premier League third round against their arch rivals, CSKA Moscow, at Luzhniki stadium.
Semak admitted that they were not in the best of forms as they were tired after playing against the Moscow-based club earlier this week.
The Meshki managed to draw their latest league encounter 2-2 against the Koni after 90 minutes of gruelling action.
"Benfica played much better than us and deserved to win against us. We need to congratulate them for the win, unfortunately. We tried to start the second half offensively but the Portuguese remained calm by switched to the counterattacking
game. We, in turn, had nothing to lose, but have not taken our chances well.
"Benfica played better football and were decent in every component of the game. They took full advantage of the home support.” The former Rubin Kazan player was quoted as saying.
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