The defending Russian Premier League champions, Zenit St. Petersburg, has had a disappointing start to the UEFA Champions League campaign after recording a pulsating 3-0 defeat against Malaga CF
Bettor.com has assessed the performances of the St. Petersburg’s players in their first group stage match against the Spanish outfit at Estadio La Rosaleda on Wednesday.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vyacheslav-Malafeev-c36502, 33 years old
Malafeev proved the fact that he is still one of the best goalkeepers in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Russia-c2991 after making terrific saves in the entire match. He marked a consistent performance and should not be blamed for the goals as the back four barely
helped the Russian shot-stopper.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aleksandr-Anyukov-c4549, 29 years old
It looked like Anyukov was not ready for this game. It seems that he did not know much about the fast and skilful attacking Spanish team. The Russian stopper’s mistake led to the opening goal of the match. He looked a little uncomfortable
with Bruno Alves at the back.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bruno-Alves-c8108, 30 years old
The former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/FC-Porto-c39186 defender replaced Tomas Hubocan for the European encounter. However, he made a host of defensive mistakes and should have been substituted in the second-half. Alves, who is known for his impressive high-speed
data failed to read the game.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nicolas-Lombaerts-c27825, 27 years old
Surprisingly, Lomberts put in a weak European performance despite being a top performer in the Russian championship this season already. The Belgian national made some awful clearances at the back.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aleksandar-Lukovic-c4481, 29 years old
There is little arguing to the statement that Lukovic was responsible for the second-goal of the match. Lukovic failed to meet the standards as it was one of his worst performances for the defending champions.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Shirokov-c31645, 31 years old
The attacking midfielder played a decent game, looked comfortable on the ball and tried to breach the opponent’s defence a couple of times with the help of through balls. But at the same time, the former Rubin Kazan man failed
to deliver up to his expectations.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Konstantin-Zyryanov-c21312, 34 years old
Zyryanov looked a bit tired in the centre of the park. The aged midfielder failed to initiate the attack from the midfield region.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Igor-Denisov-c16694, 28 years old
The Russian national team captain was perhaps Zenit’s strongest player on the pitch as he participated aggressively in the team’s overall attack.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Viktor-Fayzulin-c36130, 26 years old
Fayzulin deserved to play the entire 90 minutes of the match as the Russian winger repeatedly tested Malaga’s goalkeeper in the second-half.
Hulk, 26 years old
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hulk-c16436 failed to produce the kind of display that he is known for. It is evident that the Brazilian needs more time to adjust. He rattled the crossbar in the second-half from a long range effort. Apart from that strike, the Brazilian
was not among Zenit’s best players on the pitch.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Aleksandr-Kerzhakov-c4569, 29 years old
Kerzhakov did everything on the pitch except scoring a goal. The former Dynamo Moscow striker, who has already scored 6 goals in 5 league meetings, looked sharp in attack but was frustrated not to get a killer pass until the end
of the match.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vladimir-Bystrov-c36328, 28 years old
Bystrov troubled Malaga’s defenders when he came off the bench after replacing the injured Lukovic in the first-half of the match. The Russian Cup winner missed a decent opportunity to get one goal back after shooting wide in one
on one situation with the goalkeeper.
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