A second half strike from Sergei Semak and Roman Shirokov’s well taken brace ensured that the Russian giants emerged victorious from their first European tie against the Eagles.
After an eventful first half, the scores were 1-1 at the break, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Konstantin-Zyryanov-c21312.
The substitute immediately made an impression but his shot was well wide of Artur’s goal in the end. Benfica also emulated their opponents and saw two precious free kicks wasted by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Pablo-Aimar-c28938, who uncharacteristically bludgeoned them into the wall.
Nicolas Gaitan maintained his side’s pressure and almost scored a wonder goal after winning possession from the Zenit left-back and unleashed a curling effort from outside the box. But the Sky Blue International narrowly missed, much to the dismay of his
coach and teammates.
The game started to get rough after the 63rd minute with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bruno-c8098 Cesar. The ensuing free kick was better from Aimar, but still not up to his usual standards.
With his side starting to drift out of the game, Spalleti made another substitution calling off http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Vladimir-Bystrov-c36328.
It almost turned out to be a master stroke from the Italian tactician but Bystrov blew his chance over the bar, although the referee had already stopped play due to offside.
Things quickly shifted to the Zenit goal as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Yuri-Zhevnov-c37682 with an effort from Axel Witsel’s cross but the tame shot was tipped behind by the goal keeper when he should have easily caught it.
Benfica’s ascendancy was to be short lived though as the hosts quickly took the lead through veteran midfielder Semak, whose 71th minute shimmy and close range back heel did enough to bamboozle the visiting defence.
Aimar then made it worse for the Reds, as he was shown yellow for his collision with a Zenit player ensuring that he will miss the Estadio da Luz leg of the fixture. However despite going down, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jorge-c19120 Jesus sent on attacking change with Nolito taking the
place of Bruno Cesar.
Nolito was not the one who made the difference though, rather it was a more common name, as Oscar Cardozo finally capitalized on Zhevnov’s horrendous goal keeping and brought his side back on level terms on the 87th minute.
Zenit did not take the goal lightly and again took the lead, this time http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Shirokov-c31645 securing his brace with a sumptuous finish from a narrow angle a minute later.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Javier-Saviola-c18090 was sent in to the fray for Nicolas Gaitan late on, but it proved too little, too late for Benfica, as Zenit St. Petersburg earned a well deserved victory.
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