Goals of Dziuba and Azmuna, Ozdoev’s pressure and Semak’s successful substitutions: how Zenit beat Benfica in the Champions League

Waiting for victory and Shatov in the starting lineup

Zenit started in the group stage of the Champions League with a productive draw away from Lyon. Two weeks later, the St. Petersburg team had to accept Benfica, which lost to Leipzig in the first round. And most experts after this concluded that the Lisbon team is the weakest team in Group G, therefore, Sergei Semak's wards must score three points.

On the other hand, the young team of Bruno Lage quite successfully started in the Portuguese championship and won six victories in one defeat in the first seven rounds, which allows Benfica to take second place in the tournament table, second only to the sensational Familican.

The last time the teams met in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League season 2015/16, then the Lisbon in both meetings were stronger than Zenith, knocking out the blue-white-blue from the rally.

Artyom Dziuba, recalling those matches before the next confrontation, stressed that the result was not the best mood of the Hulk, who was thinking about moving to China.

However, of the participants in those matches in St. Petersburg there were only a few: Dzyuba and Oleg Shatov. Benfica has a few more such players: Pizzi, Andreas Samaris, Andre Almeida and Lubomir Feysa.

As a result, both Dziuba and Shatov ended up in the Zenit roster for this match. However, the appearance of Oleg was perhaps the only surprise. He is located on the left flank of midfield. The rest of the Russian team turned out to be quite predictable.

And Benfiki’s application for the match included Russian goalkeeper Ivan Zlobin. A graduate of CSKA made his debut in the first team of the “eagles” just last week, and before traveling to his homeland, he said that he expects only victory from the Lisbon.

The starting lineup of blue-white-blue for the match # ZenitBenfica! pic.twitter.com/VIDCithDEf

Faith's Fatal Mist and Long-Range Attacks

Both teams initially bet on counterattacks, and Zenit almost opened the scoring in the second minute. Dziuba in the middle of the field pushed the opponent off the ball and threw Serdar Azmun into the breakthrough. The attacker managed to get almost to a rendezvous with Odysseas Vlachodimos, but the Iranian could not beat the Greek.

The guests immediately responded with a rather dangerous blow to Lubomir Feysa after a corner kick. Slovenian methyl into the far corner and quite a bit missed the target. In fact, this was the most dangerous moment of Benfica in the first half. In addition to him, one can recall only a few attacks from a long distance, which Andrei Lunev handled without problems. Apparently, Bruno Lage was well aware of the goalkeeper's mistakes in recent matches and gave instructions to wards to beat as often as possible.

However, as a result, it was not Lunev who was mistaken, but the already mentioned Faith. In the middle of the inning, having received the ball from his goalkeeper near his own penalty box, Lubomir lost the fight to the corps with Magomed Ozdoev and allowed the midfielder to push the ball to Dziuba. Artyom confidently implemented a one-on-one solution, setting an example for Azmuna.

The Lisbon had to open up and go forward, which was only to the advantage of Zenit, because the team of Semak got an excellent opportunity for quick attacks. However, there were no more 100% moments at the gates of Vlachodimos, like at the gates of Lunev. The attacks of Benfica choked over and over again as they approached the penalty area, as Ozdoev and Wilmar Barrios worked perfectly in the base zone. And in which case they were always ready to insure Yaroslav Rakitsky and Branislav Ivanovich.

Semak's timely replacements and Azmoun's canceled goal

The second half, the St. Petersburg team began very actively and literally pushed the opponent to the goal. As soon as the game resumed, Azmun burst into the penalty area with the ball and shot into Vladachos from a rather sharp angle. However, Zenit failed to take advantage, and the initiative passed to Benfica.

The Lisbon took the ball under their control and came closer and closer to the possessions of Lunev. In addition, Cayo and Vinicius Morais entered the field very timely. But Semak also responded with competent castling. To be more precise, Igor Smolnikov’s injury prompted him to change. Instead, the home coaching staff threw Jordan Osorio into the fray. A few minutes later, Shatov gave way to Vyacheslav Karavaev, and the St. Petersburg team, as in Lyon, switched to an alignment with three central defenders.

This tactical move fully paid off. In the defense of “Zenith” compactness reappeared. In addition, the team of Semak great began to go into a counterattack, as the opponent revealed more. Very soon, it paid off. Before Karavaev entered the field, he received a magnificent cutting pass from Barrios and shot from the front to Azmuna. Serdar was not allowed to penetrate Ruben Diash, but only in order to himself to transfer the ball to the target.

After that, the game at Benfica completely went wrong. Ozdoev served with a free kick in the middle of the field, and Dziuba correctly missed the ball to a partner. This time, the Iranian beat Vlachojos and calmly sent the shell into the goal.

Moreover, almost immediately, Azmun scored a double, but the judge rightly canceled his second goal because of his offside position, after which the striker with a sense of accomplishment gave way to Alexander Erokhin on the field.

But the ending was not very successful for Zenit. Five minutes before the final whistle, who replaced Raul De Thomas from outside the penalty area struck a beautiful shot in the near corner. Lunev once again at the start of the season failed to save the team. As a result, Benfica went forward to the very end and could even reduce the gap to a minimum. Fortunately, things didn’t get to the hassle, and Zenit won a major victory.

After the first two rounds, Sergei Semak's wards lead the group G standings with 4 points. Ahead of St. Petersburg, a guest match awaits with the German RB Leipzig, which has 3 points in its assets.

The third round meeting will take place on October 23 in Leipzig at the Red Bull Arena.