Disastrous start: how Zenit lost to Club Brugge in the opening match of the Champions League group stage

Losses of the rival Zenit due to coronavirus

The current season of the Champions League will go down in the history of Russian football, because for the first time three domestic teams made their way to the group stage of the main European Cup: Zenit, Lokomotiv and Krasnodar. 

And the first to start the performance at this stage fell to the Petersburgers.

The wards of Sergei Semak at home hosted the strongest team of Belgium - "Bruges".

Blue-white-blue were already considered favorites, but their chances of success were increased even more by the outbreak of coronavirus in the opponent's camp.

Goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, defender Odilon Cossonu and forward Michal Krmenczyk passed positive tests for COVID-19. 

Certain losses on the eve of the starting meeting of the Champions League suffered and "Zenith".

Malcolm suffered a knee injury, and Douglas Santos was unable to help the Petersburgers because of the red card he received in the last season's match with Benfica.

But Artyom Dzyuba, Magomed Ozdoev and Yuri Zhirkov managed to give a short pause before the game.

The first two in the last round of the RPL against Sochi came on as substitutes only in the middle of the second half, and the veteran defender did not appear on the field.

As a result, both Ozdoev and Dziuba, as expected, appeared in the starting lineup of the team, but the place of Douglas on the left flank of the defense was taken not by the experienced Zhirkov, but by the young Danil Krugovoy, who had not played in the Champions League before.

Yuri, for unknown reasons, was not included in the application at all.

Malcolm was replaced by Sebastian Driussi, who recovered from injury. 

Failed first half of the champion of Russia 

The game started quite promising for the hosts.

During one of Zenit's first attacks, the opponent's reserve goalkeeper Ethan Horvat almost fired the ball right on the foot of Serdar Azmun, but at the last moment corrected his own mistake.

And then Daler Kuzyaev struck the first blow at someone else's goal from outside the penalty area. 

However, the guests quickly came to their senses.

Clement's wards sought to neutralize the absence of important partners with increased dedication and struggle to the end in every episode. 

True, sometimes the Brugge players acted too harshly.

As a result, even in the first half, they received three yellow cards at once, despite the fact that the Zenit players - none. 

One way or another, the Belgian champion managed to create real problems for Zenit with his high pressure.

Blue-white-blue under pressure often found themselves unable to attack through a short pass and had to carry the ball in the direction of Dziuba, who won the fight for him not too often. 

In fact, "Zenith" was forced to act "number two", but the team absolutely did not succeed.

As a result - only two shots on someone else's goal in the first half, and only one - on target.

In addition, Vilmar Barrios at the beginning of the meeting received a painful blow to the ankle, and, it seemed, could not act in full force.

However, Club Brugge also rarely created dangerous moments.

Basically, the Belgian team tried to put pressure on the left flank of the opponent's defense, where the young debutant Krugovoy was acting.

As a result, the guests also had only one shot on target.

Shortly before the break, Hans Vanaken, using a serve from the right flank, struck his head under the crossbar, but Mikhail Kerzhakov turned the ball to the corner.

A few minutes later, Dejan Lovren, after filing the corner, sent the shell directly into the hands of Horvat.

Fortune against Semak's charges

But in the second half, Zenit played a completely different kind of football.

The team finally managed to seize the initiative and push the opponent to the goal.

On the other hand, Brugge's game went completely wrong.

The guests had to give up the high pressure. 

Dziuba also began to act much more useful, who continued to retreat to the flanks after the ball, but became much more successful in clinging to it and distributing sharp passes to partners. 

As a result, dangerous moments began to arise at the gates of the Belgian team.

So, immediately after the break, Sebastian Driussi did not hit the far corner from outside the penalty area.

Horvath in this situation was clearly late with the jump.

And a little later, after a corner kick, Azmun almost sent a shell into the net. 

It seemed that Zenit was about to put pressure on the opponent and score, but instead, the Petersburgers missed the ball that did not follow from the logic of the meeting.

Emmanuel Dennis, near someone else's front, fought for the ball with Barrios and made a pass to the empty net to Charles De Quetelare.

However, Rakitskiy miraculously stopped the ball on the goal line twice.

But on the third attempt, Dennis arrived in time and sent the shell into the corner. 

Semak's charges only angered what happened, and they almost equalized the score.

But first, Karavaev from the slaughter position after the transfer of Azmun from the right flank struck almost parallel to the goal, and then none of the partners responded to Kuzyaev's cross along the front.

Finally, a few minutes later, Azmun brought Driussi to strike, but he shot higher from within the penalty area.

It seemed that Fortune had finally turned its back on the Petersburgers. 

At this point, Semak made the first change and went to change the tactical scheme.

Andrey Mostovoy entered the game instead of Driussi, and newcomer Wendel - instead of Kuzyaev.

At the same time, the young footballer of the Russian national team took a place under Dziuba and Azmun, and the Brazilian settled in the inside position along with Ozdoev.

And almost immediately Zenit managed to score, and the team's goal was also funny.

Lovren decided on a long-range strike, and the ball, hitting the barbell, ricocheted into the back of Croat and flew into the net. 

Immediately Dziuba almost brought the champion of Russia forward with a shot from several meters, but this time the goalkeeper of "Brugge" played beyond praise.

In the end, Semak threw the tall Alexander Erokhin into the battle in order to be able to throw the ball forward at the tall players, but Zenit had no strength left for the final assault.

And in the 93rd minute, the inexplicable happened at the Kerzhakov's gate.

Brugge, who took the ball under their control in order to play for time, unexpectedly attacked on the right flank, and Ketelare sent the ball into the net after a cross from a partner. 

So Zenit, having shown a decent game in the second half, suffered an illogical and extremely offensive defeat, which will significantly complicate the task of leaving the group for the Petersburgers.