Last chance for Zenit
The match against Lazio in the third round of the Champions League group stage was of decisive importance for Zenit.
In the event of another failure, the Petersburgers could say goodbye not only to the chances of reaching the playoffs of the tournament, but also with the prospect of making their way at least to the Europa League.
At a crucial moment, Zenit's mentor Sergei Semak could not count on a whole group of main performers.
Serdar Azmun and Malcolm still have not recovered from the damage.
Sebastian Driussi was not ready for the game either.
And the newcomer Wendel, although he managed to heal the muscle damage, did not make it into the starting lineup.
But Artyom Dzyuba returned to the base.
Semak replaced the captain during the half-time match with Borussia in Dortmund, and then did not take him to the meeting of the Russian championship with Khimki.
As experts noted, in his last games, Dziuba looked too tired, and therefore, he may need rest.
For example, the commentator Vasily Utkin said that the 32-year-old striker is extremely exhausted.
True, the Romans also had serious personnel problems.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, Simone Inzaghi has lost a number of key players, including Lucas Leiva and Ciro Immobile.
And the place of the main goalkeeper Tomas Strakosi was taken by 38-year-old Pepe Reina.
The natural goal of Zenit
Already in the debut of the match, Daler Kuzyaev committed a rough foul in the center of the field, having received a yellow card from the Portuguese referee Arthur Soares Dias.
Zenit had more control over the ball, but Lazio seemed in no hurry to force the situation, patiently waiting for the hosts' mistake.
In the middle of the first 45 minutes, Serhiy Milinkovic-Savic shot Dejan Lovren and signaled to the referee that the Croat had played with his hand.
Soares Dias did not find grounds for the appointment of a penalty.
Gradually, the territorial advantage of "Zenith" became more and more obvious.
Semak's wards controlled the ball 59% of the playing time.
The pressure from St. Petersburg ultimately resulted in a scoring chance.
After Yuri Zhirkov's serve in the penalty area of Lazio, Dziuba conveniently threw the ball off with his head, and Alexander Erokhin left the goalkeeper no chance from a few meters.
Experienced Reyna was powerless in this situation.
The Romans tried to respond quickly.
The guests took the ball and tried to make their way to the possession of Mikhail Kerzhakov through the center.
In one of the episodes, Vedat Muriki dangerously struck his head above the crossbar.
In general, after the goal, the picture of the game changed significantly.
Now Lazio had a lot of possession of the ball and played combinations for a long time, while Zenit - voluntarily or because of the guests' activity - acted as the second number.
Offensive ending
Soon after the match resumed, Inzaghi lost his nerve.
Lazio's mentor resented the violation of the rules at Milinkovic-Savic so much that he received a warning.
At the same game segment, it is possible that the most important moment of the meeting took place.
After hitting the leg, Erokhin limped.
On the 56th minute, he got a good opportunity to run away one on one with the goalkeeper, but the midfielder did not have enough speed and at the last moment the ball was knocked out by a defender in a clean tackle.
It seemed that that painful blow prevented Erokhin from running away from his rivals.
And very soon Alexander was replaced by Andrey Mostovoy.
The young midfielder could have distinguished himself with the first touch.
He made a quick raid on the left flank and, having played a wall with Zhirkov, broke into someone else's penalty area.
Mostovoy tried to gently send the ball into the far corner, but the ball went near the post.
Soon Dziuba received a painful blow in a horse collision.
The captain of "Zenith" could not get up from the lawn for a long time, holding on to the tailbone.
Nevertheless, he continued the meeting.
And in the 82nd minute, after Lovren fell onto the pitch, Zenit missed Felipe Caicedo, who replaced Lazio, in their penalty area.
The former Lokomotiv striker hit the near corner of Zenit's goal after a cross from the left flank.
The owners had almost no time to go ahead again.
And yet the Petersburgers did their best to snatch victory.
Soon Daler Kuzyaev was in the shock position.
However, he unsuccessfully poked the lawn with his boot and was unable to hit the ball.
And already in the third added minute, Mostovoy realized a one-on-one exit with Reina, cold-bloodedly rolling the ball past the goalkeeper.
And again, luck was not on Zenit's side.
The VAR system recorded an offside position for Dziuba, who was giving the pass to his partner.
This is how Semak's team scored the first point in the current season of the Champions League, but was hardly satisfied with this result.