On the eve of the final round of the Champions League group stage, Zenit lost the chance to continue the European campaign.
Sergei Semak's wards had only one point to their credit and were in the last, fourth place in Quartet F. But even though the home meeting with Borussia Dortmund did not matter from the point of view of tournament prospects, the Petersburgers were probably not averse to slam the door loudly and that's it. add one in the "wins" column.
In terms of the formation of the squad for the game, one of the main intrigues was whether Sebastian Driussi would be at the core.
The other day in the media there was an interview with a football player, in which he criticized the head coach of Zenit in a rather harsh manner.
In particular, he expressed dissatisfaction that Semak is using him as a winger and not using him in the center of the attack.
But despite such statements, he was at the start and took a place on the field next to striker Serdar Azmun.
Of course, this could hardly have happened if you were in the composition of Artyom Dzyuba.
However, he unexpectedly remained in reserve, which could be regarded as Semak's intention to save the leader until the important RPL matches with Dynamo and Spartak.
There was also no place on the field for Deyan Lovren, Yuri Zhirkov and Vyacheslav Karavaev, as well as the Brazilian midfielder Wendel, whose transfer cost € 20.3 million (according to Transfermarkt).
On the right flank of the defense, the nominal midfielder Alexei Sutormin is again located, and the duet Yaroslav Rakitsky - Danila Prokhin came out in the center of defense.
As for the guests, although Borussia guaranteed itself a place in the Champions League playoffs, they did not book the first place in the group.
In case of equality of points, Lazio could have bypassed it, having hosted Brugge at home in the final round.
At the same time, the Dortmund team arrived in St. Petersburg in a weakened composition.
For various reasons, Lucien Favre missed nine players at once, among whom were the star Manuel Akandzhi, Tom Meunier, Rafael Guerreiro and Erling Holland.
But in the reserve was included 16-year-old Yussufa Mukoko, in case of entering the field, becoming the youngest participant in the Champions League match in history (16 years 18 days).
Surely many feared that the return meeting between Zenit and Borussia would be similar to the first game in Dortmund.
Then the blue-white-blue put too much emphasis on defense and not only owned the ball only 30% of the time, but also did not strike a single shot on target of the enemy.
And in the first minutes, suspicions arose that the St. Petersburg audience could well expect a repetition of such a scenario.
Let the hosts tried to run away in counterattacks, and Serdar Azmun and Sebastian Driussi looked good in a pair, but the advantage was on the side of the guests.
But from the tenth minute, Zenit began to level the playing field.
The hosts moved with large forces to the opponent's half of the field and began to besiege the opponent's penalty area, which led to the appearance of dangerous moments.
At first, Malcolm was taken to the strike, but he was extremely inaccurate.
A minute later, Driussi got a chance.
The newly minted center-forward opened great in the penalty area and struck an irresistible touch after the transfer of Sutormin.
After conceding a goal, Dortmund, as expected, went ahead and several times were close to restoring equality in the score.
The guests relied on attacks from the left flank, where they were opposed by Sutormin, who was not the most reliable in defense.
Both Marco Royce and Niko Schultz broke through along the edge, but either the shots turned out to be inaccurate, or Mikhail Kerzhakov acted confidently.
In one of the episodes, the goalkeeper played great on the ribbon and rescued his partners after being hit by Torgan Azar.
Zenit responded with a lightning-fast counterattack, delivering the ball to Azmun in just a few seconds.
After the transfer to Driussi, the Iranian went one-on-one with Marvin Hitz and easily outplayed the goalkeeper, but the joy was short-lived.
The line referee rightly recorded an offside position.
But the last word in the first half remained with Borussia.
During the last five minutes, Favre's team could upset Kerzhakov twice, but in both cases, luck was not on his side.
First, the 17-year-old prodigy Jude Bellingham was left without custody in the goalkeeper, but shot higher, and then he showed himself great in counterpressing and organized another offensive of the guests.
Royce found himself on the left border of the penalty area and shot into the far corner, but the post played for the Petersburgers.
During the break, the Borussia players were probably informed that, taking into account the result of the parallel meeting, they are no longer the leaders of the group.
However, such news did not provoke a surge of activity among the Germans, and the first dangerous moment occurred precisely at the Hitz gate.
There was a turmoil in the penalty area of Dortmund, during which both Kuzyaev and Azmun had chances to excel.
But not the most successful blow of the Russian was parried by the goalkeeper, and the Iranian could not react to Prokhin's cross.
Subsequently, "Zenith" twice more made Hitz worry.
Azmun tried to close the transverse cross from the right flank, but did not have time a little, and Malcolm once again struck from the left.
But like several previous attempts, this one was blocked.
The first shot on goal Kerzhakov in the second half took place only in the 56th minute.
Bellingham made a subtle pass into the center of the penalty area, but Hazard threw the ball straight into the goalkeeper's hands with his head.
At the end of the hour of the game, both teams made replacements.
Zenit got Dzyuba and Wendel on the pitch, Borussia got Giovanni Reina and Mukoko.
At first, the guests were unable to rebuild and missed a couple of dangerous counterattacks, but then they nevertheless established control over the game and, already in the 68th minute, scored a return goal after a corner kick.
It is noteworthy that both central defenders played a key role.
Mats Hummels shot after Royce's cross, and Lukasz Pischek finished off the ball into the net.
Realizing that even a draw does not bring Borussia to the first place, Favre went all-in.
Hummels and Pischek left, and instead Dan-Axel Zagadu and Jadon Sancho appeared.
The guests continued to increase the pressure on Kerzhakov's goal, while the hosts were not doing so well with their counterattacks.
With the release of Dziuba, the team became noticeably slower and could no longer deliver such serious problems to opponents defending with small forces.
And in the 79th minute, Axel Witsel demonstrated his skills.
The former Zenit midfielder got the ball on the border of the penalty area, took advantage of the indecision of Vilmar Barrios and Magomed Ozdoev and sent the ball into the near corner with a billiard shot.
Kerzhakov tried to save his team, but failed.
Semak reacted and threw Karavaev and Danil Krugovoy into the fight, and then the moment arose as a result of a corner kick.
Dziuba won the fight on the second floor and made an allowance for Azmun, but at the last second the Iranian was ahead of Rein.
And in the 85th minute, Artyom himself could have distinguished himself.
The forward received a pass at the 11-meter mark, but turned too slowly and allowed Zagad to tackle.
True, the impression was that the French was hooked on the Russian.
But the referee Istvan Kovacs did not respond to the appeal from the hosts.
Until the final whistle, both Sutormin, who made a spectacular slalom into the penalty area, and Karavaev had chances.
Released defender from the air struck from outside the penalty area, but Hitz was on the alert.
Zenit lost to Borussia at home and failed to win a single victory in the Champions League group stage.