Lost illusions: Zenit lost to Juventus in the Champions League and almost lost their chances of reaching the playoffs

The away match of the Champions League group stage with Juventus was decisive for Zenit.

The Petersburgers approached him with only three points, while the Turinans had nine, and Chelsea had six.

Accordingly, another defeat could put an end to the hopes of the Russian team to break into the playoffs of the main European Cup.

Sergei Semak spoke about this on the eve of the confrontation.

“Defeat will leave only hypothetical chances.

Even now, the situation is quite difficult, given the balance of power in the group.

Tomorrow's match is defining for us.

We will not hope that Chelsea will start losing points, ”the coach said at a pre-match press conference.

However, this time, domestic fans had a certain hope for a miracle. Firstly, the blue-white-blue proved themselves worthy in the home game with Juve and were close to earning a point. Secondly, since then, the opponent has not won a single victory in Serie A, breaking up with Inter and losing to the modest Sassuolo and Verona. Frustrated by such results, Massimiliano Allegri took harsh measures and, according to media reports, closed the wards at the base from November 1 to 6. Zenit, on the other hand, scored an excellent move and defeated Spartak and Dynamo with a total score of 11: 2.

As a result, the starting line-up of Petersburgers completely repeated the roster for Friday's game with the blue-white.

Magomed Ozdoev, Douglas dos Santos and Daler Kuzyaev did not fly to Italy due to injuries.

Malcolm and Danil Krugovoy, who recovered from injuries, were included in the application, but remained in reserve, like Artyom Dziuba, who broke the RPL performance record last week.

As for the rest, Semak, as expected, again made a bet on the formation with five defenders, in which the flanks were covered by Vyacheslav Karavaev and versatile Alexei Sutormin, and Serdar Azmun played the role of the only forward, who started the previous match with Juve in reserve.

The guests failed to start the match at all. The hosts, as if wishing to rehabilitate themselves in front of the fans, from the first minutes pressed the opponent into the penalty area. They organized one attack after another, and when they lost, they instantly turned on high pressure and returned the ball to themselves. Zenit footballers swam and got lost on the retreat, regularly making mistakes under pressure.

The support zone also looked unreliable. Wilmar Barrios alone was unable to restrain Paulo Dybala, and Wendel was constantly unable to help his partner. As a result, the Argentine hit the post from outside the penalty area already in the ninth minute. But the Petersburgers did not hear this bell and were soon forced to remove the shell from the net. After the corner kick, Yaroslav Rakitskiy knocked the ball straight to Dybala, and he shot into the far corner with a rebound from the lawn. At the same time, the tenth number was again completely alone. Paulo in the opening generally drew the maximum attention to himself. Soon he mockingly left on the right flank from Barrios and Karavaev and shot at Alvaro Morata, but he miraculously missed the target.

For the time being, Zenit failed to do anything in the attack.

Claudinho, Azmun and Andrei Mostovoy were cut off from the midfield line and rarely received the ball.

The Iranian was just powerless to rush between the powerful central defenders of the opponent.

However, by the middle of the half, the blue-white-blue came to their senses, established control over the ball for a few minutes, and this was enough to level the score.

However, the team should thank Fortune for this.

After not the most dangerous pass by Karavaev from the left flank, experienced Leonardo Bonucci, trying to interrupt the cross, cut off the projectile into the far corner of his own goal.

Wojciech Szczęsny was unable to save the owners.

Having conceded, Juventus regained the initiative, but now the Petersburgers defended without panic and left almost no space between the lines.

True, a couple of times Kritsyuk had to join the game, who did not always act reliably and once even received an angry tirade from Rakitsky.

Unfortunately, in the second half, the fate of the confrontation was largely decided by an ambiguous penalty.

It all started with the fact that Morata in the center of the field won the fight for the ball from Wendel, hitting him in the face with his hand.

However, the panel of judges did not notice this.

Turintsy immediately carried out a quick attack, which ended with Federico Chiesa's penetration into the penalty area from the left flank.

To knock the ball out from under the feet of the Italian tried a football player who is not too strong in the selection - Claudinho, although Barrios had time to hedge.

As a result, the Brazilian did not have time to play and knocked down his opponent.

Dybala went to perform the penalty spot.

Paulo struck the bottom in the right corner from himself, but miraculously missed the target.

However, the guests' joy was short-lived.

Chief referee Alejandro Jose Hernandez Hernandez demanded to try again, as Barrios and Dejan Lovren ran into the penalty area ahead of time.

The Argentinian was not going to make a mistake again and this time he hit the target.

Immediately Semak refreshed the flanks and threw into the battle those who returned to the cage Krugovoy and Malkom, who replaced Karavaev and Mostovoy, respectively.

The castles helped Zenit regain control over the ball and even check Szczensny's vigilance a couple of times.

Alas, the hope of the Petersburgers did not last long.

The champion of Russia was forced to go ahead and allowed a large number of losses in the opponent's half, which Juventus took advantage of by organizing quick counterattacks.

And if Weston McKenny forgave the guests, hitting the crossbar, then Chiesa in the 73rd minute withdrew all questions about the outcome of the meeting.

In the penalty area, he mockingly easily walked away from Lovren and rolled the projectile into the far corner.

In such a situation, the entry into the field of Alexander Erokhin and Dziuba looked like a belated decision, as did the transition to a system with two central defenders.

And soon the gate of Kritsyuk was struck by Morat, and Dybala added an assist to two goals.

The only pleasant moment for the Petersburgers was the prestige ball in the referee's added time.

Fresh Dziuba won the fight against his opponent after throwing from the depths and made a discount on Azmun, who sent the projectile into the far corner.

However, this did not improve Zenit's mood much.

The domestic team suffered its third defeat in the current Champions League season and practically lost its chances of qualifying from the group.

Now she needs to beat Chelsea at home with the largest possible score, and then gain the upper hand in the confrontation with Malmö and count on the defeat of the Londoners in the meeting with the Turin, who have already guaranteed themselves a hit in the playoffs.