Minimum program: how Zenit escaped defeat in the match with Malmö and reached the playoffs of the Europa League

The match against Malmö was Zenit's last opportunity to compete for the Champions League playoffs.

In order to preserve the chances of getting into the first two of Group H, the Petersburgers had to not only beat the strongest team in Sweden for the second time, but also wait for Chelsea's home defeat from Juventus.

In this case, the fate of a ticket to the top 16 was to be decided in the sixth round in St. Petersburg.

At the same time, on the eve of the confrontation with the quartet outsider, Sergei Semak was left without two leading performers at once.

Serdar Azmun and Stanislav Kritsyuk did not even fly to Sweden due to health problems.

On the other hand, Daler Kuzyaev, who was included in the application, returned to service.

In the absence of two leaders, the coaching staff of the guests did without surprises.

At the last stage, Kritsyuk was replaced by the experienced Mikhail Kerzhakov, who did not appear on the field earlier in the current draw of the main European Cup.

Artyom Dziuba is at the forefront alone.

The fans expected goals from him in the first place, taking into account the form that the forward scored in the fall.

However, although he scored ten goals in the RPL, he has not yet been able to distinguish himself in the Champions League.

The rest of the composition of the blue-white-blue turned out to be completely predictable.

The three central defenders Dejan Lovren - Dmitry Chistyakov - Yaroslav Rakitskiy from the flanks were supported by Douglas dos Santos and Vyacheslav Karavaev.

Vilmar Barrios and Wendel are located in the support zone.

Finally, Malcolm and Claudinho helped Dziuba in the attack.

According to the first half, it was possible to conclude that Zenit came to play not for a win, but for a draw, in order to guarantee itself the third place in the standings.

The guests had less possession of the ball than their opponents (47%), and most importantly, there was a feeling that they did not understand how to crack the rich defense of Malmö.

As in the previous match with Juventus, the attacking three were often cut off from their partners.

Douglas and Karavaev tried to go on the offensive along the flanks, but they did it belatedly and not boldly enough.

Dziuba was ahead, even if he won the fight, did not meet with support, and the ball practically did not reach him.

In addition, there were too many mistakes in the actions of the guests.

Even the technical Claudinho and Malcolm allowed losses out of the blue and gave the opponent the opportunity to counterattack.

Giving the shell to the owners, the Petersburgers were unable to return it back.

Pressing, like attacks, turned out to be uncoordinated and did not really work.

The class of Malmö footballers was enough to calmly get out of the pressure and organize their attack.

In Zenit's half, the powerful Antonio-Mirko Kolak regularly received the ball.

In one of the episodes, he even fell into someone else's penalty area after being pushed by Lovren, but the judge from Latvia Andris Treimanis did not commit a foul.

And in the 28th minute, Semak's wards, to complete all the troubles, missed.

And again, the team actually split into two parts.

After the loss, a whole group of players did not have time to return back, which Malmö took advantage of.

Velko Birmanchevic and Soren Riks easily opened Karavaev's zone on the right edge of the penalty area.

Then the Dane removed the ball from Lovren and shot between the legs of Rakitskiy without a chance for Kerzhakov.

Only after that did the blue-white-blue become more active.

However, “Malmö” calmly retreated to their half of the field and defended the gained minimal advantage.

Before the break, Zenit played only a few inaccurate shots from outside the penalty area.

There was only one on target - Johan Dalin took the projectile without any problems after a slight shot by Wendel.

However, the hosts made it only twice, but managed to open an account.

Semak did not like what was happening on the field so much that before the start of the second half, he made a double substitution and turned to a different arrangement.

Claudinho, who, moreover, received a card, and did not keep track of Riks Lovren, left the field as usual.

Instead, the headquarters threw midfielders Andrei Mostovoy and Alexander Erokhin into the battle.

The latter is located in front not far from Dziuba.

The castles immediately bore fruit.

Zenit immediately seized the initiative and earned a penalty.

After an excellent pass from Dziuba, Wendel went one-on-one with Dalin, but lost the ball at the most crucial moment.

However, the replay showed that the goalkeeper hit the Brazilian in the legs, and with such force that he cut him.

An experienced striker himself took on the penalty spot, but he did it extremely unsuccessfully.

He struck in the trademark manner - weakly and directly in the center.

As a rule, he manages to outplay the goalkeepers who fly into the corners.

This time the vis-a-vis also did not stay in place, but the shell hit him right in the shin.

Just a few minutes later, Artyom managed to score from the field, but Treimanis, having talked with his colleagues at VAR, recognized the right side decision to fix a small offside position. Petersburgers continued to possess the ball completely, but infrequently penetrated into someone else's penalty area. Even less often it came to blows. "Malmö" with its full complement retreated to its own half, abandoning counterplay, and leaving the opponent a minimum of space. As a rule, the guests weaved combinations on the flanks, trying to create an advantage there, but the hosts defended themselves reliably.

And in the end, the champion of Russia, in addition, remained in the minority. Chistyakov, who already had a card, for some reason ran after the ball to someone else's corner flag and jumped at the feet of Eric Larsson in a sliding tackle, not even close to making a clean interception. The referee took a break, but showed the defender the second yellow card. It seemed that the match could end there.

Zenit footballers showed character to their credit. In addition, Larsson helped, who this time was marked with a minus sign. In his own penalty area, he inaccurately put his elbow to the side and hit Dziube's jaw. Artyom did not suffer so much, but fell to the lawn, focusing the attention of the referee on the episode. At first, he did not indicate the "point", but then received advice from colleagues to watch the replay. And after that Treimanis awarded the second penalty. Dziuba remained on the field, but the penalty spot did not dare to play. Instead, Rakitsky did it and coped with his task. Yaroslav struck with the bottom to the right corner. Dalin guessed the direction of the ball, but did not get it.

So, the Petersburgers snatched the most important point in a very difficult match and guaranteed themselves a ticket to the Europa League playoffs.

Chelsea, on the other hand, defeated Juventus in a parallel meeting and secured a hit in the 1/8 finals of the Champions League.