“Zenith” gave out an almost gorgeous match in the Europa League, but lost to “Betis”

Petersburg “Zenith” opened the spring part of the season with a match in 1/16 of the Europa League with the Spanish “Betis”.

After the departure of Serdar Azmun, of course, the starting line-up of blue-white-blue was of great interest, and it was like this: Mikhail Kerzhakov, Vyacheslav Karavaev, Dmitry Chistyakov, Vilmar Barrios, Yaroslav Rakitsky, Douglas Santos, Daler Kuzyaev, Wendel, Claudinho, Malcom, Artem Dzyuba. Rookie Youri Alberto was left on the bench.

The composition of Betis, which, by the way, is in third place in the Example, was not the most combative – apparently, they decided to save the stars for internal showdowns and the second leg, if necessary.

In the 7th minute, Rakitskiy earned a free-kick along with a mustard plaster, and Rodriguez scored a header after a cross. The same Yaroslav could not interfere with him.

In the 18th minute, what seemed to be a promising attack by the Petersburgers broke down, and in a quick counterattack, Willian Jose clearly put the ball into the bottom corner, perhaps after a slight rebound.

The hosts bounced back literally within 10 minutes. First, Dzyuba closed the pass of Karavaev with his head, pushing through the defender. And then Malcolm, having received a pass from the left in the penalty area, pierced the ball past the goalkeeper.

Zenit clearly seized the initiative, but in the 40th minute Rakitskiy did not react to a pass from the goalkeeper – an interception, and Guardado scored.

For the second half, Sergei Semak released Andrey Mostovoy and Daniil Krugovoy, and Rakitsky and Karavaev left. Interestingly, two defenders were replaced. At the same time, the game became not so reckless, although none of the teams closed. Well, in the 65th minute, Claudinho was replaced by Yuri Alberto. And right there, with his participation, an attack took place, which Kuzyaev completed with a blow to the crossbar.

With the advent of the newcomer, the game revived, and on both sides. For the last quarter of an hour, another newcomer came out instead of Dziuba – Ivan Sergeev, and at the very end – Alexander Erokhin instead of Chistyakov. The composition became extremely attacking. The rest of the match took place in the attacks of Zenit. Sergeev made a chic discount for Alberta, who failed to bring the ball into the goal, and this was the last chance for the hosts. They lost – 2:3.

The Moldavian Sheriff continues to create miracles in European competitions, defeating the Portuguese Braga in the LE – 2:0.

In the matches of the Champions League held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Paris Saint-Germain defeated Real Madrid – 1: 0, Manchester City “outraged” Sporting in Lisbon – 5: 0, Inter lost at home to Liverpool – 0:2, Salzburg could not lose to Bayern – 1:1.