Zenit St. Petersburg showed why they are at the top of Group D in Europa League Group Stage action as Aleksandr Kokorin’s 44th minute goal coupled with Aleksandr Kerzhakov’s 91st minute strike helped the hosts to the three points and the win.
Prematch
Head Coach Shota Arveladze made a number of changes to the Starting XI that featured against Kiryat Shemona, however, Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic was in his usual position with a defensive corps of Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Egor Filipenka and Omri Ben Harush in front of him. Eyal Golasa, Haris Medunjanin and Nosa Igiebor manned the midfield while Oscar Scarione, Eden Ben Basat and acting Captain Tal Ben Chaim provided the attack.
Available on the bench for the Georgian boss were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Gal Alberman, Sagiv Yehezkel, Vidar Kjartansson, Tal Ben Haim, Eliel Peretz and Yossi Benayoun.
First Half
After a quiet opening quarter hour of action Zenit’s Kokorin had the contest’s first chance but couldn’t find the handle on the ball in the box. In the 27th minute, Maccabi looked to have gotten on the board via Ben Chaim however he was ruled to be offside after receiving the ball from Medunjanin.
Five minutes later Mak beat the Yellow & Blue defense but his effort went wide of the target while just one minute later Ben Chaim had another chance to put the visitors in the lead but his shot went over the bar as the score remained 0:0.
However, as the match headed towards the break, Zenit got on the board with seconds remaining in the half as Aleksandr Kokorin beat Ben Harush to a cross from the left side into the box as the striker knocked the ball past a helpless Rajikovic for a 1:0 lead.
Second Half
Coach Arvelazde made two substitutions to begin the second half as Yossi Benayoun and Sagiv Yehezkel came on for Scarione and Ben Chaim. It didn’t take long for Yehezkel to get into the fray as the winger’s effort in the box was collected by the keeper in the 49th minute while two minutes later he blew past a defender on the left side and made a beauty of a pass to Benayoun but number 51 couldn’t get a shot off as Zenit cleared the ball from danger.
Ben Basat had an 18-meter free kick in the 67th minute but the Zenit keeper Lodygin made the easy save and Medunjnain’s free kick in the 75th minute was also collected by the shot stopper to keep the hosts in the lead.
Coach Arveladze made his third substitution of the evening in the 81st minute as Eliel Peretz was introduced for Medunjanin with Maccabi looking for an equalizer with time winding down. Four minutes later, Yehezkel lifted a ball to Igiebor in the box but the Nigerian’s header went over the goal while Dasa’s 87th minute effort went flying over the bar.
As the match moved into injury time, Zenit finished off the story as Aleksandr Kerzhakov scored from a free kick at the top of the box beating Rajikovic to his right side as Maccabi will head back to Israel empty handed from St. Petersburg.
