Zenit were back in action after a long summer break. They hosted Lokomotiv Moscow at the Petrovsky Stadium in the RFPL season opener.
Zenit were without Dzyuba and Lombaerts, who were both out injured. The starting lineup consisted of following: Lodygin, Criscito, Neto, Garay, Smolnikov, Mauricio, Yusupov, Javi Garcia, Shatov, A. Kerzhakov & Kokorin.
From the beginning of the match Zenit were in control. After around 13 minutes Smolnikov’s well delivered cross ended up at the feet of Kokorin, who didn’t hit the ball cleanly and shot wide. A few minutes later Smolnikov tested Guilherme in goal with a long range shot, but the newly Russian goalkeeper managed to punch it wide.
After a quiet period where Loko were getting a little bit more dominant, a great counter-attack from Zenit in the 32nd minute led to Alexander Kerzhakov crossing the ball in towards Shatov, who headed it just wide.
After that was a quiet period before half-time. Although at half-time the former Zenit icon, Hulk turned up to say a proper farewell to the fans by walking around the stands. About a month ago, Hulk was sold to Chinese club Shanghai SIPG.
The second half took some time to get going. After around 3 minutes of the second half Criscito had a shot on goal from far out, but it went wide.
After around 63 minutes Kokorin went down on the edge of the penalty area and earned a free-kick. Oleg Shatov took it, but it sailed over the goal via. the Lokomotiv wall.
In the 67th minute Zhirkov lay a ball back to Kokorin just outside the penalty area, but Kokorin fired It wide. A few minutes later Zenit had another big chance. A cross eventually found Axel Witsel at the back post, but the Belgian international was unable to find the back of the net. Zenit’s pressure was getting more and more intense.
The biggest chance for the home side came in the 73rd minute when Criscito crossed the ball perfectly from the left into the path of Zhirkov’s head. Unfortunately, Guilherme was quick to react in Loko’s goal.
Djordjevic, who came on as a sub not long before, had a great chance in the 82nd minute. After some great skill on the edge of the penalty area his initial shot was blocked, but he picked up the rebound and again it went wide.
One of Loko’s few chances came in the 86th minute, when a cross from Shishkin found Tarasov, who was unable to get a clear cut opportunity in the penalty area.
Another huge chance for Zenit came in the 89th minute when Criscito’s cross perfectly found Smolnikov in the penalty area, but once again the header didn’t result in a goal. An even bigger chance came in injury time, when a cross went into the penalty box, but no Zenit player could get the ball over the line, and it eventually ran out for a goal-kick.
Zenit had to settle with a 0-0 draw in the opening game of the season.
