In fact Spalletti has already set as many records in just his first year than the majority of the club`s previous coaches achieved over much longer periods at the club`s helm. Nobody has ever seen such a successful and solid coaching debut in the history of the Russian Premier League!
First of all, this year`s Zenit has exceeded the club record set 6 years ago in 2003–2004 under Vlastimil Petrzela for most games in a row without losing in official matches. The record set under Petrzela was 24 matches in a row. The new record set by Spalletti with the help of Zenit`s previous head coach, Anatoly Davydov, is 26 games. This series began on October 8, 2009, with a victory over Terek, and ended on August 25th, 2010, in the unfortunate loss to the French team Auxerre in a Champions League qualification round match.
Our team has also set several other records.
1. Zenit set a club record for number of wins in a row in the Russian Premier League this year at 9 matches in a row. This streak began on April 28, 2010, with a victory over CSKA, and finished three months later, on July 31, with a no less glorious victory over Rubin.
2. Zenit set the club record for wins in a row in official matches with 10. In this case Zenit tied its previous record set in the fall of 2007. The beginning of this series came with the win over CSKA on April 28, 2010, and ended with a 0-0 tie with Unirea of Romania on July 27th.
3. On September 16th Alexander Kerzhakov scored his 2nd European cup hat trick in Zenit`s match against Anderlecht (he got his first in 2004 against AEK Athens), and less than seven days later scored his 7th hat trick in his Zenit career against Saturn (three in the Russian Premier League and two each in European cups and the Russian Cup). Altogether Kerzhakov has now scored 108 goals for Zenit. All of these numbers are absolute records in the whole history of Zenit.
And now about records that Zenit is still adding to. These include, first of all, Zenit`s record number of matches in a row without a loss in the Russian Premier League, which began on November 18, 2009, against Terek, and which is now 24 matches in a row. This achievement is a record for the entire 85 years of our club`s history.
Our Zenit last lost a home match at Petrovsky Stadium more than a year ago, on August 9th 2009. Since then Zenit has played 23 straight home matches without losing. This too is an absolute record for the whole history of Zenit.
Let`s not forget about the Russian-wide record set by Zenit last Sunday. By winning against Spartak Nalchik, our team still hasn`t lost in 21 matches this year in the Russian Premier League. The previous record for most matches without a loss in a Russian Premier League season had been set by Lokomotiv: the Moscow side went 20 matches in a row without losing in 2005.
It`s still early, of course, to tally the season`s results. But we can say one thing for sure: never has there been a year with so many records Zenit as this year. And most likely many of these records will simply increase in number over the rest of the season.
