Zenit brought Juventus to the play-off – Sport – Kommersant

by time news

In the fourth round of the Champions League group stage, Zenit lost 2: 4 away to the leader of their group H Juventus. The defeat from the Italian club made the St. Petersburgers’ chances of making it into the playoffs of the main European Cup, where its rival has already entered, ephemeral, but they still have great chances for the Europa League playoffs.

In the Turin match, Zenit from the universe in which Spartak and Dynamo had just brutally trampled, moved, of course, to a different universe, much less comfortable, threatening with dangers. His opponent did not at all resemble the Juventus that at the end of October in the previous round came to St. Petersburg and barely snatched a minimal victory, while, it seemed, he would be quite happy with a draw. This Juventus was much meaner and bolder. And also in its composition was Paolo Dybala, who missed the St. Petersburg match, and the presence of the frontman of the Turin attack felt too good. It was after the Argentinean lumbago in front of Stanislav Kritsyuk, having enough space and time to earn the ball, Fernando Bernardeschi found himself: the goalkeeper managed to resist. And it was Dybala Kritsyuk’s cunning blow, spreading across the lawn, soon stunned. Now Zenit was rescued by the stand, into the base of which the ball was imprinted.

But Paolo Dybala did not stop and still achieved what he was striving for. He was helped by a happy rebound after a corner, from which Dybala struck exactly the way it should have been shot – forcing the ball to treacherously jump in front of Kritsyuk.

The thoughts of those who were in the stands were easy to imagine. In such matches, it is bad when an opponent pressed against the ropes reflects a stormy starting onslaught. Then the outsider often quietly corrects the situation. But then the onslaught bore fruit, lifted the mood of the owners. And there is no reason to think that something bad awaits them.

Meanwhile, the reasons soon appeared. Moreover, this was clearly not the case when they were created by the team itself, which gained leadership and decided that it was possible to sharply throw off the turnover. At Juventus, they remained basically at the level. But Zenit, adding a little neatness and density, made several good attacks through a pass, and Wendell once outwardly easily cut the Turin defense with a chic individual dribbling.

Formally, Zenit’s return goal was drawn to a smile of luck: Leonardo Bonucci cut off the serve from the left flank of Vyacheslav Karavaev to the far corner with the back of his head. But in fact, he matured, whatever one may say, not in an absolutely empty place. Zenit was sharper for about a quarter of an hour, and even the connection of Karavaev, which resulted in trouble for the Italian grandee, was far from the first for the defender.

Juventus pressed Zenit down again only towards the end of the first half. However, he was once again convinced that Stanislav Kritsyuk is a goalkeeper who is difficult to beat in simple ways.

The course of the match hinted that Zenit could compete with Turin for points. But it didn’t work out.

Juventus took the lead in the second half when Federico Chiesa, entering the penalty area, covered the ball and waited for Claudinho to step on his heel. Of course, Dybala played the penalty kick from the hosts, and for a couple of seconds Zenit players were sure that they had missed: the striker had managed to miss. They were let down by the pedantry of referee Alejandro Hernandez, who drew attention to the fact that Vilmar Barrios crossed the penalty line a moment before that shock-embarrassment was made. Hernandez let Dybala interrupt, and the second time he did not fail.

“Zenith”, as in the first half, seemed to be quite tolerable in the slap in the face. Substituting Malcolm refreshed his attacks, and some of them looked promising.

But for some reason, Juventus really started up, and its players began to demonstrate personal skills. Phenomenal in sharpness, power was the breakthrough of Weston McKenny, who rushed through half the field. McKenny shot the bar. Federico Chiesa, during his passage, bet on something else – subtlety, plasticity. And he made the right decision: having laid down Dejan Lovren with a trick, Chiesa sent the ball into the goal.

This, in fact, was already a verdict for Zenit. But Juventus, for which recent successes have become not such a familiar phenomenon as they were before, scored more – thanks to the mistake of the St. Petersburg defense and Alvaro Morate, who punished the guests for it. Only after that did the Turinians relax and let themselves in – already in compensated time from Serdar Azmun.

After this defeat, Zenit still has three points. He retained only ephemeral chances of climbing into second place in Group H and penetrating into the cup stage. Juventus is already out of reach with 12 points. Chelsea have six more of them than the Russian team, with two rounds on the calendar. Zenit can get ahead of the English club only if they win both of the remaining meetings – the away game with Malmo, Sweden and the home game with Londoners, and the reigning European Cup winners also stumble in their home game against Juventus.

But from the point of view of the struggle for the third position in the quartet, which means the transition to the Europa League play-off in spring, everything is normal for Zenit. The outsider of the Malmo group, who lost on Tuesday at home – 0: 1 – to Chelsea, still has no points. The match with him will be decisive for the Petersburgers.

Alexey Dospekhov

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment