Zenit — Pakhtakor: another victory of the Petersburgers

In the first half, the team started a fast game, because one of the first attacks of Zenit led to a lightning goal scored by Andrei Mostov, who, having passed along the left flank to the opponent's goal, sent the ball into the opponent's goal. Looking at the game, it was noticeable that the Petersburgers were playing cautiously and confidently, which could not be said about "Pakhtakor". After another short period of time, 22-year-old striker Stanislav Krapukhin received a pass from Ozdoev and instantly threw the ball over the opponent's goalkeeper into an empty net, thereby doubling the advantage of Zenit; 2 times! After the second great goal, there was a feeling that the team relaxed, but it didn't last long. Despite the fact that Pakhtakor had the opportunity to start comparing the score, at the 37th minute of the 1st half, the goalkeeper of Zenit pulled the ball out of the only worthwhile attack in their direction.

By agreement between the teams, the first half lasted only 40 minutes and ended with a score of 2:0 in favor of Zenit. The team played quite confidently and no one managed to beat goalkeeper Vasyutin.

At the beginning of the second half, Pakhtakor acted much more confidently, seemingly playing with a big advantage, however, another attack by the Tashkent team ended with Vasyutin masterfully pulling the match out of the bottom corner, not allowing Pakhtakor to start comparing the score.

During the second half of the match, the game turned the other way. If Zenit St. Petersburg dominated the field in the first half, then in the second half they had to spend a huge part of their time on the defensive to protect their goal from the attackers of Pakhtakor. Zenit's opponents made a number of substitutions, which greatly affected the game, because the tired players were replaced by fresh ones, who also continued to play a pressing game and strive to score the ball. However, less than 20 minutes after the start of the second half, Zenit managed to go on the attack, in which the player "Pakhtakor" committed a violation of the rules on the Pavement, which led to a penalty. Mostovoy confidently approached the 11-meter point where the ball was standing and, as in the match with "Riga", confidently hammered the ball into the goal of "Pakhtakor", the score was 3:0.

At the end of the first half of the second half, the coaching staff of Zenit made the first substitution, releasing Mikhail Pogorelov on the field. Krugovoy moved to the position of Santos, and Pogorelov stood on the flank higher. After the third ball, Pakhtakor still continued to press the Zenit players, however, all their attacks were either intercepted by the defense or ended at the boundaries of the penalty area of Zenit.

For the remaining 15 minutes of the match, Zenit released a young 17-year-old goalkeeper David Bezrov. The rest of the second half was about the same as the first half. "Pakhtakor" confidently pressed, and "Zenith" held an impenetrable defense. The match was quite interesting and ended with a score of 3:0 in favor of the blue-white-blues.

The next match at Zenit will be held on January 24 at 16:00 with Soligorsky «Miner ». You will be able to follow the game on the club's official website via text broadcast.