CSKA Moscow left two more points in a tie against Lokomotiv, giving the chance to Zenit to reach them to a point. Spartak visited Petrovsky to stop that from happening.
Popov froze St. Petersburg with an early goal at the 10′ minute, when the offside was broken and the Bulgarian wrote the 1-0 for Moscow.
Axel Witsel was there to restore the balance five minutes later with a powerful left-foot strike from Spartak’s box. Zenit’s celebrations didn’t last long as Glushakov broke the offside again and regained the lead for the visitors side.
The game was turned into a rodeo with tackles and yellows flying (5 yellows in first half), Danny left the field injured (Javi Garcia in) and Spartak hit the woodwork at the 28′ minute with Ze Luis’ header. A couple of shots from Mauricio and a huge change from Smolnikov from a very close range didn’t change anything, Spartak leading 2-1 to half-time.
Only seconds into second half and Hulk gave a glimpse of what was to follow for St. Petersburg. Mauricio wonderfully found the Brazilian who brought things level, 2-2 with another 45′ remaining!
Zenit was now on fire, chasing the winning goal after coming back twice.
Only one team was present and the Blue-White-Sky-blues put on quiet a show; Artem Dzyuba at the 63rd minute, Mauricio at the 73rd and Javi Garcia at the 87th minute, all with shots from Spartak’s box, gave Zenit an unbelievable 5-2 win that sees them second in the Russian title hunt.
Table standings
1. CSKA Moscow 47
2. Zenit St. Petersburg 46
3. FC Rostov* 45
*one game less
