Two weeks ago, the "Zenit-2" team played a friendly match against "Baltika". This was reported by Euro-football.ru.
Now, the "Zenit" team took the field without any additional numbers. The team, led by Sergey Semak, hosted the Kaliningrad team at the "Smena" stadium.
Roman Vega made his debut in the starting lineup for the "Blue-White-Sky" team. On Sunday, "Zenit" first faced the "Leningradets" team and then played against "Baltika".
The team won 2:1 against the opponent from the Leningrad region. Sobolev opened the scoring, but he was not included in the lineup for the evening match.
Semak stated before the game against "Baltika" that Vega and Lusiano had previously played together in the "Argentinos Juniors" team. Therefore, both of them started in the main lineup.
Additionally, Glushenkov also took the field from the first minutes, now wearing number 10, previously it was 67. In the match against "Dinamo" in Makhachkala on Thursday, Pedro and Douglas Santos only played in the second half, but this time they played from the first half.
They brought a goal to the team in the 9th minute. Pedro delivered a corner kick from the left flank to the far corner, and Santos easily sent the ball into the net without the goalkeeper's supervision.
"Baltika" also tried to approach the opponent's goal. Beveyev jumped high on the left flank, while Glushenkov stayed in place.
Mingiyan could not deliver an accurate header. Beveyev actively moved and tried to shoot from the penalty area, but the ball went into Adamov's hands.
Petrov passed the ball from the right flank, Vega directed it to the area around the goalkeeper, and Mendel sent the shot over the goalpost. Vega moved well on the left flank.
"Zenit" could have had several more opportunities in the first half, but Erakovic's header was right into Borisko's position, and Nino and Douglas Santos also failed in similar situations. At the beginning of the second half, "Zenit" faced a tough blow.
The pressure from the "Baltika" team increased, they created many opportunities and scored a goal. Pedro skillfully controlled the ball in the penalty area.
Ilya Petrov received the ball and scored with an accurate shot from a distance, taking over Adamov's goal. The score became 1:1.
Then Petrov made an accurate pass to Varatynov from a free kick. He returned the ball to the center from the right flank, and Brayen Hil scored.
The score became 1:2. Zenit players doubted that Varatynov was offside, but the assistant referee did not record this situation.
Also, the VAR system did not operate in this match. "Baltika" continued to apply pressure and gained an advantage in recovering the balls.
Utkinda and Beveyev took long-range shots, but the Kaliningrad team could not score again. The "Zenit" team also only scored one goal.
In the final moments, Luis Enrique had an opportunity, but he could not overcome Borisko's goalkeeping. As a result, the match ended with a score of 1:2.
If "Zenit" had not played against "Leningradets" on Sunday, Semak would have had more substitution options to strengthen the team. Author: Kirill Ivantsov
