CSKA fail to stop the rot at Perm, Ufa hold Zenit
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| AFP |
Russian league leaders CSKA Moscow's lost 2-0 at Amkar Perm to stretch their winless streak to six matches in their last domestic appearance before the winter break.
Despite defeat CSKA remain top, six points ahead of Rostov and Lokomotiv, who meet Rubin Kazan and Ural Yekaterinburg respectively on Friday.
"We've done our homework well and prepared for the match with the league's leaders in the proper way," Amkar head coach Gadzhi Gadzhiev said. "My team played well today, while CSKA's players didn't look their normal selves. I think we deserved to win."
In the 37th minute Alikhan Shavaev put Amkar in front when he received a cross by Sergei Balanovich from the left and turned smartly into two CSKA defenders before hammering the ball in with a 12-yard low shot. Five minutes later CSKA's Côte d'Ivoire striker Seydou Doumbia had a chance to level but his unopposed shot from seven yards out hit the crossbar and bounced back into play. Second-half substitute striker Alexander Salugin added his goal on the counter-attack in the 80th minute when he redirected a cross from the left by Petar Zanev into the net to secure Amkar's win.
Elsewhere, reigning champions Zenit were held to a 1-1 draw by strugglers Ufa. Zenit, missing suspended Brazilian Hulk and Spaniard Javi Garcia, started lively, pinning Ufa back from the kick-off but showed a lack of accuracy and creativity in front of the visitors' net. Ufa's 18-year-old midfielder Alexander Zinchenko opened the score in the 36th minute with a close-range header off a precise short cross by Brazilian Marcinho from the right. Zenit were awarded a penalty in the 81st minute after Ufa defender fouled Artem Dzyuba in the area. However, Belgian international Axel Witsel squandered the chance sending the ball over the crossbar from the spot.
Zenit's Argentinian defender Ezequiel Garay pulled the scores level with four minutes to go with another spot-kick after Ufa brought down Dzyuba in the box again.
"We've conceded too many unnecessary goals this season. And today again Ufa scored a goal in their only chance in the first half," Zenit manager Andre Villas-Boas said. "After that it was very hard for us to break through their defence as Ufa sat back, while their goalkeeper made some fantastic saves. It's a pity that we've missed another chance for the win but at least we managed to save one point today."