Zenit brush aside Lokomotiv to shrug off European disappointment
Zenit St. Petersburg continued their domination of the Russian Premier League on Sunday, cruising to a 3-0 victory over Lokomotiv in Moscow.
Lokomotiv, playing their last game under trainer Yury Semin, made life easy for the visitors as their talisman Valery Torbinsky was dismissed after receiving his second yellow card on 56 minutes.
Semin, whose departure was announced after the failure to reach the Europa League group stage on Thursday, lamented the fact his team had a day less to prepare for the match, but he had no argument with the result.
"We lost naturally. Zenit had three days to prepare for this meeting, we had two. Individually at each position, we were weaker," he said.
Zenit`s first goal came from a quickly taken free quick that allowed Portuguese forward Danny to waltz into the penalty area and score past Renat Anbayev.
"The team is not in the best psychological condition. The players had no right to argue with the referee about whether it was a free kick," Semin said.
Zenit wrapped up the points with goals from Alexander Bukharov and Roman Shirokov in the 67th and 77th minutes, respectively.
Zenit missed out on the Champions League due to their 2-0 defeat at Auxerre on Wednesday, but they at least have the consolation of the Europa League, and are almost assured of playing in next season`s Champions League.
They lead second-place Rubin by six points and have played two games fewer than the defending champions, who drew 1-1 on Saturday with Spartak Nalchik, the season`s surprise package in fourth place.
CSKA Moscow, in third place, beat Alania Vladikavkaz 2-1 on Sunday evening. The Red Army side lies a point behind Rubin but like Zenit has played 17 games.
Results
Terek Grozny 2-0 Spartak Moscow
Amkar 1-0 Rostov
Saturn 1-1 Krylya Sovetov
Spartak Nalchik 1-1 Rubin
Tom Tomsk 1-01 Dynamo Moscow
Lokomotiv Moscow 0-3 Zenit
CSKA Moscow 2-1 Alania
Monday`s game
Anzhi Makhachkala v Sibir
Table (19 games unless stated)
Zenit St. Petersburg 43 (17 games)
Rubin Kazan 37
CSKA Moscow 36 (17 games)
Spartak Nalchik 33
Rostov 29
Terek Grozny 27
Spartak Moscow 26
Tom Tomsk 25
Locomotive Moscow 23
Dynamo Moscow 23
Saturn 21
Anzhi Makhachkala 20
Alania Vladikavkaz 19
Amkar Perm 18
Krylya Sovetov 13
Sibir 12 (18 games)
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