Zenit St. Petersburg Vs. Young Boys BSC: 3-1 Full Time, Zenit Win 4-3 On Aggregate

They didn’t make it easy on themselves, giving up a stoppage time goal in Bern and allowing Young Boys to score the opener at Petrovsky, but Zenit St. Petersburg are through to the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League after three unanswered goals and a 4-3 aggregate victory over Young Boys BSC.

Ammar Jemal scored the opener for Young Boys off of a corner kick, thanks to some very poor marking by Zenit. The hosts appeared to be in some serious trouble at that point, needing two goals just to push the tie to extra time, but they looked aggressive and dangerous before the Young Boys goal and it didn’t seem like two goals would be an impossible task.

In the end, it wasn’t, and they added a third for good measure to avoid extra time and win after 180 minutes. Danko Lazovic scored Zenit’s first goal, thanks to a great assist by Roman Shirokov, just four minutes before the halftime whistle. On the 52nd minute, after a great start to the second half, Sergei Semak equalized the tie on aggregate. It looked like we were destined for bonus football for quite some time, but Shirokov made himself the hero with the winning goal in addition to his assist, scored from close range in the 76th minute, thanks to some poor defending.

Young Boys had opportunities to win the tie at the end, including one shot off the post and another brilliantly saved by Viacheslav Malafeev, but they could not find the goal they needed. The tie finished 4-3 on aggregate after 180 minutes, and Young Boys will be heading back to Bern disappointed. Zenit advance to the next round, and will face the winner of the tie between Rubin Kazan and FC Twente.