Zenit beat BATE to keep hopes alive
Reuters - Wednesday 05 November 2008, 23:18
MINSK - Zenit St Petersburg beat fellow Champions League debutants BATE Borisov 2-0 on Wednesday to keep alive their chances of reaching the knockout stage.
Russia striker Pavel Pogrebnyak fired the UEFA Cup holders ahead in the 34th minute and Portugal international Danny added the second in the final minute to seal Zenit's first victory in the competition.
"We had to win to maintain any chance of qualifying for the next round," Zenit coach Dick Advocaat told reporters.
"We did what we needed to do. It was a great team effort."
The Belarus champions, who held Zenit to a 1-1 draw two weeks ago, had several chances to get on the scoresheet and were denied by keeper Vyacheslav Malafeyev.
BATE piled up the pressure after the break but the visitors, who had French defender Sebastien Puygrenier sent off for a second yellow card on 73 minutes, held firm to move off the bottom of Group H with four points from four games.
The home team, who clinched their third consecutive domestic title last week with three games to spare, created the first chance in the 11th minute when Pavel Nekhaychik's close-range effort was stopped by Malafeyev.
TIGHT ANGLE
Zenit hit back through captain Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, whose low drive from long range went just wide in the 23rd minute before Pogrebnyak missed the target from a tight angle.
The tall striker made no mistake a few minutes later after being sent clean through by fellow Russia international Konstantin Zyryanov.
BATE wasted an excellent chance to equalise when Dmitri Likhtarovich's close-range header was blocked by Malafeyev.
The hosts, who lost central defender Vladimir Rzhevski through injury 13 minutes after the break, attacked in vain in the second half.
Zenit also had opportunities of their own until Danny, their record 30 million euros ($38.53 million) signing from Dynamo Moscow earlier this year, made sure of the points with the last kick of the match.
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