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Sardar Azmoun   Villarreal   Zenit Saint Petersburg  

Sardar Azmoun Villarreal

FC-Zenit - Zenit lost out in the first leg of the Europa League last 16 against Spain's Villarreal.

After an even exchange of attacks in the opening quarter of the game Zenit went behind through an Iborra header on 33 minutes after Sergei Semak's team failed to properly clear a set piece. This was after Sardar Azmoun had a golden chance to give Zenit the lead moments before, when Artem Dzyuba played him through on the halfway line and the in-form Iranian had the chance to slot away a one-on-one, but his shot went wide of the woodwork.

The Iranian did equalise just two minutes later though, Artem Dzyuba's power header at the back post was saved, and after a short scramble in the box, Zenit's number 7 tapped home from close range despite the Spanish offside protests, even though one of their players was located just behind the goalline next to the post.

In the second half, the away side began to dominate and scored again with a header deep in the box on 64 minutes, this time through Moreno. Morelanes then made it 3-1 with a powerful low drive from outside the area on 72 minutes leaving the blue-white sky blues with an uphill task. 

The blue-white-sky blues attempted to pull one back but chances for Dzyuba and Azmoun went begging and the game ended with Zenit having it all to do in Spain in the return leg.

Villarreal v Zenit is on 14 March and kicks off at 23.00 St. Petersburg time.

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