Zenit St. Petersburg 2-0 Liverpool: Hulk and Semak punish the Reds for poor finishing and leaky defending

An efficient performance by Zenit’s players saw them confidently overcome a surprisingly lackluster Liverpool 2-0 at Petrovsky Stadium. The highlight of the game was undoubtedly an excellent Hulks’ long-range goal.

Zenit were dictating the tempo of the game in the first half with two strikers denied by Reina and Hulk hitting the post. Luis Suarez missed four great chances on the counter-attack he should have scored. Zenit punished Liverpool for their profligacy when Hulk scored a nrilliant goal from a long range in the 69th minute. Three minutes later veteran midfielder Sergei Semak doubled the lead with a simple finish from the six-yard box.

Liverpool face a difficult task of winning with a three goal margin at Anfield or at least score two goals and force penalty shootout. Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers tried to remain positive, saying that Liverpool delivered “a perfect away performance, apart from 10 minutes”.