Zenit Players Pay their Tribute to Victims of War at Piskarevskiy Memorial

On 7 May 7 after their morning training session the whole team left from Udelny Park to the Piskariovskoe Memorial Cemetery.

The visit to one of the largest mass burial sites for the victims of the war ahead of the celebrations for Victory Day is one of the yearly traditions for the players and the trainers of «Zenit».  This year the captain of the team, Danny, and Vyacheslav Malafeev led the mourning procession.

The Blue-White-Sky Blues moved from the cemetery’s entrance to the monument «Mat-Rodina» (The motherland), where they held a minute of silence, after which they placed memorial wreaths with red nails at its base. 

Along with «Zenit», representatives of «Shalke-04» from Gelsenkirchen, one of the club's partners, were also there to lay flowers at the memorial. 

— It was really important to us to come here for these days, — said one of the veterans from «Schalke», Klaus Fisher. — Our generation wasn’t directly affected by these events, we are too young, but what happened should not be forgotten. This monument is very touching at a very deep level. Being here right now, you understand the war in a way that no other place can give you. 

The event which was dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War will be extended by «Zenit» in the upcoming days: in the match against «Rostov» the club has invited veterans of the blockade to the match and before the start of the game, those at «Petrovsky» will honour the memory of the victims by holding a minute of silence.