Azmoun double caps commanding win over Orenburg

Zenit St. Petersburg 4-1 FC Orenburg
Wednesday 15 July, Gazprom Arena

Goals: Zenit - Malykh (OG 2’), Azmoun (61’, 77’), Dzyuba (90+1’); Orenburg - Fameyeh (31’)

Man of the Match: Sardar Azmoun (Zenit)

Sardar Azmoun kept the RPL top goalscorers’ race interesting by moving at the second position with 16 goals - one behind teammate Artem Dzyuba, whom he assisted in added time - as Zenit St’ Petersburg ran out comfortable winners. FC Orenburg had drawn level through Joel Fameyeh but couldn’t hold out.

The tone was set in the second minute when Andrey Malykh raced back to challenge Azmoun only to unfortunately poke the ball past his own keeper.

A relatively sedate Zenit performance was pricked by Fameyeh’s glancing header that crept inside Vasyutin’s far post for an unlikely equaliser.

Right on the hour mark the champions retook the lead as Azmoun collected a cross from Magomed Ozdoev, settled himself and drilled a firm low finish across Andrey Klimovich. He added a second from Daler Kuzyaev’s simple pass with Orenburg’s defence caught napping, before laying a fourth on a plate for Dzyuba to tap into an empty net.

Zenit St. Petersburg host Spartak Moscow in the Russian Cup semi-final on Sunday 19 July before heading to Rostov on the last RPL matchday on Wednesday 22 July, while FC Orenburg face Dynamo Moscow away on the same day.

Zenit St. Petersburg: Vasyutin, Smolnikov, Prokhin, Rakitskiy, Zhirkov (Musaev 63’), Malcom (Sutormin 70’), Ozdoev (Shamkin 63’), Barrios (Kuzyaev 70’), Driussi (Shatov 84’), Dzyuba, Azmoun

FC Orenburg: Klimovich, Shakhov (Gottlieb 69’), Sivakov, Terekhov, Malykh, Ayupov, Kulishev (Lapshov 84’), Zotov, Lipovoy (Skoflek 74’), Fameye, Chukanov