RPL Matchday 11
Zenit St. Petersburg 3-1 FC Rostov
Sunday 2 October, Gazprom Arena, St. Petersburg

Goals: Zenit – Malcom (14), Wendel (65), Kuzyaev (77); Rostov – Komlichenko (47)
Man of the Match: Malcom (Zenit)

In the midweek two top teams of the first ten matchdays suffered defeats in the Russian Cup, 1-3 loss in Grozny was the first one for Rostov in the season so far. Meanwhile Zenit and Rostov were the only unbeaten sides in the league. The Yellow-Blues tried to play with control, but Claudinho caught the bad pass and momently provided Malcom, the Brazilian ran through defense and scored his seventh goal remaining the team top scorer.

Rostov needed much time to strike back, and their attacking line made it after the half-time, Nikolay Komlichenko got ahead of Dejan Lovren and tied the game from Aleksandr Silyanov’s assist getting sixth goal this season. Ivan Sergeev entered the field after the first half instead of Mateo Cassierra and helped to take the lead again giving the assist to Wendel with one touch, and another Brazilian made a perfect shot, which became his sixth goal this season. Another substitution also gave the result, Daler Kuzyaev was assisted by Malcom and capitalized his moment.

Zenit stay first with 29 points extending the distance from second place to six points, while Rostov are third on 22 points.

Next RPL fixtures: Saturday 8 October – Fakel vs Zenit; Sunday 9 October – Rostov vs Krasnodar