Betis drew 0-0 with Zenit in Villamarin and capitalized on the advantage achieved in the first leg (2-3) to advance to the round of 16 of the Europa League, although he did so with much suffering because the Russians were about to force extra time, but the goal scored in the 90th minute by Chistyakov was annulled, at the request of the VAR, for a previous foul.
In a gray game of the Spanish team, Betis was not comfortable at any time and, although he hit the post twice at the beginning of the second half, he gave the St. Petersburg team options, which never gave up, pushed hard and came close to leveling the tie. In the end he ‘died’ on the shore frustrated by that goal annulled by a previous foul by the Russian Erokhin on the Argentine Guido Rodríguez.
Era a duel marked by uncertainty, marked by the war between Russia and Ukraine; and ‘all or nothing’ due to the minimal advantage that the Spanish team took in the first leg in Saint Petersburg (2-3) after Betis came to have a 0-2 in favor, so the slogan in the verdiblancos was do not speculate or give an option to grow to Zenit.
At Betis, the Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini, who had allowed them to forget both the rent for the first leg and the next derby against Sevilla, recovered his two creative references in Europe: the Frenchman Nabil Fekir, after completing three games of sanction in this tournament, and Sergio Canales, down due to covid-19 in the first leg.
It also introduced four novelties compared to the eleven that won Mallorca (Edgar, the Argentine Pezzella, the Mexican Guardado and the Brazilian Willian José), while his counterpart at Zenit, Sergei Semak, also presented four changes, with the 19-year-old goalkeeper Odoevski replacing the veteran Kerzhakov; Sutormin on the right; Krugovoi in the middle; and Brazilian winger Yuri Alberto for the injured Kuzyayev.
The Russian team, forced to go up as they are at a disadvantage in the tie, started off with a bang. With a touch game for the quality of his Brazilians Douglas Santos, starting from behind, the midfielders Wendel and Claudinho or the wingers Malcom and Yuri Alberto, he took control of the match.
to Betis, with Canales and Fekir not very participative and well guarded, it was difficult for him to overcome lines and, although he did not suffer too much as Zenit suffered from more depth despite the dynamism of his most offensive players, he lacked arriving clearly to scare his rival in a first half without scoring chances.
With three central defenders and Sutormin and Krugovoi as wingers, the Saint Petersburg team prevailed in the midfield with the Brazilians Wendel and Claudinho beating the Argentine Guido Rodríguez and the Mexican Guardado, trying to attack their wingers.
Even so, the dangerous actions in front of the goals were limited to a dangerous center by Krugovoi that, after several rebounds, did not find a finisher, while the Sevillians tried it timidly and without success as in some set-piece action thrown by Fekir.
In the resumption followed the same tonicwith Zenit looking to equalize the tie, but without much continuity, against a Betis that kept their balance and played with an income that was in danger after 2 minutes, when Yuri Alberto scored, but the goal was annulled by a clear out game by Aleksei Sutormin, author of the center from the right.
This spurred the Verdiblanco team, which did not break down andbased on pride, took control of the Sunday of the game and in only 11 minutes he crashed the ball twice into the posts of Odowski’s goal. First, Guido Rodríguez in minute 50, deflecting a header from Pezzella with his head; and in minute 61 in another header by Willian José that riveted Ruibal to the post, although the action was annulled for offside.
Zenit pressed hard at the end turning their attack to the rightwith centers from Sutormin or Malcom, who were not reached with options by Yuri Alberto, on two occasions, nor by the recently entered Sergeyev, who was saved by the Portuguese Rui Silva after a header, although it was later decreed that he was in illegal position.
Betis was challenged by the offensive of the Russians, who never gave up and, after giving notice with a header from Malcom, who providentially cleared Edgar, managed to tie the tie 0-1 when Chistyakov headed in a good cross from Mostovoy in the 90th minute though, at the request of the VAR, the referee annulled the goal after seeing the action on the screen at the foot of the field for a prior foul on Guido.
But the uncertainty continued for a Betis team totally overcome in the final stretch, since Zenit continued to insist, to the point that Erokhin was able to score in the 96th minutebut his header went high just short of breathing space for Betis and its fans, who, in full Russian harassment, celebrated the final whistle.
Datasheet:
0 – Betis: Rui Silva; Bellerin, Pezzella, Edgar, Alex Moreno; Guido Rodríguez, Guardado (Tello, m.90); Aitor Ruibal, Fekir (Joaquín, m.83), Canales (William Carvalho, m.70); William José (Borja Iglesias, m.83).
0 – Zenit: Odoevski; Wilmar Barrios, Chistyakov, Douglas Santos; Sutormin (Mostovoy, m.86), Claudinho, Wendel, Krugovoi; Malcom, Dzyuba (Sergeyev, m.64), Yuri Alberto (Erokhin, m.84).
Referee: Halil Umut Meler (Turkey). He admonished the local Guido Rodríguez (m.23) and the visitors Krugovoi (m.42), Wilmar Barrios (m.55) and Erokhin (m.92).
Incidents: Second leg of the play-off prior to the round of 16 of the Europa League, played at the Benito Villamarín stadium before 44,236 spectators, including two hundred Russian fans.
