The manager of Zenit St Petersburg, Luciano Spalletti, has hailed his team for stopping Austria Vienna to a draw in yesterday’s Champions League game.
Zenit was playing with only 10 players in the latter half of the game, but, they didn’t let the opposition take advantage of that. They showed character and ended up securing a point from the game.
However despite this draw, Zenit is still at the last position in the Group G points table. Although, they are levelled with Austria Vienna in terms of points but, they are slightly behind on the basis of goal difference.
Talking to the reporters after the game against Austria, Spalletti said, “I think our performance was good. We were clearly the dominating team in the first 45 minutes.”
“When we got reduced to ten men, things became a bit difficult for us. But, we didn’t let the game drift way.”
The Zenit manager was not looking happy with the referee’s decision of showing red card to Axel Witsel in the 44th minute of the game.
When asked about that incident, Spalletti said, “These sorts of decisions ruin a match.”
“It’s not easy for us now to reach the next round. However, we can still do it if we improve our game.”
Zenit badly needed a win in the game against Austria and they had started well too. In the first half, they were making good moves and they were not looking too far away from taking the lead, but, when Witsel was sent off, they had to get a bit defensive and they couldn’t push enough for the win.
In its next game, Zenit will be facing Porto. That game will be played on 22nd of October at Estadio do Dragao, Porto.