Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow made it six points from a possible six in the Europa League on Thursday evening, both sides recording comfortable home wins.
Zenit beat AEK Athens 4-2 and CSKA Moscow defeated Sparta Prague 3-0.
Zenit, who beat Anderlecht 3-1 away in their opening Group G fixture, had the best possible start to their encounter with the Greeks, Slovakian defender Tomas Hubocan firing home from long range after just 44 seconds.
The Russian Premier League leaders doubled their lead in the 13th minute, Bruno Alves directing a powerful header into the net.
AEK pulled one back in the 37th minute, Nikos Liberopoulos’ shot taking a deflection as it evaded Vyacheslav Malefeev.
Zenit restored their two-goal advantage in the 43rd minute, Danko Lazovic scoring from the spot after Vladimir Bystrov was pulled down. AEK’s Cristian Nasuti was sent off for the foul
It was Lazovic who scored the fourth in the 57th minute as Zenit made their numerical advantage count.
CSKA Moscow, who beat Lausanne 3-0 in Switzerland in their opener, scored three second half goals to beat Sparta Prague, Seydou Doumbia finding the target twice and Mark Gonzalez firing home from the spot with six minutes to go.
Zenit’s next Europa League game is at home to Hadjuk Split, while CSKA face Palmero in Italy.
MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti)
