Samuel Eto'o scored twice as Anzhi beat Swiss club Young Boys Bern 2-0 in the Europa League on Thursday.
Anzhi top Group A with four points ahead of Liverpool's game with Udinese later Thursday, while Young Boys are last with two defeats in two games.
Eto'o's Anzhi remain unbeaten in eight Europa League contests this season, including qualifiers, and the Russian league leaders have not lost since defeat to CSKA Moscow on August 12.
"We got the three points against a team which is very difficult to play," Anzhi coach Guus Hiddink said.
"In the second half, we played a little more advanced, a little more tempo and we got the result."
Young Boys coach Martin Rueda said he was disappointed to lose but satisfied with how his team had restricted Anzhi's attack.
"Anzhi had one or two chances in the entire match," he said.
Anzhi took the lead after Young Boys forward Gustavo Zarate handballed a cross on 61 minutes.
Eto'o made no mistake with the penalty, slotting low into the left-hand corner.
Eto'o made it 2-0 on 89 minutes, finishing a neat passing move after Mbark Boussoufa found Oleg Shatov with a through ball and the youngster sent in a low cross for Eto'o to apply a simple finish and claim his seventh Europa League goal of the season.
Young Boys were much more subdued than in their 5-3 defeat to Liverpool last month, but would have taken the lead on seven minutes had Anzhi's Oleg Shatov not reacted quickly to clear Alain Nef's header off the line.
Anzhi twice appealed vigorously for penalties in the first half, once when Eto'o appeared to be brought down unfairly, and later for an apparently accidental handball.
Eto'o could have extended Anzhi's lead on 70 minutes but headed a Boussoufa corner over at the far post.
Eight minutes from time, Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez failed to score for Anzhi, knocking Shatov's low cross wide from three yards out.
The match was played in Moscow because UEFA has banned Anzhi's home stadium in the Caucasus region of Dagestan from hosting European games due to security concerns.
Before the match, Moscow police reportedly detained travelling Anzhi fans en masse near Red Square in central Moscow.
Anzhi next face Liverpool at Anfield on October 25 in their biggest test in European competition so far, while a home tie against Udinese awaits Young Boys.
