ST. PETERSBURG, August 7 (R-Sport) - Zenit St. Petersburg football club advanced to within one round of the Champions League group stage on Wednesday with a comfortable 5-0 win over Danish minnows Nordsjaelland.
In front of a 20,000-strong crowd at the Petrovsky Stadium, two goals from Roman Shirokov, and one each from Hulk, Miguel Danny and Andrei Arshavin earned the Russian side a 6-0 aggregate win and a place in the playoff round.
Zenit played the last 20 minutes with ten men after Luis Neto blocked a shot on the line with his hand and was shown a straight red card.
Nordsjaelland captain Nicolai Stokholm smashed his penalty against the post.
Luciano Spalletti's men will be seeded in the next stage, avoiding the likes of Lyon, Schalke, AC Milan and Arsenal. Among the potential opponents are Turkish side Fenerbahce, Real Sociedad and Portuguese outfit Pacos de Ferreira. The draw is on Friday.
"It doesn't matter if we win 1-0 or 5-0," said Zenit defender Nicolas Lombaerts. "The main thing is that we're through," he said, before adding: "Was there the feeling that today was a Champions League game? No. We have to get into real Champions League."
The chances came thick and fast from the kick-off: Shirokov steered the ball into the side netting when an open goal beckoned just three minutes in, and Danny had a shot blocked on the line after Hulk had drawn out the goalkeeper Martin Hansen.
Danny had the ball in the net after 10 minutes but was the forward was correctly called offside after he swiped it off Hulk's toe and prodded home.
Hulk was played in by Danny but he elected to chip after Hansen rushed out and the ball bounced wide.
The visitors' feeble resistance was broken in the next attack as Hulk's diagonal ball sent Shirokov clear for the stalwart to steer confidently into the corner from 20 yards.
In a rare effort on goal from Nordsjaelland, Mario Ticinovic stung the palms of Yuriy Lodygin from 25 yards.
Zenit picked up where it left off in the second half, doubling its lead on the night as Shirokov and Hulk swapped roles for the Brazilian to finish off the Russian's clever backheel.
Lodygin nearly gifted the visitors a way back into the tie when he only got a fingertip to a cross, but Anders Christiansen fired wide with the Zenit stopper still on the ground.
Instead it was the hosts who scored again as Danny headed Hulk's cross home. Arshavin made it four just six minutes later - and barely 60 seconds after replacing Alexander Bukharov.
The ex-Arsenal man was played through by Axel Witsel and slotted past Hansen.
It seemed Nordsjaelland would register a goal when Neto handled on the line - even though the Portuguese defender had no chance of evading a point-blank shot - but Stokholm could only find the inside of the left-hand post.
The 37-year-old veteran then contrived to hit the crossbar after outplaying Lodygin, capping a frustrating night for the visitors.
Zenit could have had several more in the final minutes but it would only be one, as Shirokov smashed his second of the night into the roof of the net on a through ball from Arshavin.
