PORTO, October 23 (R-Sport) — Zenit St. Petersburg toiled against 10-man Porto before Alexander Kerzhakov provided a late breakthrough with a headed goal for a 1-0 away win in the Champions League group stage Tuesday.
Zenit overtake Porto for second place in Group G, but the big winners are Atletico Madrid, whose lead stretches from two to four points following their 3-0 defeat of Austria Vienna.
"It was a tough game even though we had the advantage in numbers," Zenit coach Luciano Spalletti said. "We created a lot of chances and it's a shame they weren't all converted. Along with that, we allowed [Porto] to create a lot in front of our goal."
Porto went down to 10 men after just six minutes when Hector Herrera was sent off, but Zenit looked set for their second straight goalless draw in the Champions League until Kerzhakov broke the deadlock on 86 minutes.
The Russian substitute leapt to glance the ball into the net off a wicked inswinging cross from Hulk, who moved to Zenit from Porto for a Russian-record 40 million euros ($55 million) last year.
Before the winner, Hulk had seemed to have spurned the best chance of the game when he failed to convert on 57 minutes after a defensive lapse left him one-on-one with goalkeeper Helton.
Just six minutes in, the home fans at the half-empty Estadio do Dragao had been left stunned when midfielder Herrera was given his marching orders. The Mexican earned his first booking for a bad tackle on Hulk and was red-carded seconds later for blatant encroachment at a dangerous free-kick, bringing a premature end to only his second Champions League outing.
"Our strategy for the match was broken after the sending-off," Porto coach Paulo Fonseca said. "Because of that, we didn't get the result we needed, but I'm satisfied anyway with the game, which didn't turn out badly."
After going a man down, Porto switched to a direct style and was rewarded with a bevy of chances as Zenit struggled to adapt. With the notable exception of Hulk, Zenit struggled to create much and was often reliant on their muscular Brazilian frontman to test Porto from set-pieces.
Lucho Gonzalez went close, rattling the bar in the first half for Porto, and his teammate Silvestre Varela did the same late on. After Kerzhakov put Zenit ahead, Jackson Martinez reminded the Russians of the danger Porto posed, forcing a save from goalkeeper Yuri Lodygin.
A full seven minutes into added time, Lodygin's reactions saved the three points for Zenit when he got down low to tip wide an effort from Varela.
In the next round of games November 6, Zenit welcome Porto and Atletico host Austria.
