The online burn came after the Daily Mail published a story about the 10 worst logos in world football, which included Zenit, along with other professional clubs such as Wolfsburg, Napoli, Melbourne Victory and the New York Red Bulls.
Wolfsburg's club crest is dreadful… where does it rank in our top 10 worst badges? https://t.co/mQ4M8f5jmh pic.twitter.com/KPnS7tWbds
— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) April 12, 2016
The article led to an explosion of online commentary from outraged fans all over the world discussing the pros and cons of the logos.
Not to be outdone though, Zenit took to Twitter to release its own list of the "ten worst newspaper badges ever," which arguably led to a bigger explosion on the Internet.
.@MailSport Here are our ten worst newspaper badges ever. pic.twitter.com/vhTnlnxQnn
— ФК «Зенит» (@zenit_spb) April 12, 2016
Following the banter, the Daily Mail tried to mend ties with Zenit, arguing that they preferred the club's former logo.
However it seems the Russian club weren't quite finished.
.@MailSport Honestly, we preferred your old one too. pic.twitter.com/O9avzzO6SS
— ФК «Зенит» (@zenit_spb) April 12, 2016
Following the Twitter match, it seems Zenit earned plenty of fans for their social media game.
It's impossible to come up with a better response than this. Congratulations, @zenit_spb, you win the internet 👏 🔥 https://t.co/c6D0xOfSNi
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) April 13, 2016
"When it comes to Twitter, timing’s important. The Internet’s not an easy place when it comes to guessing what’ll fire back and what won’t, but we understood that by responding to the Daily Mail in English, we were actually provoking them, which could leave them somewhat baffled," Egor Kretsan, executive editor at Zenit FC St Petersburg said.
"There was a similar incident when a Tottenham FC fan asked us to give back [Andre] Villas-Boas to which we said 'no'. We got retweeted around five thousand times back then, and now it’s twice as much. I keep getting notifications on my phone every other second…
"Of course I may be wrong, but 10,000 retweets is the record for Russian sports online."
