Reigning champions Zenit St Petersburg beat Spartak Moscow 5-2 on

Saturday to close in on leaders CSKA Moscow, who were held 1-1 by city

rivals Lokomotiv.

Zenit are now second in the Russian Premier League, one point behind

CSKA, while Rostov, who meet Kuban Krasnodar on Sunday, sit third one

point further back.

“Perhaps we were a bit nervous in the first half because of the

chance that the draw between CSKA and Lokomotiv gave us,” Zenit manager

Andre Villas-Boas said.

“We didn’t come with the same concentration and we suffered a little bit in the first half.

“But in the second we tried to add some confidence to our players.

They were in a good period after four wins and we tried to calm them

down a little bit to put everything in place. And it helped us to

achieve this unbelievable result.”

Spartak got off to a lively start through Bulgarian playmaker Ivelin

Popov who opened the scoring in the 10th minute, sending the ball into

an unguarded net after Zenit’s mix-up in defence.

Belgian midfielder Axel Witsel levelled just five minutes later but

in the 21st minute Denis Glushakov received a pass by Alexander at the

edge of the box and restored Spartak’s lead.

Brazilian marksman Hulk levelled a minute into the second half before

he set up Zenit’s third in the 65th minute when he found Artem Dzyuba

in the area and he kept his cool to send the ball home from close range.

Mauricio netted Zenit’s fourth in the 73rd minute firing under the

crossbar from the edge of the six-yard box of a precise cross by Dzyuba.

Spartak’s slim hopes of saving the day went up in smoke shortly after

when defender Yevgeny Makeyev was sent off for a second bookable

offence.

The former Real Madrid midfielder Javi Garcia netted Zenit’s fifth with three minutes to go.

Elsewhere, former Manchester City back Vedran Corluka put Lokomotiv

1-0 up halfway into the opening period hammering the ball into the net

from eight yards out off a well-served corner by Alexander Samedov.

CSKA replied positively pinning Lokomotiv back but managed to level

only in the 84th minute when Nigerian striker Samuel Olanare sent home a

rebound after Lokomotiv ‘keeper Marinato Guilherme parried a powerful

shot by Roman Eremenko.

“We’re all upset with this draw,” CSKA manager Leonid Slutsky said.

“We’ve created plenty of chances but managed to convert only one of

them.

“I’m pleased with my team’s performance but definitely unhappy with the result.”