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| Kerzhakov treble stuns Anderlecht |
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A stunning first-half hat-trick from Alexander Kerzhakov got Zenit St Petersburg's UEFA Europa League campaign off to a flying start with a 3-1 win against Anderlecht in Belgium.
Kerzhakov's early treble effectively wrapped up a contest between two in-form sides, with Zenit still to lose in 18 Russian League games this season and Anderlecht unbeaten in open play since March.
Kerzhakov took just eight minutes to get on the scoresheet when he rose above a static Anderlecht rearguard to head home from full-back Sergei Semak's right-wing cross.
And just past the half hour mark Kerzhakov struck again when was fed by Roman Shirokov on the edge of the box and fired the ball home to put the 2008 UEFA Cup winners firmly in command in this tie.
Kerzhakov fired home his third just before the break when he converted a low cross from Danko Lazovic to leave the Belgians facing up to the prospect of one of their heaviest defeats in recent years.
However, the home side rallied after the break and enjoyed a fine spell in which Jan Polak and Matias Suarez were denied before Roland Juhasz reduced the deficit from a Jonathan Legear corner.
Zenit almost re-established their three-goal lead immediately, with Silvio Proto forced into a fine save to deny Lazovic from adding to the score.
But the Belgians rallied to finish the game well and nearly pulled another goal back when Mbark Boussoufa forced a 70th-minute save out of Zenit goalkeeper Yuri Zhevnov.
Proto was called into action to deny Danny in the 76th minute but after hat-trick hero Kerzhakov was substituted three minutes later the visitors became clearly content to play out time as they failed to add to an already impressive scoreline.
Zhevnov saved efforts from Legear and Juhasz which prevented the dying minutes becoming any more interesting.
The last act of the night was a swift counter attack which left Zenit substitute Viktor Faitzulin adjudged narrowly offside when he looked set to put even more icing on the score for the Russian side.
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