Portuguese giants Benfica have suffered just their second defeat of the season, going down 3-2 to Zenit St Petersburg at the Petrovski Stadium in the Champions League Round of 16 first leg.
Jorge Jesus' men opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Maxi Pereira tapped in Zenit keeper Yuri Zhevnov's poor attempted save from Oscar Cardozo's effort but the home side replied seven minutes later through Roman Shirokov's first of the night which was a neat first-time volley.
With just under 20 minutes remaining, Zenit took the lead when Sergei Semak finished a brilliant move with a classy backheel from Vladimir Bystrov's volley which came about after Alexander Kerzhakov had kept the ball alive from the byline.
That goal motivated Benfica to hit back with three minutes left thanks to Cardozo's finish after Nicolas Gaitan's effort was only parried away by Zhevnov but less than a minute later, Zenit were back in the lead via Shirokov's second which gives them a slight advantage going into the return leg at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on March 6.
UEFA Champions League Round of 16 - first leg
Zenit St Petersburg (RUS): 3 (Roman Shirokov 27'/88', Sergei Semak 71') Benfica (POR): 2 (Maxi Pereira 20', Oscar Cardozo 87')
Petrovksi Stadium, St Petersburg - 18,200
Yellow cards:ZEN - Bruno Alves 16', Alexander Anyukov 63' BEN - Luisao 13', Bruno Cesar 45', Pablo Aimar 74'
