Zenit clear favorites for Benfica second leg – ex-FIFA Official

Zenit St. Petersburg's 3-2 first-leg win over Benfica in the Champions League puts them in the driving seat for a quarterfinal place, former FIFA vice-president Vyacheslav Koloskov told RIA Novosti on Thursday. Roman Shirokov blasted home an 88th-minute winner in a dramatic victory at a freezing Petrovsky Stadium on Wednesday night, to send Zenit to Lisbon on March 6 needing to avoid defeat for a first-ever appearance in the quarterfinals. “I think that if we beat them on a pitch like this … then by today our chances have become 75 percent in Zenit’s favour to 25 against,” Koloskov said, referring to the poor-quality playing surface. “Under those conditions, the team showed excellent ball control and sometimes included a range of tricks,” said Koloskov, the former president of the Russian Football Union. “Most of all, I liked the attitude of the players and the coach. The team was united. Secondly, of course, the high level of physical fitness.” Koloskov said that Russian teams often struggled in European games in February due to the long winter break in domestic competitions, but that Zenit had shown this did not have to be the case. Former Zenit and Russian international striker Alexander Panov, 37, praised midfielder Shirokov's two-goal performance. “Everyone played well, but Shirokov was without doubt the man of the match. Overall, it was a good match. It seemed to me that Zenit looked healthy and had prepared well,” Panov told RIA Novosti on Thursday. “In the return leg everything will be much the same, although Benfica will play more aggressively in attack.” St. Petersburg police said Thursday that eight Russian fans were arrested for disorderly conduct and public drunkenness.