Zenit St Petersburg stayed on course to reach the UEFA Champions League knockout stage on Wednesday with a 3-1 home win.
This was after strikes by Artem Dzyuba and Serdar Azmoun along with a Ruben Dias own goal helped them to beat Benfica in Group G of the competition.
The result put Zenit top of the standings on four points from two games, ahead of Lyon on goals scored after the French side beat RB Leipzig 2-0 away.
Leipzig have three points and Benfica none.
Dzyuba fired Zenit ahead in the 22nd minute with a clinical finish from 12 metres after Benfica defenders lost possession when they tried to break out of their own half with casual one-touch passing.
Zenit dominated and doubled their lead in the 70th minute when Diaz diverted a Vyacheslav Karavaev effort into his own net with the goal being awarded after a Video Assisted Referee (VAR) check.
Iran forward Serdar Azmoun made it 3-0 with a deft finish from inside the penalty area after another darting break by the home side.
Substitute Raul de Tomas grabbed a late consolation for the visitors, who threw men forward in the dying minutes.
But Zenit’s defence held firm. (Reuters/NAN)
