Zenit brush aside Lokomotiv to shrug off European disappointment

Zenit St. Petersburg continued their domination of the Russian Premier League on Sunday, cruising to a 3-0 victory over Lokomotiv in Moscow.

Lokomotiv, playing their last game under trainer Yury Semin, made life easy for the visitors as their talisman Valery Torbinsky was dismissed after receiving his second yellow card on 56 minutes.

Semin, whose departure was announced after the failure to reach the Europa League group stage on Thursday, lamented the fact his team had a day less to prepare for the match, but he had no argument with the result.

"We lost naturally. Zenit had three days to prepare for this meeting, we had two. Individually at each position, we were weaker," he said.

Zenit`s first goal came from a quickly taken free quick that allowed Portuguese forward Danny to waltz into the penalty area and score past Renat Anbayev.

"The team is not in the best psychological condition. The players had no right to argue with the referee about whether it was a free kick," Semin said.

Zenit wrapped up the points with goals from Alexander Bukharov and Roman Shirokov in the 67th and 77th minutes, respectively.

Zenit missed out on the Champions League due to their 2-0 defeat at Auxerre on Wednesday, but they at least have the consolation of the Europa League, and are almost assured of playing in next season`s Champions League.

They lead second-place Rubin by six points and have played two games fewer than the defending champions, who drew 1-1 on Saturday with Spartak Nalchik, the season`s surprise package in fourth place.

CSKA Moscow, in third place, beat Alania Vladikavkaz 2-1 on Sunday evening. The Red Army side lies a point behind Rubin but like Zenit has played 17 games.

Results

Terek Grozny 2-0 Spartak Moscow

Amkar 1-0 Rostov

Saturn 1-1 Krylya Sovetov

Spartak Nalchik 1-1 Rubin

Tom Tomsk 1-01 Dynamo Moscow

Lokomotiv Moscow 0-3 Zenit

CSKA Moscow 2-1 Alania

Monday`s game

Anzhi Makhachkala v Sibir

Table (19 games unless stated)

Zenit St. Petersburg 43 (17 games)

Rubin Kazan 37

CSKA Moscow 36 (17 games)

Spartak Nalchik 33

Rostov 29

Terek Grozny 27

Spartak Moscow 26

Tom Tomsk 25

Locomotive Moscow 23

Dynamo Moscow 23

Saturn 21

Anzhi Makhachkala 20

Alania Vladikavkaz 19

Amkar Perm 18

Krylya Sovetov 13

Sibir 12 (18 games)

sections: Sport