Zenit snatch Russian title despite draw

MOSCOW: Zenit St Petersburg won their fourth Russian title after a 1-1 draw with minnows Ufa at their Petrovsky ground on Sunday.
Going into the game, only FC Krasnodar could prevent Zenit from landing the title but to do so, they needed to win.
Krasnodar were held 2-2 by rock-bottom Torpedo Moscow, leaving them eight points behind with just two matches left.
The 1984 Soviet league winners Zenit previously won the Russian title in 2007, 2010 and 2012 but had finished runners-up the past two seasons to CSKA Moscow.
The champions thumped spartak 4-0 in the Moscow derby to leapfrog Krasnodar on victories, as both sit on the same number of points.
Brazilian forward Hulk, the league’s top scorer, gave Zenit the lead after 31 minutes when he grabbed his 15th goal of the season, firing home a free-kick from 30 yards.
Zenit, who enjoyed home support despite nominally being the away side as Ufa agreed to switch the game to Saint Petersburg due to the poor state of their own pitch, dominated throughout but failed to increase their advantage.
And Bosnian forward Haris Handzic made them pay with an equaliser three minutes from time as he headed home Dmitry Stotsky’s left-wing cross.
CSKA boosted their hopes of playing in the Champions League next season by thrashing their city rivals.
Finland international Roman Eryomenko put the Red Army side into the lead in the 11th minute when he redirected Ahmed Musa’s cross into the net with the help of a ricochet off Spartak’s Serdar Tasci. Eryomenko netted his second 11 minutes later with a powerful 20-yard shot, while Serbian midfielder Zoran Tosic made it 3-0 in the 30th minute from close range.