Europa League - Qualifying Third Round - 2nd Leg
Zenit St PetersburgZenit St Petersburg8Dinamo MinskDinamo Minsk1

Zenit produce incredible Europa League comeback to beat Dinamo Minsk 8-5 on aggregate

Zenit players celebrate
Zenit beat Celtic in last season's Europa League before losing to RB Leipzig in the last 16

Zenit St Petersburg produced the biggest Europa League comeback in 33 years as they overturned a 4-0 first-leg deficit in astonishing fashion to stun Dinamo Minsk.

The Russian side were hammered in the first leg in Belarus and, despite fighting back to lead the second leg 2-0, looked to be heading out when Leandro Paredes was sent off with 18 minutes remaining.

But Zenit, who reached the last 16 in 2017-18, responded superbly as Russian World Cup hero Artem Dzyuba scored twice to level the scores at 4-4 on aggregate and take the tie to extra time.

Incredibly, there was still plenty more drama to come, as Zenit's hopes appeared to be dashed when Seidu Yahaya scored an away goal for Dinamo Minsk nine minutes into extra time, meaning they led 5-4 and Zenit's 10 men needed to score twice to progress.

Argentine forward Sebastian Driussi gave them hope with 11 minutes of extra time remaining, before Dzyuba - scorer of three goals in Russia's run to the World Cup quarter-finals - completed his hat-trick to put Zenit 6-5 up and on course for an astonishing victory.

In a game packed full of drama, there was still time for the hosts to score twice more. Robert Mak made it 7-1 on the night from the penalty spot, an award which led to the game's second red card, this time for Dinamo's Maksim Shvetsov.

And with 123 minutes on the clock, Mak completed the scoring to make it 8-1 on the night and 8-5 on aggregate.

The last time a team overturned a four-goal deficit in this competition - previously the Uefa Cup - was in 1985, when Real Madrid came back from 5-1 down against Borussia Monchengladbach to level the scores in the second leg and advance from their last-16 tie on away goals.

Zenit will now face Molde, managed by former Manchester United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, in the play-off round after the Norwegians beat Scottish side Hibernian 3-0 on aggregate.

Line-ups

Zenit St Petersburg

  • 99Lunev
  • 2Anyukov
  • 14Kuzyaev
  • 5ParedesBooked at 72mins
  • 15NabiullinSubstituted forZabolotnyat 59'minutes
  • 33Azevedo JúniorSubstituted forDriussiat 61'minutes
  • 21ErokhinSubstituted forMakat 102'minutes
  • 16NoboaBooked at 11minsSubstituted forSmolnikovat 103'minutes
  • 6Ivanovic
  • 23Mevlja
  • 22Dzyuba

Substitutes

  • 1Lodygin
  • 8Kranevitter
  • 11Driussi
  • 13Novo Neto
  • 19Smolnikov
  • 20Mak
  • 29Zabolotny

Dinamo Minsk

  • 30Gorbunov
  • 13Rocha RodriguesSubstituted forGavrilovichat 92'minutes
  • 3ShvetsovBooked at 120mins
  • 4GalovicBooked at 116mins
  • 18TreboticSubstituted forNavalovskiat 72'minutes
  • 21IvanovSubstituted forMakasat 65'minutes
  • 22BegunovBooked at 22mins
  • 6Yahaya
  • 81Korzun
  • 23KhvashchinskiySubstituted forKaplenkoat 55'minutes
  • 24Shitov

Substitutes

  • 8Kaplenko
  • 25Gavrilovich
  • 27Makas
  • 35Ignatovich
  • 41Gurenko
  • 77Antilevski
  • 88Navalovski
Referee:
Sébastien Delferière
Attendance:
220

Scores, Results & Fixtures

Thursday 16th August 2018

As It Stood

A

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Villarreal6321106411
2FC Astana6312107310
3Slavia Prague62226608
4Maccabi Tel-Aviv611418-74

B

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Dynamo Kyiv6411159613
2Partizan Belgrade622289-18
3Young Boys613278-16
4Skenderbeu6123610-45

C

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Sporting Braga631298110
2Ludogorets62317529
3Istanbul Basaksehir622278-18
4Hoffenheim6123810-25

D

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1AC Milan6321136711
2AEK Athens61506518
3HNK Rijeka62131112-17
4Austria Vienna6123916-75

E

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Atalanta64201441014
2Lyon6321114711
3Everton6114715-84
4Apollon Limassol6033514-93

F

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Lokomotiv Moscow632194511
2FC Copenhagen62317349
3Sheriff Tiraspol62314409
4Zlín6024110-92

G

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Viktoria Plzen6402138512
2FCSB631297210
3Lugano6303911-29
4Hapoel Be'er Sheva6114510-54

H

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Arsenal64111441013
2Red Star Belgrade62313219
3Köln620478-16
4BATE Borisov6123616-105

I

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1RB Salzburg633071612
2Marseille62224408
3Konyaspor613246-26
4Vitória Guimarães612359-45

J

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Ath Bilbao632185311
2Östersunds FK632184411
3Zorya Luhansk620439-66
4Hertha Berlin612367-15

K

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Lazio6411127513
2Nice630312759
3SV Zulte Waregem6213813-57
4Vitesse6123510-55

L

TeamPWDLFAGDPts
1Zenit St Petersburg65101751216
2Real Sociedad64021661012
3Rosenborg6123611-55
4Vardar6015320-171
View full Europa League tables

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