Published: 28 August, 2009, 11:27
Edited: 28 August, 2009, 11:27
It was a disastrous night for Russia's teams in the inaugural Europa League as Zenit, Dinamo Moscow and Amkar all crashed out in the qualifying rounds on Thursday.
The biggest disappointment belonged to Zenit. They took the lead through a first half goal from Fatih Tekke. And as things stood, they were on their way through 4-4 on away goals.
But with just one minute to go, their opponents Nacional drew level. The decider came after a huge blunder by Zenit goalkeeper Kamil Chontofalski. That goal was enough to put the Portuguese through 5-4 on aggregate.
It was a poor evening as well for Dinamo Moscow. After a goalless draw on the road, they crashed at home to CSKA Sofia. The Muscovites had a foot in the door when Russian international Aleksandr Kerzhakov opened the scoring 10 minutes into the game. But four minutes later, the Bulgarians equaled matters and forced the Moscow side to score again – something they were unable to do on this occasion, while CSKA added one more right in the beginning of the second half.
Amkar were also eliminated. Their 1-0 win at home to Fulham was not enough to stop the Perm side losing out 3-2 on aggregate.