Shirokov double fires Zenit to victory over Benfica

Feb 15, 2012, 19:04 GMT

St Petersburg, Russia - Roman Shirokov scored twice as Zenit St Petersburg beat Benfica 3-2 in the first leg of their last-16 match in football's Champions League Wednesday.

Shirokov hit the winner two minutes from time just after Benfica had equalized through Rudolfo Cardozo, who benefited from a mistake by keeper Yury Zhevnov.

Zenit, the 2008 UEFA Cup winners, who are playing in the knock-out stage of the Champions League for the first time, went behind in the 20th minute through Maxi Pereira.

But Shirokov levelled seven minutes later and Zenit went in front in the 71st with a back-heel from Sergey Semak.

Benfica thought they had come away with at least a draw when keeper Zhevnov could not hold a shot by Nicolas Gaitan and then parried the ball straight to Cardoza who had little trouble scoring.

But almost immediately Shirokov took advantage of Maxi Pereira's poor touch in front of his own goal to strike an angled winner.

The return leg will be played on March 6.

In a later Champions League tie in Milan, AC Milan are hosts to Arsenal.