St. Petersburg: Roman Shirokov scored his second goal of the game in the 89th minute as Zenit St. Petersburg beat Benfica 3-2 in the first leg of their round-of-16 match-up in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Maxi Pereira put Benfica ahead in the 20th, tapping the ball in after second-choice goalkeeper Yuri Zhevnov spilled Oscar Cardozo's free kick, but Shirokov equalized seven minutes later.
Substitute Sergei Semak made it 2-1 with a backheel in the 71st.
Cardozo leveled for the visitors in the 87th after Zhevnov again failed to hold a shot, and the game appeared headed for a 2-2 draw until a defensive blunder by Pereira gifted Shirokov his second goal - and his fifth in seven Champions League games - from short range....
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05:30 AM, Feb 16, 2012
