The decisive moment of the match followed seven minutes later and Rangers were partly to blame for their own downfall, having lost possession from their own throw on the left.
The ball was worked forward to Fatih whose knockdown gave Denisov the opportunity to play a deft one-two with Arshavin before sliding the ball past Alexander into the net.
Four minutes later Zyrianov could have killed the match but struck his shot against the outside of the post from eight yards out.
Rangers huffed and puffed towards the end but it was Zenit who had the final word, Zyrianov tapping in Fatih’s low cross at the near post.
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