December 13 – Zenit St Petersburg have admitted their Champions League fixture against Austria Vienna this week was almost called off because of their fans. The Macedonian referee had to stop play for several minutes in the first half of Zenit’s 4-1 defeat when a number of flares were thrown from the visiting Russian supporters.
“Zenit strongly condemns the acts of hooliganism which nearly abandoned the Champions League match between our club and Austria Vienna,” the Russian league leaders said in a statement.
Zenit fans have frequently been in trouble, notably last year’s fixture against Dynamo Moscow being abandoned when the Dynamo goalkeeper was injured by firecrackers thrown from the stands.
Their reputation is not much better off the field either. A year ago, just when football authorities round the world were striving to eradicate homophobia and racism, they wrote an open letter demanding non-white and gay players be excluded from the team.
Despite the heavy defeat against outsiders Austria Vienna, big-spending Zenit, owned by Russian energy giant Gazprom, created history when they became the first team to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage with only six points from as many games.
But the club’s Italian coach Luciano Spalletti is fed up with their hooligan element.
“If our fans come to vandalise, then it would be better if they don’t come. We believe these people are our enemies,” he said.
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