Porto 0-0 Zenit St Petersburg: Staunch defensive display allows Russians to progress to knockout stage at expense of hosts

Following an impressive defensive display against a very dangerous Porto attack, Zenit St Petersburg have qualified for the knock-out rounds of the Champions League after a 0-0 draw at the Dragao.

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Needing a victory to secure a spot in the next round, the home side applied pressure to the Russian midfield at the beginning of the match, barely allowing their visitors to breathe. 

Two goalmouth opportunities, a strike from Djalma and a header from Hulk, showed the Porto’s intent early on.

The Dragons continued to blitz their opponents' goal when Djalma set up James Rodriguez on the edge of the 18-yard box, but the Colombia international’s strike was parried away by Vyacheslav Malafeev, making his third save in the first 10 minutes.

Porto carried on tearing Zenit apart, with their front three causing havoc, especially through the wing play of Djalma and their midfield continued to hold 60 per cent of the possession.

Playing without top striker Aleksandr Kerzhakov, who was ruled out with a nagging ankle injury, Luciano Spalletti's team had trouble holding the ball up in Porto's midfield. 

Relying on quick counter-attacks and intent on releasing Danny with a killer pass, the Russians could not unlock Porto's effective offside trap.

The second half seemed to begin differently as Zenit held a lot more possession than in the first period, however, a Porto counter brought dominance back to the Portuguese side.

A mazy run from James ended with the prodigy finding Hulk in the box who then passed dangerously across Malafeev's goal and narrowly missed a sliding Djalma.

Malafeev continued to keep his team in the contest after the experienced goalkeeper made a brilliant save from Joao Moutinho’s 25-yard strike, but Porto still could not find a way to open the scoring. 

The custodian denied Porto once more, as James’ acrobatic effort was stopped at point-blank range and Malafeev again kept the Portuguese outfit at bay.

A desperate Porto attempted all they could to best their Russian opposition, but fell apart near the end of the match and began to rely on long range efforts from Hulk, which all went wide.

They could do nothing for their knockout stage hopes as the Zenit defence remained tight for the remainder of the match.

With the draw, the Europa League champions will have an opportunity to defend their crown after finishing third in the group and have been eliminated from the Champions League.

Zenit will go through to the knockout phase in second place, behind group winners APOEL.