Milan claimed their first victory in
Group C of the Champions League,
with the seven-time winners of the
competition edging a five-goal thriller
against Zenit St Petersburg who
conceded a late own goal in their 3-2
home defeat.
The match appeared to be heading for
a draw until Milan enjoyed a huge slice
of luck 15 minutes from time when
Riccardo Montolivo's cross was clipped
into his own net by Tomas Hubocan
under pressure from Giampaolo
Pazzini.
The visitors had earlier taken a 2-0
lead, thanks to a brace of goals in the
space of three minutes.
The first, which also required a touch
of good fortune, came from Urby
Emanuelson's 13th minute free-kick
that took a big deflection off Roman
Shirokov and beyond Vyacheslav
Malafeev in the home goal.
Stephan El Shaarawy added an
excellent second, after holding off a
number of defenders before firing past
Malafeev.
The hosts reduced the margin on the
stroke of half-time when Roman
Shirokov's assist was smashed low and
hard past Milan keeper Christian
Abbiati by Hulk.
And four minutes after the break Zenit
were level as Hulk's inswinging corner
was nodded in at close range by
Roman Shirokov.
That was the way it remained until
Hubocan inadvertently found the
bottom right-hand corner of his own
net, and out of reach of the helpless
Malafeev.
Zenit came close to levelleing again 10
minutes from time, when Aleksandr
Anyukov forced a great save out of
Abbiati who had earlier denied Hulk
with another excellent stop.
The defeat leaves Zenit pointless after
two games, while Milan have picked up
four.
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