Zenit St. Petersburg: One hell of a season

Viktor Fayzulin of FC Zenit St. Petersburg (C) celebrates his goal during the Russian Football League Championship match between FC Zenit St. Petersburg and FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod

Just a couple of weeks ago, in a vital Premier League clash against Rostov on the road, both the outspoken Roman Shirokov and normally amicable playmaker Danny made strong gestures against head coach Luciano Spalletti – both refusing to shake his hand after being substituted. Shirokov went one step further in last week’s home game against Volga, being sent off after making an obscene hand signal to the stands after scoring Zenit’s third goal in a 3-1 victory.

Shirokov’s future with the club is now not surprisingly, in major question. One thing you can’t get away from, is that Zenit would seriously miss him. Shirokov possesses the unique ability of being able to play football in such an elegant manner, and trying to replace that sort of player will be a very hard challenge indeed. Fans seem pretty divided about the issue too, some would be only pleased to see the back of him, while some are very well aware of the void that he would leave.

In the case that he does decide to end his controversial stay in St. Petersburg, Zenit just have to look at their own youth system to find a replacement for him. Pavel Mogilevets, a young 20-year-old attacking midfielder made his Zenit debut a few weeks ago against Volga, and has already been audaciously dubbed the ‘Russian Messi’ by some.

That is just what the club has to do: make use of their homegrown talented products rather than spending ridiculously large amounts of money on foreigners. Hulk has at last started to prove his worth at the back end of the season, scoring a stunning hat trick against Alania in a recent 4-0 win, and almost single-handedly taking Zenit within a whisker of winning a third title on the spin.

Second place isn’t quite first, especially for a club that is used to winning all the time, but claiming silver medals and fighting off new European force Anzhi for them, is a real success in itself. Anzhi will frustratingly have to deal with Europa League again with a team that is well equipped for the Champions League, but Zenit have yet another chance in the tournament in which they are yet to really make their name in. A group stage exit from Champions League and going on to only reach the last 16 in the Europa League isn’t quite what everyone expected going in to this season, but the dramatic victory against Liverpool in the Europa League last 32 is something which will live long in my memory without a doubt.

Spalletti’s future will most probably depend on what results await in the summer, and there is just no time to change things around now. Eradicate the pure self-greed of certain players, and this season let alone next season, could have been a real success.

But calling a second placed finish a failure is just a sign of the strength that Zenit possess. You would be hard pushed to find any other club that would turn their noses up at earning medals of some colour, and qualifying for the biggest club competitions at the same time. In my book, that’s no failure whatsoever.