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UEFA CUP: Leverkusen 'in shock' as Zenit seize chance

/noticias.info/ Bayer 04 Leverkusen were left with a sense of déjà vu and bitter disappointment after crumbling in the home leg of a UEFA Cup quarter-final for the second season running. Michael Skibbe's men lost 3-0 to CA Osasuna at the BayArena a year ago and came up short again against a highly-impressive FC Zenit St. Petersburg on Thursday.

Arshavin inspiration
Inspired by the control, vision and strong running of Andrei Arshavin, the Russian title-holders sealed a thoroughly deserved 4-1 triumph to move to the brink of a first semi-final appearance. Arshavin broke the deadlock with a fine solo effort and, after Stefan Kiessling's equaliser, Pavel Pogrebnyak, Aleksandr Anyukov and Igor Denisov scored in the space of 12 second-half minutes as Dick Advocaat's team ran riot.

'We're in shock'
The Leverkusen players were left stunned by the defeat – their third successive reverse in all competitions – and struggled to find an explanation for their below-par display. "We are in shock because we really didn't expect such a heavy defeat," right-back Gonzalo Castro told uefa.com. "Our aim was to win without conceding but we fell well short of that. This result really hurts and it's going to be hard now to get in the right state of mind for the second leg."

Schneider regrets
Captain Bernd Schneider was equally downbeat, describing the showing as Leverkusen's "worst of the season" and expressing regrets over the hosts' lack of aggression. "We made it too easy for Zenit," rued the veteran midfielder. "We invited them to play and that's a dangerous thing to do against an internationally-recognised side. Before the game we told ourselves we had to produce a big performance, yet in the end this was our worst. It's difficult to explain."

Osasuna repeat
Midfielder Simon Rolfes compared the scenario with last term's quarter-final, when Osasuna won handsomely in Germany en route to a 4-0 aggregate success. "I'm really disappointed because we made the same mistakes as last year," Rolfes said. "We simply had to avoid a repeat of Osasuna, but we failed categorically. For some reason, we didn't play the way we've been playing all season. Perhaps we weren't fresh enough. We didn't seem to have the energy and strength we needed."

'Fantastic result'
While Leverkusen's players licked their wounds, Zenit could reflect on one of the best results in their history. "It's a fantastic outcome and we're all really happy," said left-back Radek Šírl, one of several exceptional performers for the visitors. "I thought we could do well here but I never thought we could win 4-1. Losing [3-1 against FC Rubin Kazan] in the league at the weekend probably did us good because it knocked some complacency out of us. We didn't make any mistakes tonight." notas_de_prensa_archivo