Zenit St Petersburg seal historic Europa League comeback from 4-0 down to beat Dinamo Minsk 8-5 on aggregate
Russian side did it while down to ten men and their feat is the biggest comeback in 33 years - but fans were not in the ground to see it
Sponsored by
ZENIT ST PETERSBURG completed one of the most amazing comebacks in European football by overturning a 4-0 deficit to win 8-1 - but nobody was there to see it!
Supporters went mad on boats outside the ground as the Russian side played Dinamo Minsk behind closed doors after fans were done for racism back in June.
What's more, Zenit completed the turnaround - the biggest Europa League comeback in 33 years - with just ten men on the pitch.
Leandro Paredes was sent off with 18 minutes of normal time left.
But earlier Russia's World Cup hero Artem Dzyuba scored twice to level the scores 4-4 on aggregate and take it to extra-time.
It looked all over when Minsk star Seidu Yahaya grabbed an away goal nine minutes into extra-time.
Latest football news
But Argentine forward Sebastian Driussi gave the hosts hope with 11 minutes to go, completing his hat-trick on the night.
Robert Mak's penalty then made it 7-1 on the night - and Dinamo's Maksim Shvetsov was sent off for giving away the spot kick.
With 123 minutes on the clock Mak bagged another to make it 8-5 on aggregate and 8-1 on the night.
Paredes scored the first of the night in the 22nd minute and Christian Noboa made it 2-0 in the 66th minute.
The last time a team overturned a four-goal deficit was in 1985 when Real Madrid came back from 5-1 down to beat Borussia Monchengladbach.
That levelled the scores and Los Blancos won the last-16 tie on away goals.
Zenit will now face Molde, managed by ex-Manchester United star Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the play-off round.