Zenit St. Petersburg’s run to the knockout stages of the Champions League provided valuable experience for players who will compete at Euro 2012, Zenit goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev said Wednesday.
A 2-0 defeat away to Portuguese side Benfica on Tuesday meant that Zenit were knocked out 4-3 on aggregate in the first knockout round, the first team the team had reached this stage of the Champions League.
“A lot of Zenit players will play for their national team at the European championships, and the experience they’ve picked up won’t disappear completely,” Malafeev said on his website.
The Zenit squad contains several Russia internationals, including Malafeev, midfielder Konstantin Zyryanov and striker Alexander Kerzhakov, while Italian defender Domenico Criscito and Portugal’s Bruno Alves are in contention for their countries’ Euro 2012 squads.
Zenit should be proud of reaching the Champions League knockout stages, rather than upset about the defeat, Malafeev said.
“I don’t think it’s worth going into mourning. In some ways, this stage of the tournament is an achievement for us,” he said.
“Zenit is continuing a gradual positive development, reaching new heights step by step. And I think that’s a sensible outcome.”
Zenit currently lead the Russian Premier League by six points from CSKA Moscow, and Malafeev said that a title win for the St. Petersburg side would overshadow their Champions League defeat.
“We have the chance to win the second championship in a row in such as difficult and drawn-out tournament as the current top flight, and in the case of winning the championship we can consider this spring successful.”
Zenit will next play eighth-placed FC Kuban on Sunday in a Russian league game.
