St. Petersburg – Visitors Rostov got off to a perfect start against Zenit St. Petersburg but surrendered three goals in the second half to lose 3-2.
Forward Dmitry Poloz scored two goals in the first fourteen minutes to give Rostov a 2-0 lead at Krestovsky Stadium.
Rostov were without the services of dangerous Iranian striker Sardar Azmoun due to receiving a red card in the previous match against Ural one week earlier.
Six yellow cards were handed out in the first half but two of them went to Rostov captain Alexandru Gatcan. The Moldovan midfielder received his marching orders in the 44th minute in what was definitely the worst way for Rostov to finish the first half.
Playing with a one man advantage, Zenit cut the lead in half five minutes after the restart when Brazilian midfielder Giuliano converted a penalty kick.
Iranian midfielder Saeid Ezatolahi came on in the 46th minute but his own-goal in the 72nd minute leveled the scores at 2-2.
Montenegrin forward Luka Djordjevic completed the comeback for Zenit when he scored with five minutes remaining on the clock to give his side a huge 3-2 win.
Rostov caretaker Dmitri Kirichenko surely could not be happy with the result and are looking to rebound at home when they host Tom Tomsk on 20 August.
On 14 August, Iranian defender Milad Mohammadi came on for the last thirty minutes for Terek Grozny in a 1-1 tie at home against Lokomotiv Moscow.
Oleg Ivanov put Terek Grozny in front after five minutes but Serbian striker Petar Skuletic equalized thirty minutes later for Lokomotiv.
Terek Grozny will face FC Ufa away from home on 20 August.