On May 17, 2015, Zenit St. Petersburg became the champion of Russia for the fourth time. This time ahead of schedule, two more rounds before the end of the championship, after a draw match (1: 1) with Ufa. In this competition, the first goal in the 32nd minute was scored by Hulk, then from the side of Ufa, in the 87th minute Haris Khanjich equalized the score.
The St. Petersburg authorities had prepared in advance for possible riots, when the match was still going on, about 10 minutes before its end, internal troops had already rushed along the field towards the fan sector. Although there were no signs of atrocities in the stands, the soldiers blocked the access to the field from two sides for the fans.
However, when it became clear that Zenit was the champion, the team's supporters still indulged in stormy joy. The fans ran to the field, some tried to hug the players and shouted. One fan managed to slap Oleg Shatov on the arm in greeting, then the policemen tied the man. The law enforcement officers had to knit another fan in four, and twice.
Celebrating Zenit's victory in the Russian Premier League football championship will be large-scale at the end of the last round. It is then that the team will be awarded a cup, "gold" T-shirts, etc. But on Sunday, May 17, there was still a lot of champagne and sincere joy.
Witzel stretched out his scarf several times with the words “2014/15 Champions”, the Hulk's wife and two of his children ran out onto the field wearing T-shirts with pictures of the Brazilian striker. They danced with the footballers and chased an orange ball in front of the stands.
Anatoly Tymoshchuk - organized a team for Zenit players to swing Villash-Boasha. Rondon jumped onto Smolnikov's back during an organized procession of footballers around the stadium. From the stands they threw all sorts of things to the Zenit team - the winner. Lodygin, in response, threw a glove to the fans.
Then Tymoshchuk, already in the locker room, opened the champagne and poured foam on Kerzhakov and Anyukov. Malafeev took revenge on his comrade - he poured champagne on his head and over his T-shirt. Everyone was happy and laughed, of course - Zenit again is the champion, and even ahead of schedule!
Hulk, Dani, Witzel and Krishito danced, and the Italian was on the table. A few minutes later, the huge blue table became sticky with sweet alcohol. The Hulk spoke to the cameras that he tasted the sweet taste of victory. But Shatov was the most accurate of all: “It's good that Zenit became the champion two rounds before the end. In fact, we were the strongest this year and could have won even earlier, 5 or 6 rounds before the end of the championship."
Zenit previously won the Russian Football Championship in 2007, as well as in 2010 and the 2011-2012 season. Also, the football club was the champion of the USSR in 1984. The victory in the current Russian championship was the first for Andre Villas-Boas (Portuguese coach) with a team from St. Petersburg.
Now FC Zenit will play for the Russian Super Cup with Moscow Lokomotiv or Krasnodar Kuban. And next season the team will play in the Champions League.
