Brazilian striker Hulk scored and created a goal for Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League this evening, but could not prevent his new side from losing 3-2 to AC Milan.
The 26-year-old forward powered a low drive past goalkeeper Abbati at the end of the first half to grab Zenit’s first goal of this season’s European competition.
Milan had already scored two goals in the first fifteen minutes, but Zenit were level when Hulk set up Roman Shirokov to equalise four minutes into the second half.
Despite the Brazilian’s efforts, Zenit were undone by a late own-goal when defender Hubocan knocked the ball into his own net to give Milan the win.
Zenit coach Luciano Spalletti said: “This is a very sad night for me. All the work we did before the match was of no help.
“Once again, we started the game very poorly. As we did against Malaga, we let in two goals in the first 15 minutes.”
Zenit are now facing elimination from the Champions League ahead of their meeting with Anderlect, following back-to-back defeats.
However, Hulk will first have to focus on Russian Premier League games against Krasnodar and Kuban Krasnodar before the Belgian side visit the Petrovski Stadium on October 24 for the Group C game.
