Zenit Saint Petersburg claimed their campaign’s first Group H victory in the Champions League with a 4-0 victory over Swedes Malmo FF, who had Anel Ahmedhodzic sent off as they collapsed on their second consecutive defeat in the competition.

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The Russian side, which lost 1-0 to Chelsea supporters in their opener, took the ninth-minute lead when Brazilians Douglas Santos and Claudinho combined for the latter to score a superb first time. .

Malmö captain Andreas Christiansen had a glorious opportunity to score Malmö’s first goal in the group stage 10 minutes later, but he scored his effort over the bar with the goal at his mercy.

The Swedes found themselves behind two to four minutes after the break as Yaroslav Rakitskyy twisted and turned before crossing for Daler Kuzyaev to send a looping header past Johan Dahlin’s dive and into the net.

Malmö’s slim hopes of returning were dashed four minutes later when center-back Ahmedhodzic was given a red card for denying a goal opportunity with deliberate handball.

Zenit’s Aleksei Sutormin scored in the 80th and Wendel added another in stoppage time to make it two straight defeats for Malmö bottom and move Zenit to the three-point level with Juventus and Chelsea meeting at Turin later Wednesday.