Veteran Russian defender Yuri Zhirkov is still going strong at the age of 37 in the colours of Zenit St. Petersburg in the Russian Premier League. He made his 17th appearance of the current season forZenit St. Petersburg during the recent league win over title rivals Spartak Moscow. Yuri Zhirkov became a Zenit St.
Petersburg player four years ago when he signed for the Russian champions from Dynamo Moscow. The experienced left-back had left AnzhiMakhachkala to sign for Dynamo Moscow in 2013. The player then spent three years at the club before joining fellow Russian side Zenit in 2016. Yuri Zhirkovscored four goals in 54 league appearances for Dynamo Moscow during his time at the capital club.
Yuri Zhirkov is no longer guaranteed a spot in the Zenit St. Petersburg first team but he’s still a permanent fixture in the club’s first team squad. The Russian international played in his 17th game of the season for hostsZenit as a second half substitute for Brazilian left-back Douglas Santos during the Spartak Moscow game which ended in a 3-1 win for Zenit. Yuri Zhirkov has won the Russian Premier League title in each of the last two seasons at Zenit St. Petersburg. The 100-cap Russian defender could be in line for a third successive league title at Zenit with the club holding a four-point lead over CSKA Moscow at the Russian Premier League summit after 19 games this season.
SardarAzmoun, YaroslavRakitskiy and ArtemDyzuba were the goalscorers for Zenit St. Petersburg in their last league game at home to Spartak Moscow as pointed out earlier. Yuri Zhirkov has played in 13 league games for his team this season in addition to an appearance in the Russian Super Cup. He also made three appearances in the Champions League thus making it a total of 17 games in all competitions.
