This is one of those goals which is bound to divide camps.
Zenit St Petersburg drew level with Benfica in their Champions League last 16 tie, but the involvement of former Chelsea full-back Yuri Zhirkov has drawn complaints from the Portuguese side.
Zhirkov appeared to body-check opponent Nélson Semedo before latching onto a loose ball, but referee Viktor Kassai allowed play to continue.
As you can probably guess, the Russian international made it to the by-line before sending in a pinpoint cross for Hulk to head home the equaliser.
Zenit with the breakthrough via Hulk. Benfica "unlucky" not to get a foul call. #UCL pic.twitter.com/QgUMw6ZYhi
— Samuel Army (@thesamuelarmy) March 9, 2016
While some are bound to suggest this sort of thing is fine in a contact sport, there were plenty rushing to Semedo’s – and Benfica’s – defence.
How has the referee not given a fouls for that? The Zenit player levels him.
— Stephen Evans (@StephenEvans75) March 9, 2016
@ChampionsLeague @SLBenfica @fczenit_en hope you're proud with that ridiculous referee, that was a obvious fault and he is helping Zenit…
— Tozas (@ImTozas) March 9, 2016
Fortunately for the Portuguese giants, Nicolas Gaitan responded 15 minutes later to put Benfica ahead in the tie.
