Incredibly paw-some content
Zenit St Petersburg’s players walked out with dogs before their match yesterday in an attempt to get the puppies adopted from local shelters in Russia.
Prior to their Russian Premier League game against FC Rostov on Friday night, the starting XI all entered the field carrying a dog in their arms.
The campaign – which is called ‘Dogs are better at home’ – came after Russia and its citizens celebrated World Pet Day on November 30.
Zenit recruited a host of first-team players to get involved with the community project, with the club working alongside the Russian Kynological Foundation.
The Gazprom Arena welcomed a variety of different breeds, all of whom were paraded in front of the supporters in attendance and people watching from home.
A video showing the players walking out with the dogs have been viewed millions of times on Twitter, and Zenit were quick to thank their fans and followers.
So, so much time for this: Zenit players took dogs from local shelters out on the pitch with them before their game last night in a bid to find them new homes 🐶
https://t.co/dLH6UzfzUY— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) December 4, 2021
Zenit wrote: “Now let’s find homes for these good boys and girls.
“The aim of the project is to highlight to the public the responsibility and care required when having a pet and to help raise funds for local dog shelters.”
Not only did the dogs accompany the players onto the pitch, but they were also pictured alongside the player carrying them when the starting XI was shown on the stadium’s video screen.
The game itself was an entertaining one, with Rostov scoring two early goals against league leaders Zenit, before Sergei Semak’s side responded well and levelled proceedings.
Claudinho scored twice for the home side in the entertaining fixture, which saw Rostov move to 11th place – two points clear of the relegation play-off places.
On the other hand, Zenit remain at the top of the table, five points clear of second-placed Dynamo Moscow – who have a game in hand.
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