Acheampong’s Anderlecht survive Zenit scare to progress

The Belgian side reached the round of 16 by the skin of their teeth following a dramatic late goal in the Russian city of St. Petersburg

Frank Ancheampong’s Anderlecht left it very late to secure passage into the next round of the Europa League on Thursday against Zenit  as they lost 3-1 on the night but qualified via the away goal after it ended 3-3 on aggregate.

Acheampong had a less than stellar game despite being the scorer of the two goals in the first leg. He lasted for 89 minutes and earned a yellow card in a game where he scored the lowest rating of any player on both teams.

The hosts took a three-goal lead via Giuliano’s brace that sandwiched Artem Dzyuba’s goal and thought they had it all wrapped up having upturned the 2-0 first leg deficit.

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But there was to be late drama when Isaac Thelin nodded home on 90 minutes from one of the Belgians’ most sustained moments of pressure as elimination stared them in the face.

Instead it was the Russian team that crumbled under the enormous pressure after feeling they had done enough to progress into the round of 16 when they went up by three goals.