Four Penalties at Gazprom Arena: Zenit 2:0 Dynamo Makhachkala

I came to Gazprom Arena for Zenit against Dynamo Makhachkala in round 12 of the Russian Premier League expecting a routine home fixture. What I got was a penalty festival: four spot kicks, two converted, two wasted. On a night like that a sports photographer could park behind one goal and still leave with a full story, and that is roughly what happened.\n\nThe first warning came in the 16th minute. Miro won a penalty for Dynamo Makhachkala and stepped up to take it himself. I was behind Zenit’s goal with the keeper and the spot already framed, and then the striker missed. Still 0:0, but I had my first keeper of the evening. A face after a miss always says more than a face after a goal.\n\nThe game turned in the 63rd minute. Felipe Augusto scored from the spot, and the stadium finally exhaled. By then the daylight was gone and the floodlights had taken over, which is when a rippling net looks best in a frame. In the 77th minute Maxim Glushenkov doubled the lead, again from the penalty spot. For that one I switched to the long lens from the far side, hoping to get the run-up and the goalkeeper in a single picture, and it worked.\n\nThe ending had its own irony. In the eighth minute of stoppage time Kevin Andrade walked up for the fourth penalty of the match and failed to convert. Final score 2:0, three points for the hosts, and referee Anton Frolov from Moscow blew for full time. I walked out with a memory card where half the frames revolve around one small white dot. For match photography in Saint Petersburg, evenings with this much drama packed into twelve yards are rare.\n\nSee the full gallery with the best moments from Zenit vs Dynamo Makhachkala here.