Kazakhstan national team defender Nuraly Alip featured in Zenit's victory over Baltika in the ninth round of the Russian Premier League. The match in Kaliningrad ended 3-2 in favor of the visitors, according to infohub.kz.
Alip started the game on the bench and entered the pitch in the 67th minute. The Kazakh, along with Roman Vega, replaced Maksim Glushenkov and Artem Karpukas. At that moment, Zenit led 3-1.
The St. Petersburg side started the match actively. Already in the ninth minute, Glushenkov opened the scoring, and in the 16th, Aleksandr Sobolev doubled the visitors' lead. Six minutes later, Brian Gil pulled one back for Baltika.
Immediately after the break, Zenit restored their two-goal advantage. In the 49th minute, Luiz Henrique scored on the rebound after an attack involving Glushenkov and Sobolev – 3-1.
After Alip's introduction, the hosts increased their pressure. In the 82nd minute, Ilya Petrov tapped in the ball after Egor Golenkov hit the post, reducing Baltika's deficit to a minimum. However, Zenit held on for the win – 3-2.
With the result, Zenit moved up to third place in the RPL table with 18 points. The St. Petersburg club trails leaders Krasnodar by two points, with Krasnodar having a game in hand. Baltika sits in eighth place with 11 points.