Not far away from being abandoned

Brych

As always, he had a very calm approach. There was however no necessity to show another style, it would have heated up the match without any reason. The situation in Group G was quite close before the match, due to the 0-0, Apoel are in the round of 16 for sure. No surprise, a sensation..but back to Brych. His foul detection was excellent during the whole time, the cards he issued were necessary, but I would have preferred one against Danny who could not stop protesting..furthermore, his assistant referee Borsch had two wrong offside decisions in the first minutes, but that became much better, too. The most curious thing in the first half in this cold (-9°C) was a real "head-shot" into Brych's face, he only shaked a bit, laughed and play went on.

Penalty?

In the very last minute, the 90+13' (unbelievable number), Zenit claimed a penalty after a Russian fell in the box. What happened? The defender's and the striker's paths crossed, the Russian consequently fell. I agree that there is a touch, but it was neither deliberate nor enough for a penalty at this point of time. What should a referee do? Punishing a player for being there? Finally, Brych seems to be the better German referee during the last weeks, however, I do not doubt that the situation is unalteredly close between the two Bavarians.