All 445 Benfica fans in St Petersburg will make the long trip back to Portugal with a smile on their faces, and presumably a fair bit of vodka in their bellies. There is certainly reason to celebrate, this was a tricky tie despite their 1-0 advantage from the first leg, although their performance here won’t inspire too much fear into whoever they face in the quarter-final.  As for Zenit fans, this is a hard blow to take. They are fifth in the Russian league, adrift of CSKA Moscow, and are now out of Europe. It would be no surprise to see André Villas-Boas depart in the coming days, or at the end of the season. At least you can console yourselves with the Zenit calendar, complete with a shirtless Hulk,and yours for just 350 rubles/£3!  @michaelbutler18 here you go https://t.co/YEv0k8uWmU  Thanks for reading, for your emails and tweets. Join Scott Murray now for Chelsea v PSG, which kicks off shortly. See you next time. Bye!  Related: Benfica’s Nicolás Gaitán’s breaks Zenit St Petersburg hearts  Benfica are through to the last eight!  That’s sealed it. Gaitan drives forward and with Zenit all at sea at the back, a lucky bounce gifts Talisca a chance, which he takes with aplomb, crashing a low shot past Lodygin. The Benfica bench erupts, and as the players celebrate on the pitch, the referee blows for full time!  90+4 min: The two Zenit subs, Shatov and Smolnikov combine well down the right, but the latter’s cross is deflected straight into the arms of Ederson, who despite his theatrics going down tonight, has played well in the place of the injured Julio César. Hulk picks up a cheap yellow card, is this the last time we see him in a Zenit shirt in the Champions League?  90+2 min: Benfica makes their final change, Talisca coming on for Jonas. They are seeing out this game just fine.  90 min: Five minutes added on. Ederson, the Benfica goalkeeper, has gone down with cramp. Shock. How can a goalkeeper get cramp?  “Some people might disagree with me but I don’t think feigning injury in order to waste time should be categorised as a tactic,” emails J.R. in Illinois. “I think it should be categorised as cheating.”  87 min: It’s desperate for Zenit now, and Hulk again pulls the trigger from long range. No dice, despite the fact that he blasted that ball to within an inch of its life.  Out of nothing, Benfica equalise, and are now surely set to win this tie! Jimenez wins the ball cheaply 30 yards out, spins neatly and wallops a dipping swirling shot towards goal. Lodygin gets a hand to it, but can only tip the ball onto the bar, and with the goalkeeper still on the deck, Gaitan steals in and nods the ball in from two yards out. Zenit must now score twice in the final six minutes.  82 min: Danny Mills, on commentary, just suggested that the new Fifa president, Gianni Infantino should scrap extra-time and just let all games go straight to penalties, presumably because he just wants to go home. “It’s a thought,” his co-commentator reassuringly replies.  Zenit sub: Yusupov on for Mauricio.  79 min: Dzyuba bulldozes his way past FIVE Benfica defenders, but can’t beat Ederson after going clean through on goal. He just couldn’t sort his feet out, which presumably takes some doing when your head is that far from your ankles.  76 min: I mentioned that Zenit had a calendar with a shirtless Hulk but even that pales into insignificance compared to this team photoshoot, which was commissioned after Zenit won the Russian league last year. Absolutely jaw-dropping.  A one a kind photo shoot for a FC club- Zenit St. Petersburg. This is what you call 'style'! pic.twitter.com/ui1eyUHE2K  74 min: Benfica will have to change their entire system now. It’s not good enough to just defend. They make a change: Salvio on for Pizzi.  72 min: Benfica so nearly hit back! From a corner, Lindelof glances a header towards the top corner, and Lodygin only just claws the ball clear. That is actually a fantastic save. If Benfica score, remember, Zenite will have to score twice more!  70 min: Benfica are absolutely livid that there wasn’t a foul given on Semedo, probably with good reason. Zenit’s fans couldn’t care less, one waves what seems to be a Zenit calendar in the air. Hulk is shirtless in the photo. Of course he is.  Zenit level the tie through the former Porto player. It had to be Hulk. Zhirkov breaks down the left, bundles Semedo over (which should really been given as a foul), but carries on unhindered to the byline. The 32-year-old keeps his composure, picks his spot and flights a little cutback to Hulk, who heads the ball home from three yards. He nearly missed, but his header crashes into the roof of the net. We’re headed for extra-time if it stays like this!  67 min: It’s attack versus defence at the moment, as Zenit zoom forward once more. Benfica can’t get out of their own half, due in part to the fact that Mitroglou couldn’t hold up an apple at present. Unsurprisingly, he’s taken off, for Raul Jiménez.  64 min: This game is now coming alive. And as Zenit pour forward for their equaliser, they risk leaving gaps at the back. Jonas latches onto a long ball, beelines straight for goal, albeit from an angle, but Lodygin stands tall and makes a good save.  63 min: Zenit’s subs have made an instant impact, and they should be level in this tie. Shatov, fresh and full and running, dribbles past Eliseu and slips a reverse ball through that decieves everybody but Dzyuba, but Zenit’s No22 flashes his shot over! Hit the target and he scores!  61 min: Ooooooh, Smolnikov should have scored. Zenit take a short corner, Hulk whips a cross to the near post, and the substitute gets his legs all in a tangle and can only thigh the ball goalwards from three yards out. Ederson collects the ball gratefully, and gets a little bash on the head for his troubles, which he makes a huge meal out of.  59 min: Zenit make their first changes: Anyukov (who has been among Zenit’s best players at right-back) is off for Smolnikov, who is a bit more attacking. Shatov, meanwhile is on for Kokorin.  57 min: Gaitan goes down off the ball, holding his face. Replays shows he got a slight push in the back of his shoulder from Danny. Benfica hoof the ball out of play. Two minutes go by. Benfica’s games have started. They are seeing down the clock. A dangerous tactic with over 30 minutes to go, but one that they are good at.  54 min: Renato Sanchez goes studs up on Mauricio, wins the ball but is rightly penalised. Hulk sends yet another speculative free-kick crashing into a Benfica wall. In answer to my earlier question, I’d turn my back and cover the face. Yep, I’m a coward.  52 min: A tad better from Hulk, who finds Dzyuba with his cross, but the 6ft5in striker can’t control the bouncing ball, and Eliseu does well to get a toe in and take the ball away from the Zenit man.  50 min: Terrible start to the second half, no fluency, and Dzyuba punts the ball out for a Benfica throw-in in trying to make a five-yard pass to Danny. On this evidence, these are the two weakest teams left in the competition.  48 min: Pizzi bundles over Zhirkov near his own corner flag, the Benfica man given a yellow card, as much for his dissent as for the challenge. Free-kick, taken by Hulk, doesn’t beat the first man. Hulk gets another chance, from the corner, and again fails to beat the first man. Awful.  Peeeeep! We’re off again. Only 445 Benfica fans have made the trip from Portugal, which strikes me as a little poor. 65,000 fit inside the Estádio da Luz.  The Portuguese side are half-way there.  45 min: Two minutes added on here. The half is petering to a close.  44 min: Question: you are in a Benfica wall, and Hulk is lining up for a free-kick. What do you do?  41 min: Villas Boas’ beard is glistening in the St Petersburg evening air. He looks content with how things are going at present. Zenit need one goal, of course.  39 min: This is a real sustained bit of pressure for Zenit, with Benfica’s makeshift back four camped on their 18-yard line. No clear-cut chances, Benfica are staying nice and compact as ever, but Danny and Hulk and beginning to boss proceedings.  35 min: Hulk lines up one of his 35-yarder free-kicks … and blasts it straight into the wall. Deflected wide for a corner. How many of those has he actually ever scored? Of course, they look fantastic when they go in but I bet there’s a few Zenit fans out there that aren’t that impressed.  34 min: After a good start, the game is breaking up a bit, with fouls aplenty. Pizzi is brought crashing down by Kokorin and then Mitroglou recklessly clips Danny. Yellow card for the Greek striker.  31 min: But it’s Zenit’s other full-back, Anyukov, who is proving the bigger threat tonight. A quick one-two with Danny and the Russian is away, sprinting to the byline and squaring an excellent cross across the face of goal. Samaris gets his angles right and clears again. That’s the fourth clearance he’s made tonight, by my reckoning. Not normally a centre back, but in Benfica’s injury crisis, is deputising very nicely.  28 min: Zenit’s full backs are playing very high, which is a constant theme under Villas Boas. Zhirkov is playing on the left, remember this Chelsea fans? In Russia no less.  25 min: Renato Sanchez, who had that chance for Benfica a few minutes ago, is quietly impressing in midfield for Benfica. He’s 18-years-old. 18. And of course already linked to a big-money move the best clubs in Europe. Figures of £30m have been bandied about, which isn’t all that ridiculous. Portuguese clubs don’t let their talent go cheaply.  22 min: This time it is Zenit that attack, albeit a bit more haphazardly, lumping a long ball to Hulk, who wins a battle of head tennis with Eliseu, as does Danny with Fejsa, resulting in a chance for Dzyuba, but Ederson is this time decisive, and he scrambles off his line to punch the ball clear. This is fast turning into an excellent game.  Expect GOALS. @fczenit_en haven’t been involved in a 0-0 draw in their last 17 matches in UEFA competition. #UCL pic.twitter.com/zWwBctTGSM  19 min: Make that Benfica in general. They are all over Zenit like a rash and break again at pace. It is Gaitan again at the heart of things, and he feeds Mitroglou, who’s shot is excellently blocked by Neto. The move is still alive though, and Renato Sanchez flashes a first-time shot from the edge of the box about a yard wide. Ooooo close.  17 min: More Zenit slide tackles on Gaitan, more free kicks, this time by the corner flag. Gaitan, Benfica’s captain tonight, dusts himself down and puts in a dangerous cross. Zenit look unable to deal with Benfica’s set-pieces at present.  14 min: Anyukov gets beyond Fejsa on Benfica’s left and whips a low cross in between goalkeeper and defence. Ederson, a promising but inexperienced Brazilian U-23 goalkeeper comes to claim it but he is too slow, and Samaris panics, hacking wildly clear. Lack of communication there, Ederson was lucky. Hulk takes the corner, but his delivery catches some of his team-mates offside.  12 min: After my prediction in favour of Zenit, Felipe Carvalho (which sounds decididly Portuguese) comes right back at me with “Of course BENFICA will be better and goes ahead to next round.”  10 min: The atmosphere in Russia is absolutely raucous. The home fans whistling every touch that Benfica make. A neat interchange between Jonas and Gaitan allows the latter to break from midfield, before Mauricio bring him down.  8 min: Hulk, all 35 tonnes of him, goes down after a feather light touch on the arm from Eliseu. No foul. Get up, man.  6 min: Chance for Dzyuba! It’s a simple ball over the top from Danny and the big centre forward rolls his man and gets a left-footed snap shot off, but it rolls two yards wide. Could arguably have done better. The Russian has six goals this year in the Champions League, bettered only by Lewandowski and Ronaldo this season.  4 min: Free-kick to Benfica in a promising position, just outside the penalty box. This is how they scored in the first-leg remember … it’s Jonas and Gaitan over the ball... Jonas shoots! Tipped over by Lodygin. Good goalkeeping. He made an outrageous save from Gaitan in the first leg and is at it again.  2 min: Samedo, Benfica’s full back, makes a lively start down the right, but is swiftly brought to a halt by Witsel, who is again facing his former side. An absolute man mountain in central midfield, although perhaps not worthy of the huge price tag (£64m, with Hulk), that Zenit paid for him.  Peeeeeep! Off we go, Zenit is their sky blue, Benfica in their traditional red and white.  I’m backing Zenit. Benfica may have won 11 of their last 12 league matches but they have never won in Russia in four visits. It’s cold, about freezing in St Petersburg, and I don’t think 1-0 will be enough from the first leg.  If you have any thoughts, do let me know. Email michael.butler@theguardian.com or tweet @michaelbutler18. Ta.  @michaelbutler18 I'm at work so I can't watch the game, but how does Hulks fitness look? pic.twitter.com/6bJmSl5NRC  Steph Curry is that you? I can confirm he is running around in the warm-up. And that he does not have one single hair out of place.  Villas-Boas has been speaking to the cameras:  The focus will be the same, we need to score. But we have to be cautious and make sure we don’t concede an away goal.  And that, in a nutshell, is football.  Speaking of moves from the Championship to tonight’s Champions League teams, you will notice there is no sign of Adel Taarabt in the Benfica squad. He’s still rotting in the B team, and is expected to be moved on this summer. He signed a FIVE-YEAR deal last year.  The Champions League last-16 is a long way from the Championship, where Fulham find themselves, and even further from the Premier League U-21 League, if you want a reminder of what Mitroglou is capable of, have a look at this.  Skip to the end if you want to see a 90-yard strike (!) from Fulham goalkeeper (!!!) Marek Rodak, as well.  The two teams aren’t scared of a tackle, so it should be another feisty affair as it was in the first leg, in which Zenit full back Domenico Criscito was sent off. Also suspended for this game is former Manchester City bench-warmer Javi García, whilst Benfica’s Jardel and André Almeida are also banned.  Zenit’s Danny, Hulk, Yusupov, Witsel and Benfica’s Gonçalo Guedes, Jonas will miss the next match, should their team make it of course, if they pick up a yellow card tonight.  Zenit: Lodygin, Anyukov, Zhirkov, Neto, Lombaerts, Mauricio, WItsel, Danny, Kokorin, Hulk, DzyubaSubs: Kerzhakov, Yusupov, Shatov, Smolnikov, Garay, Ivanov, Dolgov.  Benfica: Ederson, Semedo, Samaris, Lindelöf, Eliseu, Fejsa, Renato, Pizzi, Gaitán, Jonas, MitroglouSubs: Paulo Lopes, Sílvio, Rúben Dias, Talisca, Salvio, Guedes, Jiménez  André Villas-Boas will fancy his chances tonight. With Zenit nine points adrift of CSKA in the Russian league, the Portuguese manager has made clear that success in Europe is his top priority this season, and despite trailing 1-0 from the first leg, his side will relish the task of welcoming an injury-ravaged Benfica to the Piter Arena.  The Lisbon-based club have only one senior centre-back to call on, and have called up 18-year-old Rúben Dias for first time, who manager Rui Vitória has called “the future of Benfica.” Still, especially without their defensive talisman and captain, Luisão, still out with a broken arm, Hulk and co will be bang up for it. The Brazilian might have only scored three times in the last fifteen games since October but Villas Boas is backing his man:  Hulk is eager to play and win, he has already written his name into the history of Zenit and continues to do so today. Any player can have an off-day, this is football. We believe that tomorrow we will be able to fix our mistakes, create chances and take them.  As for Benfica’s attacking options, expect the first-leg goalscorer Jonas to again be partnered by Konstantinos Mitroglou, who scored to give Benfica an impressive win away at Sporting Lisbon at the weekend. The striker is still on loan from Fulham, where he didn’t have the best of times, but looks as though he’s getting back to his Olympiakos pomp.  The two teams came through the two weakest groups, but did so with aplomb, Zenit winning five of their six matches and Benfica finishing only behind Atletico Madrid in theirs, and five points clear of Galatasaray in third. They look very, very evenly matched. It’s all set for a corker.
Minute-by-minute report: Zenit took the lead on the night through Hulk, but two late goals from Nicolás Gaitán and Talisca sealed Benfica’s passage to the Champions League last eight