Lisbon - Goals from Hulk and Axel Witsel have helped Zenit St Petersburg get their Champions League campaign off to the perfect start as they beat 10-man Benfica 2-0 away on Tuesday.
Hulk put the visitors 1-0 up after five minutes when Oleg Shatov fed the Brazilian with an excellent pass and the forward finished with aplomb.
Things went from bad to worse for Benfica on 18 minutes when goalkeeper Artur was sent off for bringing down Danny outside the penalty area and Witsel doubled the lead with a header four minutes later.
Zenit are joined at the top of Group C on three points by Monaco who beat Bayer Leverkusen 1-0.