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Zenit Fan Who Punched Dynamo Moscow Player Arrested

A Zenit St. Petersburg fan who punched Dynamo Moscow captain Vladimir Granat during a Russian Premier League game on Sunday has been arrested after handing himself in to police.

Dynamo were leading 4-2 in the 86th minute when a few hundred Zenit fans invaded the pitch and defender Granat was punched in the head, leaving him with a concussion.

The match was abandoned after the referee consulted with the match delegate.

Zenit fan Alexei Nesterov, 45, said he had tried to speak with Dynamo Moscow officials after traveling to the capital.

"Yesterday I went to Moscow and tried to talk with representatives of Dynamo and also Vladimir Granat," Nesterov told reporters. "They said they did not want me to be present and they did not want to see me.

"The police were hunting for me like I was Chikatilo!," he said in reference to Andrei Chikatilo, a notorious Soviet serial killer.

"I want my case to be applied to the letter of the law," Nesterov said.

"There was no fight, everything happened spontaneously, just like a street fight. It is not possible that I broke Granat's jaw, or something like that," he added.

Zenit, who were leading the league standings going into Sunday, have been penalized with a 3-0 technical defeat, fined 1 million rubles ($28,500) and ordered to play two home games behind closed doors and another three with a section of the stadium closed where the team's ultras sit.

Zenit face Kuban Krasnodar in their final match of the season. They are one point behind leaders CSKA Moscow.

Read more:

Zenit Handed Stadium Ban After Fan Attacks Player

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