Zenit St Petersburg inflicted Derby County's first pre-season loss on their travels in Austria thanks to goals from Axel Witsel and Ivan Solovyev.
The Championship side held their own against Andre Villas-Boas's team but couldn't prevent goals in each half as the Russian side comfortably saw out the victory.
An early first-half penalty was awarded to the Russian Premier League side, but Danny failed to convert it as it was saved by Kelle Roos who dived to his left.
However, Zenit took the lead after a deflected cross in the 33rd minute managed to reach Witsel in Derby's. He converted from close range to give Zenit a 1-0 advantage coming up to half time.
Zenit continued to press for a second goal only for Rams shot-stopper Roos to continue a fine performance in the net.
Derby applied some of their own pressure throughout the second half but were once again undone by a close-range finish from Solovyev in the 86th minute to wrap up a 2-0 victory for Zenit.
Sam McEvoy
