Soccer-Zenit crowned Russian champions with two games to spare

By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy MOSCOW, May 17 (Reuters) - Zenit St. Petersburg, managed by Andre Villas-Boas, won their fourth Russian Premier League title on Sunday after drawing 1-1 at FC Ufa. The point proved to be enough with Zenit moving into an unassailable lead on 64 points, eight ahead of their nearest challengers CSKA Moscow who have two games left. FK Krasnodar, nine points behind with three games remaining, cannot overhaul Zenit due to their head-to-head record. League top scorer Hulk increased his tally to 15 for the season with a goal just after the half hour for Zenit. A late headed equaliser from Haris Handzic wasn't enough to dampen the celebrations for the club who have now won three titles in the past five seasons. Zenit took the Russian Premier League title in 2007, 2010 and 2012 and were also crowned Soviet champions in 1984. The title is the first in Russia for Villas-Boas, the former Porto, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur boss, since the Portuguese took over in March 2014. (Reporting By Dmitriy Rogovitskiy; Editing By Douglas Beattie)