short of finishing the championship undefeated. On 14 November, Zenit defeated Rostov and, two matches prior to the end of the season, claimed the championship title, the first of Spalletti's coaching career. Additionally, Zenit progressed past the Europa League group stage in first place in its group to the round of 16 stage, where they defeated Swiss club Young Boys. On 6 March 2011, Zenit defeated CSKA Moscow in the Russian Super Cup, winning Spalletti his third Russian trophy. On 17 March 2011, Zenit lost in the Europa League quarter-finals to Twente 2–3 on aggregate. In the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, Zenit started the group stage in Group G alongside Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and APOEL. On 6 December 2011, Zenit finished the group stage in second place and, for the first time in club history, qualified for the spring knockout phase of the Champions League. In the first leg against Benfica, Zenit won 3–2 at home through two goals from Roman Shirokov and one from Sergei Semak. However, in the second leg, Zenit lost 2–0 and was eliminated from the competition. On 9 February, Spalletti signed a three-and-a-half-year contract extension to stay at Zenit until 2015. In April 2012, Zenit won their second-straight Premier League championship after defeating Dynamo Moscow. After three trophy-less seasons, Spalletti was sacked on 10 March 2014. Return to Roma Spalletti was appointed manager of Roma for his second spell on 13 January 2016, after ex-manager Rudi Garcia was sacked due to poor team performances. On 21 February, Francesco Totti publicly criticised Spalletti due to his own lack of playing-time since returning from injury. As a result, Totti was dropped by Spalletti for Roma's 5–0 win over Palermo, with the decision causing an uproar among fans and the media. After their initial disagreements, Spalletti began to use Totti as an immediate impact substitute, which proved to be an effective decision, as Totti rediscovered his form and contributed with four goals and an assist after coming off the bench in five consecutive Serie A matches. As a result, Spalletti was able to lead Roma from a mid-table spot to a second-place finish in Serie A, clinching the Champions League play-off spot. On 30 May 2017, two days after finishing the 2016–17 season in second place, Roma confirmed Spalletti had decided to leave the club by mutual consent. During his second stint with Roma, the team qualified for