Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers thanked Zenit St Petersburg's fans for creating a "wonderful atmosphere" during the Europa League tie in Russia. Liverpool had written to Uefa and Zenit "expressing their concerns" over the potential threat of racist abuse.
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In December, a Zenit fans' group called for non-white and gay players to be excluded from the Zenit team.
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But after Liverpool's 2-0 defeat, Rodgers said: "I can only thank the club for how we've been received."
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The Northern Irishman said the match passed without incident despite pre-match fears from the English side that their players would be targeted.
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"I read and heard a lot about Zenit St Petersburg as a club, city and people before we got here," said the 39-year-old.
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"There were no problems at the game, it was a wonderful atmosphere and we want to thank the people of Zenit and Russia."
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Goals from Hulk and Sergei Semak gave the Russian champions a commanding 2-0 lead in the first leg, with Liverpool's Luis Suarez guilty of squandering several chances.
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The Uruguay striker missed from five yards, failed to hit the target despite being clean through in the first half and shot wide on two other occasions.
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But Rodgers refused to criticise his leading goalscorer and, with next week's return leg at Anfield, was bullish over his team's ability to overhaul a two-goal deficit.
The match was fair and crisis-free. The teams did very well on the night
zenit gave us a good match yesternite