Lokomotiv was sent to a siding – Newspaper Kommersant No. 34 (7479) dated 28.02.2023

Spartak and Ural became the first participants in the semi-final round of the RPL Paths of the Fonbet Cup of Russia. In the return matches of the quarter-final round, they beat – 4:2 and 2:1, respectively – in the home matches of Lokomotiv and Rostov.

Less than a week passed between the two matches of Spartak and Lokomotiv in the quarterfinal round of the so-called “RPL Way” of the Russian Cup, but one of its two participants definitely spent these few days with benefit. We are talking about the railway workers, who in the previous meeting, lost 0:1, were ruined primarily by a sluggish start. Now he was quite frisky, and the Spartacists quickly discovered that the opponent intended to answer them with a thrust for a thrust. Moreover, the question of whose injections were more painful is rather controversial. Lokomotiv, for example, had a great attack, which cut Spartak’s rear so decently that Sergey Pinyaev had to shoot from the penalty area, having the opportunity to properly prepare and aim. On the way of the ball, however, there was a huge outstretched palm of the goalkeeper Alexander Maksimenko.

The score, however, was again opened by Spartak. His attack was started by Daniil Khlusevich and Roman Zobnin, who took the ball away from Dmitry Barinov, this time continued by Quincy Promes, who came out at the base, and Mikhail Ignatov finished with an excellent passing blow. But Lokomotiv did not retreat from its tradition of revenge for any trouble, and revenge was quite effective. It seems that Artyom Dzyuba was waiting for a pass from the left flank from Nair Tiknizyan. However, Anton Miranchuk decided to get ahead of him and turned out to be absolutely right. Miranchuk had enough technique to jump the ball into the net with his deftly deployed foot in flight.

After the exchange of goals, the teams slowed down a bit, but the attractiveness of their game did not evaporate. Something about her caught my eye. In the game of Spartak – rigidity, the desire, having taken the ball, immediately jump forward. In the game of Lokomotiv, he has intelligence, which he most often lacked during the season. In the return match with Spartak, the troublesome grand, who changed half of the base in the winter, looked as if he really understood what he had to do in various difficult situations.

There was a segment when these situations arose exclusively near his penalty area: Spartak, not badly keeping the ball, crushed the railroad workers for ten minutes. But before the break, it was Spartak who walked along a thin wire over a deep pit. Miranchuk fell in the fight against Khlusevich, and the fact that there was no violation in this clash was only VAR could confidently confirm.

After the rest, Lokomotiv even got a fairly tangible territorial advantage. All the more insulting for him was the mistake he made.

The episode seemed harmless from the outside. Nair Tiknizyan at the front covered the ball with his body, trying to prevent Mikhail Ignatov from getting up to him. But the Spartacist, slightly embracing Tiknizyan, who was crouching on all fours, as if preparing to fight on the ground, forced him to make a loss. And a second later, Roman Zobnin, using a persistent Ignatov’s pass, shot into the corner with no options for escaping for Lokomotiv goalkeeper Ilya Lantratov.

Tiknizyan, of course, insisted that such hugs as he had with his opponent were a violation, which means that the goal should be cancelled. Arbiter Sergei Ivanov, even after looking at VAR, did not correct his opinion. Spartak’s Lokomotiv finished off after Lantratov got a blow from Promes in a jump, but Christopher Martins, who got the rebound, was no longer able to oppose anything. Thanks to Miranchuk, the railway workers managed to win back one goal, but they were not destined to aim for more. Spartak even regained a two-goal lead in stoppage time. To return, he needed to earn as many as two penalties in a row. In the first case, Ilya Lantratov held his own against Quincy Promes, in the second one, too, but went over the goal line before the kick, giving Promes one more try. Her forward did not screw up.

Spartak advanced to the semi-final round of the top part of the cup bracket. But Lokomotiv has not yet been eliminated from the tournament. Its new format provides a second chance for clubs in the top division that have lost the play-offs. The railroad will try to use it in the Way of the Regions.

On the same day, Ural continued its amazing performance in the reformatted Russian Cup. The Yekaterinburg club, which is in the basement of the top ten of the Russian championship, turned out to be the most successful among all participants in the RPL Ways group stage, winning five out of six matches in its quartet. And in the starting round of the play-offs, Ural slipped past an opponent who is in third place in the national championship and, paired with him, looked too obvious a favorite.

In the first match, the Yekaterinburgers played with Rostov in a draw – 1: 1 – on a foreign field, and in the return match everything was decided by a dramatic ending.

“Ural” approached her, leading in the account. Even in the middle of the first half, Andrey Egorychev, it seems, after all, having conceived a canopy, spun the ball right into the goal. Further, the owners carefully cherished the created reserve. They had about ten minutes to endure, when the Yekaterinburg defense falsified. VAR considered a foul by Vyacheslav Podberezkin in the penalty area on Nikolai Komlichenko, and Maxim Osipenko did not miss from the penalty spot.

Here it already seemed that a penalty shoot-out was inevitable, appointed in the Russian Cup in the event of complete equality following the results of two meetings. But it didn’t reach her, because VAR soon turned on again, this time to check if the ball hit the hand of the Rostov football player Andrey Langovich. The handball was confirmed, and Rai Vlut shot a penalty no worse than Osipenko, sending his team to the semi-final stage of the RPL Way, and Rostovites to the Way of Regions.

Alexey Dospekhov