Nizhny did not let Spartak go higher – Kommersant

In the championship of Russia ended the penultimate, 29th round. Spartak did not take the opportunity to overtake CSKA and climb to second place. The red-and-whites made a misfire in the home match with Paris Nizhny Novgorod, achieving only a draw – 0:0. Now they have 54 points, one less than the army team. Rostov scored 53 points, which defeated Akhmat – 3: 2.

The tournament situation clearly favored Spartak, which until recently was four points behind the second-placed CSKA, and now got a chance to overtake a competitor, taking a more advantageous position in the fight for silver medals. After all, after the defeat in the derby, the army team tied with Krasnodar, and everything was in the hands, or rather, at the feet of the red-and-whites, who hosted one of the outsiders of the championship, Nizhny Novgorod, on their field.

However, the opponent was also motivated and fought to avoid play-offs with representatives of the first division. In addition, Spartak had already burned themselves two rounds ago at Khimki, which were leaving the Premier League. And he also had problems with Nizhny, which were aggravated by the disqualification of the leading striker Alexander Sobolev. Still, the red-whites had to break into the layered defense, and they were noticeably lacking such a ram in front of them.

Keith Balde, who replaced Sobolev, does not have such penetrating abilities and practically did not cause any trouble to the physically powerful defenders of Nizhny Novgorod. Quincy Promes and Anton Zinkovsky also did not know how to overcome these redoubts.

Guests concreted the penalty area, and from a distance the hosts beat little and inaccurately. For the entire first half, Spartak had a couple of half-moments that did not even require the intervention of Nizhny goalkeeper Artur Nigmatullin.

After the break, the Muscovites still showed a lack of understanding of how to get through to the opponent’s goal. Yes, and their head coach Guillermo Abascal somewhat passively controlled the game. In particular, the Spanish specialist, perhaps too late, instead of Balde released overall Shamar Nicholson, with the advent of which the hosts began to put real pressure on the defenders of the guests. True, the Jamaican stopped scoring a long time ago, so when Zinkovsky’s serve reached him, he didn’t adjust to the ball and tried to punch not with his head, but with his chest. For Nigmatullin, such a blow was not fraught with danger. Dmitry Rybchinsky threatened much more dangerously a little earlier, and Selikhov saved Spartak.

In the end, the red-and-whites already thoroughly pressed Nizhny, and Victor Mozes could bring them such a much-needed victory after Danil Prutsev’s cross. But Nigmatullin did not let the Muscovites into second place. Having finished with zeros, Spartak remained third with 54 points and is one point behind CSKA.

“Rostov” in the 29th round met at home with “Akhmat”, which, at the finish of the championship, unexpectedly also got involved in the fight for medals. Bronze loomed in front of Grozny, and silver shone for Rostovites. That’s just the team of Valery Karpin has recently frankly fallen apart, having suffered three defeats in a row, while Sergei Tashuev’s wards won three major victories.

And who would have thought that already in the debut, Rostov, who had never scored in those lost matches, would lead 2-0. In the absence of the injured Nikolai Komlichenko, Egor Golenkov sparkled among the hosts.

First, the textured striker closed Kirill Shchetinin’s cross with his head, and then pushed through Akhmat’s defender Marat Bystrov, ran one on one with the goalkeeper and threw the ball over Georgy Shelia, scoring a very fast double in just five minutes.

However, the guests gradually came to their senses and equalized the score even before the break, also showing an enviable rate of fire. Hamid Agalarov recalled that it was he who became the top scorer of the last championship, speaking for Ufa, and soon Vladislav Karapuzov struck a jeweler’s blow from behind the penalty area. The fiery first half ended with a mass brawl, as a result of which the referee Vitaly Meshkov presented six yellow cards.

And already in the second half, one of the most active participants in this clash – Artem Timofeev – ran into a second warning and went to the locker room ahead of schedule. And almost immediately the hosts converted the majority through the efforts of Danila Prokhin, who distinguished himself after the set piece. Although they could well have missed the victory if Ivan Oleinikov had not been greedy and passed Agalarov to an empty net.

Having won 3:2, “Rostov” with 53 points kept the chances for medals. And now everything will be decided in the final round, in which the key confrontation between the club from the banks of the Don and CSKA in Moscow will take place, and Spartak will end the championship with a match with Wings of the Soviets in Samara.

Alexander Ilyin