“Spartak” almost got burned on the “Torch” – Sport – Kommersant

In the 19th round of the Russian Football Championship, the second-placed Spartak beat Fakel at home – 3: 2, but the victory was given to him with great difficulty. Only at the end of the match did the red-whites score the decisive third goal. Dynamo lost to Krasnodar on the road – 1: 3, and Lokomotiv defeated Akhmat on the road – 1: 0.

Having played a draw with Ural in the previous round and releasing Zenit by eight points, “Spartacus” ineligible for a misfire against a survivalist in the premier league “Torch”. There was no talk of the red-and-whites returning to the championship race, given that the tournament leader will probably easily deal with Khimki on Sunday. Rather, they needed to think about how to gain a foothold in second position and at least not lose the advantage over their pursuers.

Fakel immediately lined up with the whole team in their half of the field, and Spartak, accordingly, tried to open this rich defense. The hosts did not seem to force things and did not exert much pressure in the positional attack, however, in the 18th minute they were already leading the score. Anton Zinkovsky delivered a shot from outside the penalty area, which, however, was not so easy because of the rebound from the lawn, the guests’ goalkeeper Alexei Gorodovoy unsuccessfully put his hands up, and Quincy Promes calmly hit the empty net on the rebound.

Promes not only topped the list of the best scorers of the current championship with 15 goals, but also scored the 100th anniversary goal for Spartak.

The Muscovites continued to have full control of the initiative, although sometimes the Voronezh team appeared at Alexander Selikhov’s penalty area and even bothered him. In the 40th minute, the red-and-whites converted a “standard”, when Alexander Sobolev in the hustle and bustle perfectly adjusted to the discount of Georgiy Jikia, however, the VAR team discovered some kind of violation of the rules and canceled a completely legitimate goal. So Sobolev was unlucky for the second time in a row. Recall that in the match with “Ural” he also became a victim of a referee’s mistake. However, Promes immediately drew a goal that no VAR could cancel. He turned defender Yevgeny Morozov one-on-one and rolled the ball past the Policeman who had thrown himself at him.

Surprisingly, even at the end of the first half, Fakel managed to get back a double from Promes. Khyzyr Appaev took advantage of the error of Spartak defenders in the counterattack, and then Danil Prutsev inadvertently brushed off Irakli Kvekveskiri in the penalty area, and VAR recommended the chief referee Vladislav Bezborodov to award a penalty. He did just that, and the French newcomer of Voronezh Reda Rabei equalized the score, which, as they say in such cases, was absolutely out of the game.

The red-whites still had a whole time to prove their superiority. But time passed, and “Torch” safely kept a draw. Moreover, he is a specialist in such results and most of all in the Premier League – as many as 11 times – achieved a peaceful outcome. Sobolev missed just a gorgeous moment, not hitting the gate almost two meters from the end line. But in the 87th minute, after Zinkovsky’s cross, the striker made an assist with his head to Christopher Martins, who heartily drove the ball into the net. “Spartak” won a hard victory – 3:2, which allowed him to score 40 points.

Another metropolitan club – “Locomotive”who solves very modest tasks in this championship, after a bright victory in Rostov-on-Don with a hat-trick by Artem Dzyuba, he made a trip to Grozny, where he was opposed by the sixth-ranked and really very formidable in modern times “Akhmat”. The railroad so far focused only on 12th place. Sergey Pinyaev put them ahead in the 11th minute, but already in the 20th minute they were in the minority after being sent off for the second yellow card by Stanislav Magkeev. Moreover, half an hour before the final whistle, excluding stoppage time, the Muscovites also sent off Maxim Nenakhov. Nevertheless, they survived and snatched three points – 1:0. Now Lokomotiv, like Pari Nizhny Novgorod, has 19 points, but the latter still has a game in hand.

“Dynamo” stayed with “Krasnodar”, and in absentia competed with Rostov, which closed the top three, which was only three points away. In turn, the Kuban team was six points behind the Moscow club, and this match was also very important for them, since success in it allowed them to get ahead of Sochi and Orenburg, as well as catch up with Akhmat and CSKA. Moreover, the blue-and-whites missed due to health problems of Arsen Zakharyan and Fedor Smolov. But lately, Konstantin Tyukavin has been making the “difference” for them, and even now he has not left the field without a goal. The Dynamo striker beautifully, in a fall with his head, and even with a pruning, closed the serve of Mumi Ngamalyo.

However, soon Krasnodar’s Kadi Borgis also scored with a header, assisted by Christian Ramirez. True, it was not without the blot of goalkeeper Anton Shunin. Then again, the Muscovites had a great moment, and Tyukavin did not understand how his teammate Dmitry Skopintsev, to whom he laid the ball on a silver platter, struck above the half-empty gate. In the second half, Tyukavin himself did not use the opportunity to score a double, running away eye to eye with goalkeeper Matvey Safonov and hitting the post. And in the 58th minute, the guests put themselves in a very difficult position, when Ngamalyo received a direct red card for a foul on Eduard Spertsyan. In addition, Kadi shied away from the penalty area so much that Shunin again had to get the ball out of the net. Dynamo had practically no chance to win back with 1:2 with ten men, and towards the end of the match, Nikita Krivtsov also scored for the hosts. Having won 3:1, Krasnodar moved up to seventh place with 29 points. Dynamo have 32 points left.

Alexander Ilyin