“Spartak” climbed up – Newspaper Kommersant No. 171 (7372) of 09/16/2022

The second round of the Russian Cup group stage ended with a match in which Spartak defeated Fakel at home – 3:0 – and became the sole leader of the quartet.

Spartak, which this season does not look good in matches with top-tier clubs, but clicks the middle peasants and outsiders like seeds, dealt confidently with Fakel, which they had already defeated in the championship.

The Spartak line-up was a mix of base and backup players, typical for the Russian Cup, and the Voronezh variant, even more experimental, or something, did not pull against its background.

That is, for some time, Fakel even seemed to hint that he did not feel shy in front of an opponent and was ready, for example, to fight for territory. But there was little point in this.

But at his own penalty area, “Torch” quickly found the opportunity to cheat in full. For some reason, he arranged a difficult pass, the ball, of course, was lost. Goalkeeper Aleksey Gorodovoy tried to save Voronezhtsev, but the ball he beat off after a Quincy Promes kick landed on the foot of another Spartak player, Pavel Meleshin.

One would have thought that the goal did the hosts a disservice by relaxing them too much. First, they missed Roman Akbashev’s exit (now Spartak’s goalkeeper Alexander Maksimenko had to be rescued), and then they put the game into a “sleep” mode: the ball slowly rolls on the opponent’s half without real movement forward. For those who decide that they can save their strength, the favorites are often punished.

Spartak coach Guillermo Abascal seems to have felt that not everything is in order, and wound up on the edge. And his team a few minutes later came out of hibernation and opened the defense of the “Torch” in the center mercilessly, like a sharp knife – a rusty tin can. Promes, throwing the policeman who rushed under him, hooked the goalkeeper with the ball, and he slowly rolled into the net. Meleshin, who ran to the goalkeeper before any of the Voronezh players, could easily make himself the author of a double, but showed exceptional respect for his partner. He did not touch the ball, carefully protecting it from the encroachments of rivals, and the goal went to Promes.

Fakel spent the second half more aggressively, more assertively. But this evening he was destined to score only from offside. And Spartak, having survived a couple of nervous seconds, during which they made sure that Khyzyr Appaev’s goal would not be counted, reacted to the Voronezh attack with his own. The central defender Georgiy Jikia, who flew forward, untwisted it, and Alexander Sobolev completed it with a roundhouse kick exactly in the bottom corner. Spartak won and topped the Group B table with six points, three points ahead of Krylya Sovetov and unexpectedly lost the day before to the Samara club Zenit.

Alexey Dospekhov