“Spartak” crowned “Zenith”

That is exactly what happened. The Moscow club, in a confrontation with the most principled rival in St. Petersburg, lost to Zenit and ahead of schedule, four rounds before the end of the RPL championship, almost personally “sewn” the second star (one star – five championships) onto the St. Petersburg uniform, giving the club from the banks of the Neva tenth (one – in 1984 – since the days of the USSR) championship. RPL. 26 tour. Zenit 3:2 Spartak. Goals: Claudinho, 13, Mostovoy, 40, Sergeev, 90 + 1 – Keita, 33, Promes, 86 (penalty). Removal: Duarte, 73.

“… today we want to please the fans who completely filled the stadium. I want to achieve a good result,” said the head coach of “Zenith” Sergei Semak before the start of the match with “Spartacus”.

Almost 49,000 fans really witnessed a bright, productive match that brought Peter the jubilee championship – in general, everything, as promised by the head coach of Zenit.

In the course of the meeting, the thought crept in a couple of times that the expected victory over Spartak would not take place, but Sergei Semak made the necessary substitutions at the end of the match, and the two Zenit players who came out decided the outcome of the match in the first compensated minute of the meeting.

Winning the championship in a match against a principal opponent – what else does the city need, which will celebrate its 320th birthday on May 27! And both teams turned the match into a football show: five goals scored, two VAR reviews, a penalty kick, a red card, a “bring” from Selikhov, and a chic decisive goal with a heel from Sergeyev.

Spartak’s helmsman Guillermo Abascal started right off the bat – he released a super-attacking squad on the emerald St. Petersburg lawn: Promes, Sobolev and Balde. Muscovites throughout the meeting not one iota inferior to the hosts. But Sergei Semak and his team were also not going to postpone the conquest of the second star for the game with Krasnodar. And already in the 13th minute, the red-whites themselves gave Zenit a goal – Selikhov made a gross mistake. The goalkeeper of Spartak so mediocrely carried the ball from his own goal that it was not difficult for Claudinho to “cover” this football trick. The ball from the feet of the Brazilian calmly rolled over the guest goal line.

Why Zenit did not rush to increase the advantage is an interesting question, of course. But that’s exactly what happened, and Spartak bounced back beautifully. The hosts missed Promes, who shot at Balda from the flank, and he literally “shot” the gates of Kerzhakov.

But Zenit is the five-year-old champion, which immediately took “power into its own feet” – in the 39th minute, the hosts scored. And then the first judicial “chaos” happened, as the Spartacists would call it. Referee Pavel Kukuyan ignored the offensive in the Zenit penalty area and how Kuzyaev pushed Zobnin in the back. Well, Mostovoy used his moment and sent a football projectile through the legs of his own and others into the Spartak net.

In the second half, Zenit decided to get a victory with “little blood” and was punished. True, the removal of the most expensive and most inadequate acquisition of Spartak first happened. Alexis Duarte for some reason jumped at Malcolm’s feet, receiving a well-deserved red card – but only after watching “TV”.

Having remained in the minority, Spartak earned a penalty kick in the 85th minute thanks to the efforts of Christopher Martins. Red-and-white “found” Chistyakov’s leg and the judge, after a second viewing of the “TV”, pointed to the spot. The goalkeeper of “Zenith” Kerzhakov guessed the direction of the blow, but Promes still got his way. This goal was the 86th for the 31-year-old Dutchman in the Russian championship and allowed him to beat ex-Zenith striker Serdar Azmun and former CSKA striker in the race of scorers in the entire history of the RPL among legionnaires Wagner Love.

And it was here that Sergey Semak, the helmsman of the champions, came into play. His replacements worked exceptionally. Already in injury time, Mantua and Sergeev, who came on as a substitute, organized a golden goal. The Brazilian shot through, and the Russian beautifully heeled the ball into the Spartak net for the third time.

Then there was the “show” of Selikhov, who ran into someone else’s penalty area, but this did not give a result. It would be better if the Spartak goalkeeper was more attentive and thorough when performing his immediate duties in his own penalty area.

Zenit also won another league title – the tenth, taking into account the first in the USSR championship – and immediately updated the logo on social networks, adding a second star. Semak and his Russian-Brazilian diaspora definitely deserve it.

In my opinion, given the situation in the world (Russia’s exclusion from European competitions) and gas prices, Zenit should not worry about the championship title next season. Spartak, with its discord in leadership, leapfrog with coaches, and even with such purchases as Alexis Duarte, is definitely not a rival for them. CSKA needs to be improved in stability in order to fight on an equal footing with St. Petersburg, and Rostov in understanding what they themselves want. Lokomotiv definitely needs to renew Dziuba, and Dynamo to fire Jokanovic – only after these steps it will be possible to “enter” these two Moscow clubs into the applicants for RPL awards. But all this – already in the next season!

Vladimir Sabadash.

Photo – FC Zenit.