“Spartak” is not drawn to “Zenith” – Sport – Kommersant

In the 21st round of the Russian Football Championship, four matches took place, including with the participation of the leader – Zenit, which is in the top three of Spartak and Dynamo, which occupies fourth place. The Blue and White Houses lost to Sochi – 0:2, despite the fact that they played a half-time in the majority. The red-whites also made a misfire, drawing at home with Akhmat – 0:0. But the Petersburgers at home defeated “Ural” with a score of 2:0.

In the Saturday program of the 21st round, all the matches were interesting in their own way – even the meeting between Nizhny Novgorod and Lokomotiv, which are far from the top places and are located at the bottom of the standings. Of course, the railroad workers attracted the main attention in this pair. Only they managed to show a 100% result after the resumption of the championship, having won three victories in a row. And everything indicated that they would extend the winning streak, because Nizhny Novgorod, on the contrary, suffered three defeats, having managed to get even a “techie” for violating the rules in the match with Torpedo.

The head coach of Lokomotiv Mikhail Galaktionov did not regret the former team. And to be more precise, Nizhny did not regret Artem Dziuba. First, he heeled the ball into the goal, standing almost with his back to them and fighting with the guardian, and soon he scored a double from the transfer of his namesake Karpukas. Thus, the striker has already scored six goals since returning to the Premier League. In addition, Dmitry Barinov scored, and the guests made the result even before the break. And in stoppage time of the second half, Anton Miranchuk increased it to 4:0, and the red-greens celebrated their fourth victory in a row. Now it will be very interesting to see how Lokomotiv and personally Dzyuba will play in the next round with Zenit.

Dynamo went to the match with Sochi, already quite clearly seeing the back of Spartak, which was five points away. At the same time, the blue-and-whites have to push elbows with CSKA, which also scored 35 points in 20 previous rounds, and they are propped up from below. Formally, Sochi residents also belonged to the group of supporters, but they were sharply blown away, greatly surprising the football community with major defeats from Orenburg and Fakel with a total score of 0:7. Moreover, all this happened to them after the victory over CSKA, which seemed to set them in a positive mood.

Arsen Zakharyan was absent from Dynamo due to disqualification, but Daniil Fomin and Mumi Ngamalyo, who had served it, returned to the squad. Nevertheless, taking into account the injured players, the rotation of the head coach of the Moscow club Slavisa Jokanovic was still limited. But already in the middle of the first half, the hosts unexpectedly gained a numerical advantage when Sochi goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanaev recklessly ran out of the gate, trying to help his defender stop Denis Makarov’s breakthrough. Dynamo turned out to be more agile, and Dzhanaev knocked him down, grabbing him by his shorts. As a result, a double punishment followed – a direct red card and a penalty.

However, the guest’s reserve goalkeeper Denis Adamov parried Fomin’s shot from the spot. And in the future, Dzhanaev’s replacement repeatedly rescued the Black Sea team, especially when he was threatened by the top scorer of the blue and white Konstantin Tyukavin. And in the 67th minute the ball flew into a completely different goal. One corner was enough for Sochi, and Vanya Drkusic opened the scoring, taking advantage of a rebound from Luka Gagnidze. Moreover, in the 74th minute, the hosts were caught on the counterattack, in which Luka Djordjevic pulled the ball to the end line and perfectly hung it on the head of Artem Makarchuk. Dynamo never recovered from the second knockdown and lost in the majority – 0:2.

On the eve of the match with Akhmat, against the background of a shortage of five important points, Spartak had to think not about how to catch a crane in the sky and chase Zenit, but about how to at least hold a titmouse in his hands and defend second place , which he lost to Rostov in the previous round. At the same time, his confrontation with Grozny, who closed the top six, a priori promised to be difficult. Especially given the big problems the red-whites have in defense, as evidenced by six goals conceded in three meetings. That is, after the winter break, they have not yet conceded less than two goals per game. On top of that, Georgy Jikia was injured, and it’s good that another experienced central defender, Nikita Chernov, managed to recover.

True, Quincy Promes, the leader of the Spartak attack, was surprisingly not included in the starting lineup. Without the Dutchman, the Muscovites attack looked somehow lonely. They hardly even crossed the center of the field, faced with a very active defense of Akhmat. Only when the guests missed Shamar Nicholson, a dangerous moment arose in their penalty area, but the Jamaican was brought in with the ball. It was even more dangerous after Ruslan Litvinov’s strike and finishing off Chernov during a set piece, but goalkeeper Georgy Shelia literally closed the Grozny gates with his body. Gradually, the hosts seized the initiative and pinned the opponent to his penalty area. Alexander Sobolev ran away, and yet Spartak did not score enough for a goal in the first half.

Immediately after the break, the red-whites had to release Promes, who, after five minutes, asked for a return substitution, feeling some discomfort. There was information that he was not all right with his health, but, apparently, the situation is more serious than it seemed to the coaching staff of Guillermo Abascal. Instead of Promes, Keita Balde appeared, who could compensate for the forced loss of Spartak’s top scorer. Shelia was saved by Akhmat when the Senegalese struck his head tightly against the bar. The hosts attacked constantly in the second half. Even Victor Moses came to the rescue, who, due to a serious injury, has not played since August last year. Guests thought only about how to fight back and keep a goalless draw. They were not shy and frankly play for time, having reached the desired 0-0. So “Spartak” got hold of only one point at home and failed to get ahead of “Rostov”, which now also has 41 points plus a meeting with “Torpedo” in reserve.

“Zenith” in the home match with “Ural” had a good opportunity to prove that his latest misfires were not systemic. Petersburg, we recall, barely defeated Khimki and lost to CSKA. This is in the championship, but they also flew out of the Russian Cup. Yekaterinburg residents also rested. The Premier League leader had few chances in the first half, and visiting goalkeeper Ilya Pomazun made only one memorable save after Andrey Mostovoy’s shot. And in the second and “Ural” gave out good segments, making the hosts’ goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov nervous. Lazar Randzhelovich even had an attempt to go one on one with him. In general, the team of Viktor Goncharenko, who, due to disqualification, was sitting on the podium, still successfully held back Zenit. But the personnel reshuffle of the mentor of the champions of the country, Sergei Semak, worked. Ivan Sergeev replaced the unbeatable Mateo Cassierra and scored quickly, heading Claudinho’s cross. And then he put his foot under the serve of Douglas Santos from the other flank and sealed the victory – 2:0, after which the St. Petersburg team had 51 points.

Alexander Ilyin