“Spartak” soaked “Zenith” – Newspaper Kommersant No. 181 (7382) of 09/30/2022
[ad_1]
The third round of the group stage of the Russian Cup in the Russian Premier League (RPL) teams tournament crowned the match of Spartak and Zenit with the same score during the current season. Spartak, who had previously lost twice to St. Petersburg, this time on their field were able to achieve one of their most striking victories in recent years. They defeated the Zenit team 3-0, scoring all the goals in the end.
Spartak, which had already suffered enough in clashes with Zenit this season, looked like a team that, from two defeats from St. Petersburg – in the Super Cup and the championship – learned the only lesson: whatever the status of the opponent, shyness in front of him is a bad assistant . Spartak played for a long time as if it were they, and not guests, the domestic football hegemon. It was the rarest case when Zenit did not have an advantage either in possession of the ball or in possession of the territory. Moreover, it cannot be said that the advantage was absolutely useless. Sometimes he transformed into something rather unpleasant for Zenit. We are talking about a couple of corners given by Spartak, and a long-range shot by Quincy Promes, which served for the Brazilian Ivan, who rarely has the opportunity to defend the Zenit goal, an occasion to show what a magnificent jump he has.
After about a quarter of an hour, however, the picture was already more familiar. “Zenith” warmed up, wound up. Wendel turned on the berserk mode, which appears out of nowhere in any area in the opponent’s half of the field, and his partners began to visit the Spartak penalty area more often, and, for example, Daler Kuzyaev could well get into the far corner – the distance was suitable.
At the same time, it cannot be said that Spartak suddenly, having thrown out all the energy at the beginning of the match, passed. Outwardly, he still did not experience any particular discomfort – he endured, looked for opportunities to bite. And once he was close to biting the Zenith, painfully, painfully. Promes cut through the center of the St. Petersburg defense with an excellent pass addressed to Roman Zobnin. Zobnin was not allowed to catch on to her, but Mikhail Ignatov rushed to the rescue of his partner. He even shoved the ball under Ivan, but the goalkeeper covered him right next to the “ribbon”.
However, the moment of “Zenith” was even more spectacular. Everything was great in this attack: a subtle pass by Danila Krugovoy to Gustavo Mantuan, and a discount of the Brazilian midfielder back, which stunned all the Spartacists who ran to the rescue and tried to guess what would happen. Again, Kuzyaev found himself in a firing position, and again he failed to drive the ball into the target – he was taken over by the stand.
She saved “Spartak” and immediately after the rest. “Zenith” gave out another combination caressing the eye of a fan of football masterpieces, a little more concise. It included a neat “scoop” from the center line from Vyacheslav Karavaev and the perfect handling of the ball by Malcolm – he took it with his left foot, with his right, with a second touch, he struck for slaughter, cursing, apparently, in a second, the bar that got in the way to a goal.
This episode drew on a good reason to think that Zenit, which is getting closer and closer to the goal, Spartak will press again. But the owners flatly refused to cave in. In previous matches with Zenit, they didn’t have enough “physics” for the whole hour and a half. In this, everything was in perfect order with her: the Spartacists continued to plow and did not lower the degree of density.
And the reward for their efforts was the error of the central defender Rodrigao a quarter of an hour before the end of the game. Attack “Spartacus” has already bogged down. The Brazilian only had to properly dispose of the free ball he got next to him – well, for example, knock it out – it would also not be such a bad option. Rodrigao awkwardly rolled it straight at Daniil Denisov, who already saw Quincy Promes open. Promes shot Ivan without a chance for the goalkeeper.
And then, after a series of obligatory zenit attacks, Alexander Sobolev flashed. The “hot” Spartak striker in September performed his trademark solo number: he covered the ball with his body from Nuraly Alip and, turning around, screwed it into the net. And on this, oddly enough, Spartak did not calm down. Already in stoppage time, the counterattack completed by Promes brought the score to a devastating score. Spartak has become the undisputed leader of Group B. They have nine points, while Zenit has only three.
Before the Moscow match on this day, two more cup meetings were held with the participation of top division clubs. One of them is in the same group as Spartak and Zenit. In it, “Wings of the Soviets”, who had previously managed to beat the Petersburgers, defeated on the road – 1: 0 – “Torch”, which still has zero points in the asset. Samarans themselves are now behind Spartak, but they are ahead of Zenit with six points.
Another result – the match in Group C – was much more remarkable. Rostov, fighting away with Akhmat, earned a penalty a quarter of an hour after the break and opened the scoring. Everything seemed to lead to the fact that he would not be left without glasses. But the situation soon turned upside down. Akhmat played substitutions. More precisely, even Ivan Oleinikov, who immediately found a penalty foul in someone else’s free kick – in the form of a go-ahead from Danila Prokhin – and himself converted a penalty kick. A few minutes later, the same Oleinikov ambushed the rebound, and finished off the rivals Mohamed Konate. This defeat – 1:3 – was the first of the season for Rostov. He went through ten rounds of the national championship without a single loss, and at the start of the Cup he defeated Dynamo and Orenburg. Now Rostovites share the lead in the quartet with Akhmat.
[ad_2]
Source link