“Spartak” went to the break second – Sport – Kommersant

The last matches before leaving for a long autumn-winter break were held by the leaders of the championship of Russia. Zenit defeated Torpedo 2:0, Spartak defeated Lokomotiv 2:1, and Rostov defeated Wings of the Soviets 3:1. Thus, after 17 rounds, the Petersburgers with 42 points are ahead of the Muscovites by six points, and the Rostovites by seven points.

Before the final 17th round of this calendar year, it was clear that Zenit would definitely retain its leadership in the championship until spring, and Spartak would spend the winter in the top three. Third place “Rostov” could still let CSKA go ahead, but everything depended on the team of Valery Karpin, who even in the event of a draw with “Wings of the Soviets” guaranteed an advantage over the army team. However, after victories over Akhmat and Dynamo, which are part of the extended group of leaders, the Rostovites probably counted on all three points in Samara. On the other hand, the Wings straightened their shoulders, and most importantly, improved their standings, moving away from the dangerous zone of relegation and transitional matches thanks to two victories in a row. So on this wave, they could well have applied the Rostov.

The hosts really had a good chance to open the scoring when Roman Yezhov hit goalkeeper Sergei Pesyakov in a scoring situation. But by the middle of the first half, the guests had already fully mastered the Samara arena and put the squeeze on the opponent in a protracted attack, which Danil Glebov completed after another rebound near the opponent’s penalty area. Moreover, soon Nikolay Komlichenko earned, and Dmitry Poloz converted a penalty. At the same time, the 11-meter, appointed at the gates of Rostov, was canceled by the judges based on the results of a thorough video analysis. In the second half, Krylia nevertheless returned to the game when Vladislav Shitov caught a rebound from Pesyakov, who parried Sergey Pinyaev’s blow, but just for a couple of minutes, because Karpin’s wards from the standard quickly restored a comfortable “plus two” difference. Defender Maxim Osipenko sent the ball into the net after Komlichenko’s discount and secured the winning result – 3:1, although the Samara team fought until the final whistle. Rostov finished the first part of the championship with 35 points and will spend the coming winter in a warm place, in the top three with Zenit and Spartak.

“Zenith”of course, was very angry after the home defeat against Akhmat in the previous round, so logically “Torpedo” nothing good was expected in the confrontation with the championship leader. Moreover, under the new head coach Andrei Talalaev, Muscovites did not score a single point in four matches and did not score a single goal. The probability that they will be able to soak these “crackers” in rivalry with “Zenith” was also equal to zero. Nevertheless, the Torpedo team had a snack, imposing a viscous defensive football on the champion. For the entire first half, the Petersburgers created, in fact, one truly scoring chance, which was neutralized by Muscovites goalkeeper Yegor Baburin with a timely throw at the feet of Ivan Sergeev, who was running one on one.

After the break, the hosts of Luzhniki not only reliably defended themselves with a low block if necessary, but also tried to play more active counterplay. And yet they could not claim more than a goalless draw. However, in the 70th minute, the Brazilian team of Malcolm-Claudinho fired at the guests. The first broke up the attack, received a return pass from a partner already inside the penalty area and confidently dealt with Baburin. “Torpedo” tried to win back and responded with a blow from Ravil Netfullin, which was hardly repelled by Mikhail Kerzhakov. But then the Petersburgers scored another Brazilian bunch, and Claudinho with the transfer of Gustavo Mantua deprived the Muscovites of even illusory hopes for salvation. Zenit won 2:0 and reached the mark of 42 points. As for Torpedo, it still has only six points to its credit, and with such baggage it will be difficult for black and white to stay in the Premier League.

“Spartacus” just before the derby with “Locomotive” dropped to third place as Rostov overtook him by two points. Of course, the red-whites were eager to go on a pause in the championship second. Another thing is that in the last two matches against Torpedo and Sochi they did not look their best, giving rise to talk about the emerging decline in their game. Lokomotiv, however, ended up in a deep hole. The fact that he still hasn’t got out of it was shown by the last match with Ural, when the red-greens miraculously escaped defeat. Meanwhile, while the railway workers were marking time, their direct competitors – the same “Ural”, “Wings of the Soviets” and “Paris Nizhny Novgorod” – began to slowly break away. And even the penultimate Khimki came close. Unless Fakel provided the capital club with an opportunity to rise to at least the 13th line.

Already in the fifth minute, Lokomotiv was rescued by the crossbar, when Shamar Nicholson easily got rid of Dmitry Barinov’s guardianship in the penalty area. The owners of the RZD Arena were also lucky after Anton Zinkovsky’s shot, which also hit the top frame of the goal. But for them, it was a wake-up call. Spartak had a noticeable advantage and deservedly took the lead when Quincy Promes forced goalkeeper Daniil Khudyakov to foul and clearly took the penalty himself. The best scorer of the current championship scored the 14th goal, and then for the first time in the red and white (and in general in the Premier League) Danil Prutsev scored a goal, and this was preceded by a beautiful combination. The defender of “Spartak” had only not to spoil it and hit the target.

The guests simply crushed Lokomotiv in the first half, and their goalkeeper Alexander Selikhov only once seriously entered the game, reacting to a blow from Konstantin Maradishvili. At the same time, immediately after the break, Selikhov gave almost an assist to Nicholson from his own goal, but the Jamaican ruined a clean exit to Khudyakov. The third goal, most likely, would have finally nailed the railroad workers, and so the situation escalated, and Spartak had already experienced several unpleasant minutes. Selikhov with the help of the bar barely fought off Girano Kerk, and in general, the red-whites lost the initiative for a long time.

With the advent of Alexander Sobolev, who replaced Nicholson, they again set up an attack, and again Lokomotiv was saved by Khudyakov, who did not allow Promes to complete a double. The Dutchman also had two more supermoments. But Wilson Isidor in the 87th minute put his foot under Barinov’s cross and still sharpened the end of the match. But Spartak endured and, having won 2:1, returned to second place with 36 points. Whereas Lokomotiv remained 14th with 13 points and could theoretically fall to 15th position if Khimki beat Sochi tomorrow.

Alexander Ilyin