Zenit beat CSKA in a penalty shootout and won the Super Cup

The first trophy of the new football season, the Russian Super Cup, was won by Zenit. In the match, which took place at Kazan’s Ak Bars Arena and ended in a goalless draw, the national champion defeated the winner of the CSKA Cup on penalties – 5:4. Thus, Petersburgers outstripped Muscovites in terms of the number of victories in the Super Bowl, having won it for the eighth time.

The match for the Super Cup caused a real stir and gathered full stands at the Ak Bars Arena, or rather, 40 thousand spectators, which is a rarity in the era of the widespread introduction of the so-called Fan ID, or fan identification card. Just at this event, in order to get to the stadium, she was not needed. Yes, and such a poster as “Zenith” – CSKA, could not help but attract increased attention.

Both teams suffered significant personnel losses in the off-season. The Petersburgers parted ways with Daler Kuzyaev, who, as a free agent, signed a contract with the French Le Havre, and did not include Wendel in the preliminary application for the new season, who still has not arrived at the club’s location and, very likely, will also leave Zenit. The army team sold Jesus Medina to Spartak, but at least they made good money on it – about € 7 million.

In addition, the St. Petersburg team was missing the central defender Rodrigao due to an injury. But Claudinho appeared in the starting lineup, whose participation in the Super Bowl was in doubt after he was injured in a pre-season meeting with Fenerbahce. Of the newcomers to the “start” was Du Queiroz, who moved to Zenit from the Brazilian Corinthians as a result of an exchange for Yuri Alberto. At CSKA, except for the fact that Ivan Oblyakov remained in the reserve, and Maxim Mukhin took one of the positions in the middle line, everything looked standard.

Muscovites squeezed out the first scoring chance of the match from the standard position.

The rally ended with Mukhin’s kick on target. Probably, Zenit goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov would have parried him, but just in case, the defensive midfielder Wilmar Barrios acted as the goalkeeper. From the game, neither one nor the other team created sharpness. At Zenit, even Malcolm and Claudinho, who knew how to aggravate, were completely cut off from the gate and tried to construct something from the depths.

But CSKA, which did not insist on possession, almost opened the scoring again. Zenit defender Dmitry Chistyakov unsuccessfully interrupted the backache of Baktiyor Zainutdinov and unwittingly played along with another army man, Fedor Chalov, but still managed to get under attack. The result was a completely successful rebound, to which Kerzhakov managed to react, and the ball bounced off his hands into the crossbar. At the end of the first half, he made another save when Zainutdinov shot under the bar from a free kick. Petersburgers did not disturb Igor Akinfeev before the break. Unless Du Queiroz tried to take the CSKA goalkeeper by surprise, but did not calculate the trajectory.

Meanwhile, shortly before leaving for the locker rooms, the teams quarreled, so much so that the referee Sergei Karasev had to intervene and write out mustard plasters to the most active participants in the clash on the edge for prevention. The passions subsided a little, nevertheless, there was a feeling that at any moment they could flare up again.

In the second half, CSKA continued to successfully hold back Zenit, strengthening the defense with the most experienced Kirill Nababkin, who replaced Igor Diveev. The army team continued to sting the champion with their attacks. Kerzhakov again saved the Petersburgers when Milan Gaich closed Zainutdinov’s serve from the summer. Muscovites unanimously grabbed their heads – the episode was so lethal. And after that, they dominated the field for several minutes, and the head coach of Zenit, Sergei Semak, even removed Claudinho from the game, who expressed clear dissatisfaction with the replacement and, in a “sign of protest,” immediately retired to the stands, without starting to inspect the match from the bench.

Gradually, the Petersburgers seemed to have taken the situation under control and moved the ball closer to someone else’s penalty area. However, Akinfeev still had practically no work.

Malcolm kissed once from a distance, but too inaccurately. Toward the end of regular time, massive reshuffles followed, which also did not upset the absolute balance that had been established in the Kazan arena. Only Chalov still stubbornly climbed on the gate, although he did not manage to open them. Karasev recorded a goalless draw, and the teams played the Super Cup in a penalty shootout.

The fans finally saw the goals, and until the fifth session, both Muscovites and St. Petersburg performed 11-meter goals flawlessly. But then Kerzhakov tightly caught the ball after hitting Gaich. Ivan Sergeev could have brought victory to Zenit, but here Akinfeev showed off his skill. How many such rescues there were in his outstanding career – suffice it to recall the recent Russian Cup final with Krasnodar, which he won. However, this time he was still surpassed by Kerzhakov. Undoubtedly the best player of the Super Cup parried the blow of Nikita Ermakov, and Robert Renan confidently and beautifully dealt with Akinfeev in Brazilian style. The Petersburgers won 5:4 and won the honorary trophy for the fourth time in a row. In total, Zenit won the Super Cup eight times, and now it is the sole leader among Russian clubs in this indicator.

Alexander Ilyin