“Zenith” coped with the uprising of Spartak

According to the results of the 19th round, the leader of the Russian championship, Zenit, restored the eight-point lead over Spartak. Although the Petersburgers almost missed a misfire in the home match with Khimki, snatching the victory only in stoppage time – 3:2. “Rostov” at home barely beat “Paris Nizhny Novgorod” – 2:1. And only CSKA confidently dealt with the “Wings of the Soviets” – 4:0.

After Spartak, who overcame Fakel not without difficulty, reduced the gap to Zenit to five points, the leader of the Premier League had to defeat Khimki and return a comfortable difference for himself so as not to create intrigue in the championship race with his own hands and still on level ground. No one doubted that the Petersburgers would effortlessly cope with the team, which was on the penultimate, 15th line in the standings. Yes, Khimki changed beyond recognition in the off-season, thoroughly shaking up the squad, but not enough to compete with Zenit on equal terms.

The owners of the Gazprom Arena led after another, already the 15th goal in the current championship, Malcolm, who is now very good and does not worry at all that his transfer to the French PSG failed during the winter transfer window. True, after scoring, Malcolm and company slowed down and even allowed the Khimki team to own the ball. But after the break, the Brazilian, who had obtained Russian citizenship, also obtained a second double in a row, overtaking Spartak’s Quincy Promes in the top scorer dispute in additional indicators. Recall that Malcolm scored twice in the previous match against Nizhny Novgorod.

With the score 2:0, Zenit generally considered that the game had already been done, and paid for their self-confidence. First, the Petersburgers forgot Butta Magomedov at the far post, and then missed Alexander Rudenko, who earned a penalty in a collision with goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov. Magomedov was again accurate, and the main time of the meeting meanwhile was coming to an end. And yet, the head coach of Khimki, Spartak Gogniev, did not help Spartak. Gustavo Mantuan did not allow the sensation to take place and in the 92nd minute he closed the serve of Arsen Adamov with his head, the pre-goal pass to which was given by the same Malcolm. Even on the nerve, Zenit won – 3:2, scored 48 points and again distanced itself from the red and white by eight points.

CSKA hosted Krylya Sovetov and showed a high spirits for a winning result, especially since it had a chance to catch up with the fourth-placed Dynamo, which had lost to Krasnodar the day before. In addition, the army team themselves suffered three defeats in a row. Their mentor Vladimir Fedotov probably first used a bunch of forwards Fedor Chalov-Anton Zabolotny, and this tactical idea worked.

Muscovites suppressed the opponent with high pressure and scored three goals in the first half. Rarely getting into the starting lineup, Zabolotny fully justified the trust of the coach, scored the always important first goal and took a direct part in the third, the author of which was Chalov. And Ivan Oblyakov punished the guests for the loss at his own penalty area. The Samarans acted very timidly, which, in principle, is unusual for them, and even the insolent sportsman Vladimir Pisarsky did not look like himself. One of the best scorers of the championship was marked only by a couple of clumsy blows.

Except that in the second half, the Wings imposed some kind of counter-football on CSKA when it switched to an energy-saving mode. Both teams must have kept in mind that on Wednesday they will have to play the first match in the semi-final of the Cup of Russia. It will most likely be a different story, but now the army team looked much stronger. Willian Rocha sent the fourth ball into the Samara gate from a corner and finally nailed the wards of Igor Osinkin, who were not worthy of at least a goal of prestige. Having won 4:0, CSKA caught up with Dynamo with 32 points and approached Rostov, the last three.

However, the club from the banks of the Don still had a home match with Nizhny Novgorod, located much lower, in which it seemed to be the favorite. Although in the off-season, and especially after the defeat from Lokomotiv in the last round, the team of Valery Karpin had a lot of questions. There was a feeling that she was starting to give up after an unexpected take-off in the first part of the championship and she was expected to fight not with Spartak for silver medals, but at best with the same Dynamo and CSKA for bronze.

“Rostov” and in a meeting with Nizhny Novgorod had problems. Forward Timur Suleymanov ruined perhaps the most dangerous moment in the first half, which ended in a 0-0 draw. In the second goalkeeper of the hosts, Sergei Pesyakov also had to help out. But in the 55th minute, his Nizhny Novgorod colleague Nikita Goylo made a mistake, waving his fist past the ball, which Andrei Langovich took advantage of. However, the Rostov defender Viktor Melekhin soon “brought” him, who gave Suleymanov just a perfect pass to an empty net. Then the referee almost came up with a penalty in favor of Rostov, but VAR corrected him. But in another episode, VAR already spotted a violation in the penalty area of ​​Nizhny Novgorod, and Maxim Osipenko from 11 meters brought the Rostov team a victory – 2: 1. So they are still only two points behind Spartak.

Alexander Ilyin