“Zenith” has reduced the gap from “Krasnodar” to a minimum

In the central match of the sixth round of the Russian Football Championship, Zenit defeated Ural at home – 4:0. With 13 points, the St. Petersburgers overtook the Yekaterinburgers and came close to the leading Krasnodar. At the same time, Dynamo, having played 2:2 with Rubin, did not use its chance to catch up with Zenit and Ural. Draw – 0:0 – ended the match with Akhmat and Spartak.

Until recently, it was hard to imagine that the Zenit-Ural confrontation, which is quite ordinary by the standard standards of the Russian Premier League, would fall into the category of the central event of the tour. But in this segment of the current championship, it acquired just such a status, and above all thanks to the super-successful start of the Yekaterinburg club, which before the match in St. Petersburg with 13 points was even higher than Zenit and, in case of victory, could single-handedly lead the RPL.

However, with all due respect to the achievements of Viktor Goncharenko’s wards, the team of Sergei Semak was considered the favorite. Actually, she immediately put the Ural in its place, pressed it to the goal, and Mateo Cassierra hit the post. Guests tried to answer, but ran into a smashing counterattack. Ivan Sergeev passed to Claudinho, the Brazilian launched a “parachute” to the far post, where the same Sergeev ran and elegantly sent the ball into the net.

After scoring an early goal, Zenit had a little trouble with the Yekaterinburg team, who, apparently, still harbored some illusions about the result.

And then again caught them on the counterattack. Cassierra surprisingly easily covered the path almost from the center circle to the penalty area. So no one caught up with the Colombian and did not meet him, and the goalkeeper Ilya Pomazun did not become an obstacle for him. Cassierra figured out, as in training, and rolled the ball into an empty net. The fifth goal brought him to a clear first place in the list of top scorers in the championship.

Moreover, by the break “Ural” was already on fire 0:3. The guests started a perepasovka at their own penalty area with the participation of Pomazun, who mixed up something and made an assist to Claudinho. Tom had only to hit the almost completely open target.

It’s even surprising how weak the Yekaterinburgers looked, having previously defeated such big clubs as CSKA and Spartak. In the second half, they brought themselves another goal, allowing Cassierra to score a double without any problems, and lost 0:4. Thus, Zenit also scored 13 points and moved up to second place, ahead of Ural in additional indicators. And from the leading Krasnodar, which the day before failed to defeat Fakel (0:0), the Petersburgers are now only one point behind.

At the same time, it was very useful for Zenit in Kazan that Dynamo stumbled. Rubin opened the scoring at the end of the first half, when striker Mirlind Daku earned a free-kick and then a penalty in this set-piece. The defender of the guests Nicolas Marichal grabbed him so actively with his hands that the referee Sergey Karasev without hesitation appointed an 11-meter kick, which the victim himself realized. And already in the second half, Daku put the same Marichal on the second yellow card, which automatically turned into a red one for the Uruguayan.

True, being in the minority, Dynamo immediately bounced back. Former Rubin football player Denis Makarov managed a miracle shot from a long distance. Nevertheless, it seemed to be difficult to think about victory in such a situation – to defend a draw.

However, in the composition of the blue and white there was another superhero. Dmitry Skopintsev scored even more beautifully than Makarov, making a solo pass to the penalty area and slamming into the very “nine”. This goal shocked not only Kazan, but also Muscovites, including its author, who, it seems, did not understand how he created such a masterpiece.

And yet the hosts pulled out a draw – 2:2. They staged a classic pile-up at the end, which led to a goal by Joel Fameye, who headed Alexander Lomovitsky’s cross. So Dynamo missed the opportunity to beat Zenit, which they recently beat in a personal meeting, and now they have only 11 points instead of 13.

Spartak hosted Akhmat against the backdrop of two defeats in a row from Ural and Zenit, which quite painfully hit the pride and championship ambitions of the red-and-whites. It hurt so much that they could well break psychologically, so it was not clear what to expect from them. Especially with such a terrible game in defense. Ekaterinburgers and St. Petersburgers threw six goals to the team of Guillermo Abascal, and in total she missed ten. And this is without taking into account the five goals conceded in two cup meetings.

As a result, the Spartak team had to speed up the process of finding a new central defender, and already for the match with Akhmat they announced Srdzhan Babić. Although Abaskal did not dare to throw the Serb into battle right off the bat.

Meanwhile, the hosts were lucky that Grozny did not score in the opening. Camilo could punish the red-and-white goalkeeper Alexander Selikhov, who returned to action, after he slipped while taking the ball into the field.

And then Vladimir Ilyin hit the post with his head. The guests generally played better, while the Muscovites showed virtually nothing for the entire first half. Unless Quincy Promes had a moment before the break. As a result, questions arose again for the head coach of Spartak regarding the choice of tactical scheme and composition. Again, something did not work for the Spaniard.

The red-whites started the second half much more cheerfully and in a couple of minutes they created more scoring chances than in the first half. Finally, Theo Bongonda fled. Akhmat’s goalkeeper Georgiy Shelia hardly neutralized his one-on-one exit, and the Belgian hit the post with the second blow. Christopher Martins failed to put the ball into the net after a corner kick. But gradually this impulse faded away, and already the Grozny team again seized the initiative, and Abaskal made a strange replacement, removing the only pronounced striker Alexander Sobolev from the game.

The new head coach of Akhmat, Miroslav Romashchenko, offered Spartak extremely tough football with an abundance of fouls. To some extent, tactically, he outplayed Abascal, and if at the end of the match Mohamed Konate and Camilo had been more precise, he would have taken three points. Although Anton Zinkovsky almost brought victory to the red and white. Well, a goalless draw only allowed them to catch up with CSKA with ten points.

Alexander Ilyin