The past first spring round of the Russian football championship was marked by an excess of zero draws, but the key event was the scoring feast in Moscow. On March 7, Spartak defeated Krasnodar at home with a score of 6: 1.
This defeat was the largest in the history of the bulls in official matches. They previously lost 0-5 in the Europa League to Basel in September 2019 and to Zenit St. Petersburg in the RPL in August 2011. And Spartak won their first victory in 2021. Also, Moscow CSKA, Lokomotiv, Dynamo successfully conducted the 21st round. And the leader of the championship St. Petersburg “Zenith” lost on the road to Kazan “Rubin” (1: 2).
Table Of Contents
Spartak – Krasnodar
The red and whites quickly scored two goals – in the first ten minutes of the match, Alexander Sobolev and Quincy Promes scored. But in the future, Krasnodar had an overwhelming advantage. In the first half, Alexey Ionov hit the crossbar in an offensive way. And at the beginning of the second, after a pass from the right flank, the ball could have entered the goal three times, but in two cases it was pulled out by Spartak goalkeeper Alexander Maksimenko, and in one by defender Samuel Zhigot.
Nevertheless, in the 56th minute, Yuri Gazinsky nevertheless closed the gap with a brilliant long-range strike. It seemed that the “bulls” could catch up with the rival, but they too recklessly went on the attack, leaving space in their half of the field. As a result, in one of the counterattacks, Promes and Sobolev together went to the guests’ goal against one defender, the Dutchman rolled the ball back to the Russian, who easily outplayed the goalkeeper and scored a double in the match.
Spartak player Jordan Larsson and Krasnodar player Tonny de Villena in the match of the 21st round of the Russian Football Championship among Premier League clubs between the teams of FC Spartak and FC Krasnodar
Photo: Izvestia / Andrey Ershtrem
And a few minutes later after an unsuccessful corner kick performed by Krasnodar, the ball bounced onto the penalty line to Nail Umyarov, who made a long throw into the central circle, where completely free Jordan Larsson went one-on-one with the goalkeeper and brought the matter to a defeat – 4: 1 … The fate of the match was decided by the middle of the second half, and in the remaining time, Esekel Ponce and Larsson scored a goal.
For the red and white, this victory was the first in official matches in 2021. The “bulls” have not won a single meeting after the winter break. Spartak returned to third place in the table, while Krasnodar are stuck in the middle and are now on the eighth / ninth line.
– Even during the matches with Zagreb it seemed to me that the defense of Krasnodar at the training camp in the winter trained separately from the rest of the team, – said the former owner of Spartak Andrei Chervichenko in an interview with Izvestia. – And during the meeting with the red and white, it became clear that they trained together, but they were definitely preparing for the season not to play football. The horror that we saw does not go into any gate.
Spartak players celebrate the goal they scored in the match of the 21st round of the Russian Football Championship among Premier League clubs between the teams of FC Spartak and FC Krasnodar
Photo: Izvestia / Andrey Ershtrem
Chervichenko expressed surprise at the position of Ionov in defense, which is much better in the middle line. Not impressed by the former owner of the red and white and Evgeny Chernov.
– At the same time, Spartak played without defense, but realized their chances, unlike the opponent, – added Chervichenko. – Until the third goal, when Chernov buried Krasnodar with his sawed-off shotgun, the bulls created even more scoring episodes. Therefore, I would not rush to talk about the revival of Spartak. He was just better and luckier against the background of such a rival.
Rubin – Zenit
After an away victory over Spartak (2: 0) in the last round, Rubin, in the middle of the table, got a chance to rise a little. Zenit St. Petersburg, the leader in the RPL, has never won after the break, having taken off from the Russian Cup and missed the victory in the home championship game against Rostov (2: 2).
Before the match, an embarrassment came out on the public plane: it turned out that Zenit had forgotten to bring their game form to Kazan. As a result, the club had to send a separate charter flight from St. Petersburg to deliver equipment, which became the subject of jokes and memes on social networks for the whole Monday.
FC Zenit player Artyom Dzyuba and FC Rubin player Karl Starfelt in the match of the 21st round of the Russian Football Championship among Premier League clubs between the teams of FC Rubin and FC Zenit
Photo: RIA Novosti / Maxim Bogodvid
The first half was held with an overwhelming advantage of the guests. Twice Zenit hit the post, once Serdar Azmun shot past the goal from a deadly position, and in some cases Rubin’s goalkeeper Yuri Dupin made fantastic rescues. In addition, as a result of a collision with his teammate Philip Uremovich, Kazan midfielder Leon Musaev was injured, who had to be replaced in the middle of the first half.
But luck was on the side of the owners. Closer to the break, after a cross into Zenit’s penalty area, the ball hit Daler Kuzyaev’s body and bounced back into his hand. The main referee of the meeting Sergey Karasev, after watching the VAR, pointed to the point, and Djordje Despotovich converted the penalty.
For most of the second half, the territorial advantage was on Zenit’s side, but in the first half hour, the blue-white-blue almost did not bring their approaches to the penalty area to dangerous moments. In part, they were hampered by the poor quality of the field, because of which the lawn was crushed, and the ball bounced along an unpredictable trajectory. As a result, Sergei Semak’s wards were able to level the score from the standard. At the 75th minute, Azmun managed to score with his head after a free-kick by Yaroslav Rakitskiy.
FC Rubin goalkeeper Yuri Dupin kicks off a penalty in the 21st round match of the Russian Football Championship among Premier League clubs between the teams of FC Rubin and FC Zenit
Photo: RIA Novosti / Maxim Bogodvid
In the remaining time, the St. Petersburg team tried to put the squeeze on the opponent, but the attacks were not so sharp. Rubin moved forward even less, but if he did, he tried to score. As a result, he achieved his goal in the last minutes, when Despotovich made a removal to the center of the field, the ball hit Denis Makarov. He reached the penalty area, surrounded by two Zenit defenders, with the help of several feints did not let them take the ball away and found a way to shoot into the far corner. In the remaining time, the St. Petersburg team managed to earn a penalty, but Artyom Dziuba shot straight into Dupin’s hands.
Thanks to the victory, Rubin moved up to eighth place, equaling the points ahead of Rostov and Lokomotiv. Two points separate from the top five wards of Leonid Slutsky. At the same distance from “Zenith” is now going to the second CSKA.
– The mood of both teams was outrageous, there was a lot of struggle in the match, – said the former striker of the Russian national team Sergei Kiryakov in a conversation with Izvestia. – It is clear that the field to some extent did not allow the ball to move quickly. But Zenit looked preferable, created a lot more chances. However, the player who scores the most wins the game. We can talk about Rubin’s luck, but it must be earned.
Rostov – Sochi
The southern derby was formally the centerpiece of the tour, as both teams were at the top of the table in the European competition zone. After Saturday’s face-to-face meeting, the clubs’ chances of staying there did not decrease, but due to a zero draw with each other, they surrendered positions. Sochi dropped out of the top three, and Rostov fell out of the top five.
Sochi player Sergei Terekhov and Rostov player Alexei Kozlov in the 21st round match of the Russian Football Championship among Premier League clubs between the teams of FC Rostov and FC Sochi
Photo: RIA Novosti / Sergey Pivovarov
Rostov pressed the first half of the first half and even almost scored when the goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanaev parried the blow from Ali Sow, who was right in front of him. Sochi responded with a blow from an acute angle to the post of Anton Zabolotny and closer to the break they controlled the course of the match, but could not open an account. And in the second half, the teams almost did not create chances, and kept the zeros on the scoreboard.
“It turned out to be a rather fighting match in which the teams did not want to concede,” the former head coach of Rostov Sergey Balakhnin told Izvestia. – The price of this meeting was very high, so in the second half they were already acting cautiously, and in the first half they periodically seized the initiative from each other, created chances, but they did not play enough for more than a zero draw.
CSKA – “Akhmat”
The army team was again without a group of major players – goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, defender Igor Diveev and midfielder Ivan Oblyakov. Nevertheless, Viktor Goncharenko’s wards were able to win quite calmly with a score of 2: 0. First, the penalty was implemented by CSKA rookie Solomon Rondon, who made his first effective action after joining the team. And then he gave an assist pass to Nikola Vlasic.
Akhmat player Ismael and CSKA player Mario Fernandez in the 21st round match of the Russian Football Championship among Premier League clubs between the teams of PFC CSKA and FC Akhmat
Photo: RIA Novosti / Alexander Wilf
The Red-Blues retained the second place and came close to Zenit. “Akhmat” has not been able to win the championship for seven matches in a row. The Grozny club is stuck in 11th place.
“The CSKA team acted confidently enough and deservedly won,” former CSKA captain Dmitry Kuznetsov told Izvestia. – They almost did not make mistakes in defense and found their chances in the attack, which they converted.
Arsenal – Lokomotiv
For an hour, the “railroad workers” could not print the gates of one of the outsiders of the season. And in the second half, Oleksandr Lomovitskiy almost scored for the Tula, but then Loko’s substitutions turned everything around. In the 69th minute, Fedor Smolov and Dmitry Barinov entered the field. Two minutes later, the first opened the scoring with a powerful blow, and the second, a quarter of an hour later, gave an assist to Rifat Zhemaletdinov. Murilo scored between these two goals. As a result, the red-greens won 3-0 and moved up to sixth place. Arsenal are on the penultimate 15th line and are in the direct relegation zone in the FNL.
Second left: FC Lokomotiv player Franua Camano in the 21st round match of the Russian Football Championship among Premier League clubs between the teams of FC Arsenal and FC Lokomotiv
Photo: RIA Novosti / Vitaly Belousov
– Double impression of the match. In the first half, Lokomotiv looked preferable. In the second, before the key substitutions and Smolov’s goal, Tula played better, – Sergey Kiryakov commented on the course of the game. – Lomovitsky had a great moment when he almost punished an opponent for a slow pass back to the goalkeeper. Had it been there, the game could have gone according to a different scenario. But the substitutions turned the tide of the match.
In three more matches of the last round, Dynamo Moscow beat Tambov at home (2: 0), Rotor Volgograd drew with Khimki (0: 0), and Ural Yekaterinburg, having spent most of the meeting against Ufa in the minority, and could not defeat the guests (0: 0).
