The third round of the Russian Championship ended with one of the main matches of the tournament. Petersburg “Zenith” managed to beat Moscow CSKA in their field. The meeting ended with a score of 2: 1. After that, Sergei Semak’s wards with nine points became the sole leaders of the RPL. So far they have not lost a single point.
Their main competitor, Lokomotiv Moscow, made the first misfire in the tournament, only at the end of the away game with Ural Yekaterinburg, having escaped defeat – 1: 1. A similar result was achieved by Spartak, who drew away with Ufa (1: 1). Dynamo Moscow took advantage of the competitors’ misfires – after a home victory over Rostov (2: 0) with seven points, it shares the leadership with Lokomotiv.
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Zenit – CSKA
CSKA first launched their newcomer Adolfo Gaich. In the first half, he did not really show himself, but both teams showed a spectacle without him. Already in the 19th minute, the link Artem Dziuba – Serdar Azmun worked again. The captain of Zenit and the Russian national team gave a pass, and the Iranian scored a goal. But the people of St. Petersburg were not happy for long. Seven minutes later, Nikola Vlašić equalized the score with a kick from the penalty line to the far corner.
After the break, the teams showed an equal game for a long time, but in the 70th minute Azmun celebrated the success again, who managed to close the transfer from the flank to the center of the penalty area performed by Vyacheslav Karavaev. In the remaining time, the teams were unable to score goals for each other. The blue-white-blue retained the victory and become the only club that did not lose a single point in this championship.
– The St. Petersburg club as a whole attacked more sharply and could have hit the gates of the army team, – former Zenit and CSKA midfielder Dmitry Khomukha shared his opinion with Izvestia. – Undoubtedly, the red and blue showed themselves much better than in the June meeting, when they lost to Zenit with a score of 0: 4. They learned from those failures. But this was not enough for success. The team play of the hosts and, in particular, the actions of the Dzyuba – Azmun ligament, especially the latter, led to a natural victory for the Petersburgers.
Ural – Lokomotiv
Ural continues their long streak without wins, which began at the end of the last championship draw. Therefore, it was expected that Lokomotiv would win without any problems in Yekaterinburg. Moreover, in the first two rounds Marko Nikolic’s wards scored a difficult six points, having taken the upper hand over Rubin Kazan (2: 0) and at home over one of the main competitors in the fight for medals Krasnodar (1: 0).
Nevertheless, the “railroad” almost suffered the first defeat in the championship under the Serbian coach. At the same time, they were several times close to opening an account. But in the first half Fyodor Smolov did not realize the destructive moment, breaking through from two meters above the gate. Ural was close to victory after Andrey Yegorychev scored a goal in the 74th minute – it was one of the few chances at the guests’ goal.
Nevertheless, the hosts barely held out until the final whistle – in the 87th minute Smolov rehabilitated himself for the moment he had ruined and saved the team from defeat. Thus, under Nikolic, Loko lost only to Zenit (1: 2) in the Russian Super Cup.
“The Yekaterinburg club has qualitatively neutralized Loko’s strengths and played the match as competently as possible,” Denis Klyuev, head coach of Ural-2 and former head coach of Lokomotiv’s youth team, told Izvestia. – It was clear that the opponent was analyzed in great detail, and the hosts tried to play as carefully and selflessly as possible. In general, they succeeded, since they took away the points from the “railroad workers”, which was not possible for “Rubin” and “Krasnodar”. Yes, Lokomotiv had good chances to score goals, they have a very strong attacking group, so it was extremely difficult to completely deprive them of chances to score against Ural. Nevertheless, Ural played tightly, did not give free zones, scored a goal and could win, but did not last a little.
Dynamo – Rostov
Both teams had an ambiguous first two rounds. “Rostov” barely beat “Tambov” (1: 0), and then did not cope with “Zenit” (0: 2) at home, which was not prevented even by the absence of the main star Artyom Dziuba. Dynamo scored a confident away victory over Ural (2: 0), but then failed to win at home against the newcomer of the RPL Volgograd “Rotor” (0: 0).
In general, both teams had something to prove. Almost the entire first half was played with a very tough game with a minimum of chances, but closer to the break, the Rostovites out of the blue brought into their gates a penalty, realized by Maximilian Philip. And right there – after a cross from a corner performed by Sebastian Shimanski – Nikolay Komlichenko moved the ball into the far corner with his head, doubling the hosts’ advantage. Dynamo held a comfortable score for themselves in the second half and wedged themselves into the group of leaders.
– In the game with Rostov I had little doubts for 15-20 minutes, but in the end the team was able to confidently play the meeting and achieve the result, showing adult football, – said Sergei Stepashin, a member of the Dynamo board of directors, in a conversation with Izvestia. – The most important thing is that the players are no longer afraid of their opponents. And I really liked the newcomer of Dynamo Nicola Moro. Strong, powerful is a good buy. The main thing is that both he and the whole team continue to show the qualities that helped them defeat Rostov.
Ufa – Spartak
The fans have been waiting for the match of these teams for several weeks. More than a month has passed since the appointment of Shamil Gazizov as general director of Spartak. Earlier, for eight years, he held a similar position at Ufa and became the main creator of all the successes of the Bashkir club.
Midfielder Oston Urunov followed the same route from Ufa to Spartak, but so far he cannot play due to injury. Like another red-and-white rookie, Alexander Kokorin. However, Muscovites can rely on the squad that was last season, but Ufa, in addition to Urunov, in the offseason lost one of their leaders Daniil Fomin, who moved to the capital’s Dynamo.
Nevertheless, Vadim Evseev’s charges gave a fight to the Moscow club. They quickly took the lead, then the red and white did not convert the penalty, but very quickly managed to equalize. With such a result – 1: 1 – the meeting ended. Spartak now has five points, while Ufa has four.
“The result is a draw, but nobody was playing the fool at the match, everyone was fighting,” Rostislav Murzagulov, chairman of the board of directors of Ufa, told Izvestia. – Spartak had very good approaches, chances, but our players were stepping down and running away in counterattacks. I am satisfied with the game of Ufa and the result too. In Moscow, Spartak and I will still compete in the second round.
Also in the last round, Krasnodar beat Tula Arsenal (2: 0) at home, Sochi won a strong-willed victory over Rubin (3: 2), and Grozny Akhmat turned out to be stronger than Rotor at home. “(3: 1). Tambov scored their first points of the season, beating Khimki (1: 0). The fourth round starts on Saturday.