Captain in line up and conflict with fans
The fans were waiting for the December match between Spartak and Lokomotiv with great interest, and the recent events in the camp of the red-and-whites made it even more intriguing. First, the team was replaced by a coach. Oleg Kononov took the place of acting Raul Riancho.
The specialist began work at Spartak with a victory over Wings of the Soviets, but in the next match the team entrusted to him suffered an insulting defeat from the Austrian Rapid in the Europa League.
In addition, the meeting was remembered by the outrageous behavior of one of the fans of the red-and-whites, who ran out onto the field during the second half and headed towards Denis Glushakov with clearly not very peaceful intentions. Conflict prevented partners midfielder, who instantly rushed to the captain's help.
However, what happened psychologically hit “Spartak”, and in the time remaining until the final whistle, Kononov's charges missed not only the victory, but also a draw.
The conflict between football players and fans of red and white is not over. Immediately before the game with Lokomotiv, Andrei Eshchenko reproached some fans that they support not Spartak, but Massimo Carrera who left. The association of fans of the Fratria club in response called the defender's statement “another provocation”.
In Lokomotiv, the atmosphere was much nicer in front of the derby. In the last two matches of the RPL, the railroad workers scored only one point, but on Wednesday finally won the first victory in the group stage of the Champions League. Turkish "Galatasaray" was defeated. After this success, Loko had a day more time to prepare for the most important game of the national championship.
Under the circumstances, Kononov was expected to actively rotate, but the coach went for only minimal changes. So, after his sensational interview, Yeshchenko was completely out of the application, and Nikolay Rasskazov took his place on the right edge of the defense. Also, Fernando, who missed the match with “Rapid” due to disqualification, is also expected to be back.
Glushakov, despite the recent events, again received a place in the base and the captain's armband. And in the derby, Denis was still waiting for a big obstruction, since Lokomotiv fans still cannot forgive him for the transition to Spartak.
Semin was completely unchanged. The same 11 footballers, who were winning the victory over Galatasaray, took to the pitch. And Manuel Fernandes, who is rumored to be in conflict with the management of the club because of the difficult negotiations on the extension of the contract, once again remained on the bench.
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Twin goals "Spartacus" and an incredible blunder Smolova
Both teams entered the field in special T-shirts. The Spartak players wished Roman Zobnin and Samuel Gigot a speedy recovery, and the railway workers dressed in T-shirts with the Taras, we are with print imprint. Thus, the team supported defender Taras Mikhalik, whose father died during the week.
The very same game began in an incredible way. Already in the sixth minute, red and white took the lead, and Glushakov scored with a goal. After filing from the flank, Denis wisely adjusted to the projectile and sent it to the far corner.
Surely inside the midfielder at this moment a real storm raged, but he opened the account, behaved as calmly as possible, defiantly not becoming to celebrate the capture of the gate of the former team. “Spartak” fans mostly reacted favorably to Glushakov’s goal, and only a small part of the fans met him with a whistle.
But Semin at this moment in the stands clearly did not pay attention. Quick ball destroyed all Loko plans for the game. Spartak got the opportunity to conduct branded counter-attacks. The Luis and Luiz Adriano clung to the balls in front, and Sofian Hanni played the role of playmaker. Almost all the attacks of the red-and-whites developed through the Algerian, while he regularly shifted from the left flank to the center.
However, after half an hour the games of the hosts force dried up, and the rival seized the initiative for a while. At this point, the guests created their most dangerous moment in the first half. Fedor Smolov from someone else's goalkeeper managed not to hit the target, despite the fact that Artem Rebrov could not help his team in any way.
A few minutes later, Spartak punished Loko for a mistake, scoring the second goal. And this goal was very similar to the first one. Hanni from the left semi-flanks threw the ball into the penalty area, and Adriano's jerk for the opponents' defenders came as a surprise. As a result, the Brazilian, beautifully hovering in the air, sent the ball into the goal with a rebound from the bar.
The only spoon of tar for red and whites was Fernando's injury. At the end of the first half, the midfielder pulled a muscle, and Kononov was forced to change it to Timofeev.
Fan Race and Rebrov's injury
The second half of the meeting turned out to be no less eventful than the first. Semin at half-time made an important substitute. Dmitry Barinov entered the game instead of Igor Denisov who received a yellow card. From the first minutes of the second half, the railway workers tried to take control of the ball.
Soon, the team’s coaching staff went all-in and released Manuel Fernandes instead of Vedran Chorluka. Grzegorz Krychovyak descended to the center of defense.
Semin, for sure, understood that near the end of the meeting the rival could leave the forces, as happened in the game with “Rapid”. It is worth noting that in this match the fan ran into the field. The fan failed to get to Glushakov, but when the young man was taken to the premises near the stands, Denis shook his hand.
Coincidence or not, but soon the red and white problems began. At the 67th minute, Smolov received the ball in someone else's penalty area and, having beaten the goalkeeper, hit almost the empty target, but Rasskazov managed to extend his hand and saved the team.
Sergei Karasev was nearby and without hesitation pointed to the "point", and Nicholas removed from the field. The penalty went to beat all the same Smolov. After a miss in the first half, Fyodor might have had to give this right to his partner, but he came up to the ball himself and shot the post.
At this moment, a striker series of penalties in a match with Croatia probably flew by the attacker's eyes.
But the ending still turned out to be interesting. Ten minutes later, Jefferson Farfan showed Smolov how to realize the moments. The Peruvian rocket barred from the depth of Barinov, in the fight for the ball, he was ahead of two defenders and pushed the projectile into the net.
Unfortunately, in this moment, Rebrov received a serious dissection of the head. Artyom got both from the attacking opponent, and from Jikia. The goalkeeper's face flooded with blood, but he courageously continued the game, except that he had stopped entering the ball from the gate.
The referee added six minutes to the main match time, but “Spartak” spent them extremely competently. Red and white players in the minority blocked all free zones and did not allow the opponent to create anything.
The final whistle of the podium was met with undisguised relief. “Spartak” not without difficulty kept the account and achieved a second victory in a row in the RPL under the leadership of Kononov. Lokomotiv suffered a second defeat in a row. And Smolov had one of the most unfortunate matches of the season. The coaching staff will have to think about how to regain Fedor’s self-confidence after a blunder in the derby.