The victory of Zenit over Spartak, the rise of Dynamo to sixth place and the sore throat epidemic in Sochi: what is the 18th round of the RPL

Zenit in St. Petersburg beat Spartak thanks to Ilya Kutepov's own goal and strengthened their leadership by increasing the gap from the group of pursuers to eight points. “Rostov” and “Krasnodar” failed to score in home games and tied with “Ural” and “Tambov”, and “Lokomotiv” and CSKA unexpectedly lost to “Dynamo” and “Arsenal”. Moreover, the German forward of blue and white Maximilian Philip scored twice and helped the team extend the unbeaten run to six matches. The meeting Sochi - Orenburg was postponed due to an outbreak of acute rotavirus infection in the southerners. RT talks about the most interesting events of the 18th round of the RPL.

The long-awaited victory of Ufa and Evseev’s dance

In the opening match of the 18th round, the Ufa RPL on the away side beat the Wings of the Soviets with a minimum score and interrupted the unbeaten run in the national championship, which lasted more than two months. The head coach of the team Vadim Evseev was so pleased with the long-awaited victory that after the meeting he danced on the table right in the team’s locker room.

The only goal in the 25th minute from the transfer of Azer Aliyev was scored by Lovre Bizyak. At the same time, guests could well increase their advantage. But the hosts had not so many moments, although they surpassed the opponent in the number of shots on target - eight against seven.

14 shots and another misfire of Rostov

Of the teams of the first five, Rostov was the first to enter the field. The yellow-blue ones took the “Ural” and hoped to finally win, but failed to do so. The meeting ended without goals scored. The home team had the advantage and delivered 14 shots on goal of the opponent, but only once hit the target.

Thus, the wards of Valery Karpin in the last four meetings scored only two points and not only lagged behind the first three, but also allowed the sixth-running Dynamo to reduce the gap from fifth to seven points. In addition, at the very beginning of the match, the hosts were left without the main central defender Dmitry Chistyakov due to a neck injury.

“Ural” is the fourth time in the last five rounds of the RPL has achieved a goalless draw, although before this stretch the team retained their goal intact in only one match of the championship.

Glushakov's debut ball and the illogical goal of Rubin in the end

“Akhmat” once again lost the victory in the last minutes. Grozny residents were obliged to beat Rubin at home, but missed the victory in the third minute added, as in a recent match with Dynamo. This time, the Chechen team in the 31st minute put forward Denis Glushakov, for whom this ball was his debut in the RPL as part of Akhmat. He noted it by dancing a lezginka.

During the match, the hosts could calmly bring the matter to a rout, but Yuri Dupin acted above all praises, having made seven saves. At the end of the meeting, the Kazan team scored an extremely illogical goal. Substitute Khvich Kvaratskhelia in the last attack struck from the corner of the box, and the ball with a rebound from the defender flew into the net.

Ten sick and hope for a miracle

The Sunday program of the 18th round was supposed to open a confrontation between Sochi and Orenburg, however, it was postponed to the reserve date due to an epidemic of infectious sore throat in the camp of a newcomer to RPL. As early as Friday with a high temperature in the "infirmary" there were ten players of the "southerners", and. about. Head coach Roman Berezovsky admitted that he hoped only for a miracle. As a result, the Sochi team asked the league to postpone the match, and the team of Vladimir Fedotov supported this request. RPL could only meet the teams.

Philippe's double and Dynamo's third win in a row

On Sunday, two iconic derby took place. In the first of them, Dynamo in Cherkizovo outplayed Lokomotiv. The railroad came to the match without a number of injured leaders, which could not but affect the result. The blue and white most of the meeting looked better than the vice champion and won a third victory in a row under the leadership of Kirill Novikov, which allowed them to get around Spartak and climb to sixth place in the RPL table.

Three points the team again brought the rookie Maximilian Philip, who scored a double in the second meeting in a row. In the first half, he closed the cool diagonal of Sergei Parshivlyuk, and in the second he realized a penalty. The railroad workers also got the right to the penalty spot (even before the break), and Alexei Miranchuk sold it with a beautiful punch. The hosts did not have more reasons for joy. They are eight points behind the leading Zenith.

Controversial decisions of Meshkov and Kutepov's own goal

In turn, Petersburgers at home outplayed Spartak with a minimum score. In the first half, wards of Sergei Semak looked stronger than the opponent and deservedly opened an account. The ball bounced into the net from Ilya Kutepov’s knee after saves by Alexander Maksimenko. At the same time, the defender tried to prove to the judge Vitaly Meshkov that Artyom Dziuba in this episode violated the rules on him, but the referee decided otherwise.

After the break, the guests took possession of the advantage. This was largely facilitated by the removal of Magomed Ozdoev at the very beginning of the half. The midfielder received a second yellow card for an elbow strike, although at first glance the foul did not look so rude as to punish him with a second “mustard”. It is worth noting that then Meshkov made a couple of controversial decisions not in favor of Spartak. For example, he did not assign a penalty kick to the home team for a hand game at Yaroslav Rakitsy. After the match, Domenico Tedesco, according to media reports, even burst into the referee's office to communicate with the referee team.

As for his wards, most of them possessed an advantage, and Esekiel Ponce even hit the post, but Zenit quickly managed to calm the game. As a result, in the end, Petersburgers could have scored more than red-white to even the score. And the last minutes of the match were completely remembered rather not by dangerous moments, but by the clash of Zhano Ananidze and Lorenzo Melgarejo in midfield.

Missed moments of CSKA and the victory ball of Arsenal

Already on Monday, December 2, good news for Zenit came from Moscow and Krasnodar. The points together lost the team of Victor Goncharenko and Murad Musaev. Moreover, the pursuers of St. Petersburg did not cope with the teams fighting for survival, Arsenal and Tambov, respectively.

Red-blue after two victories in a row seemed to have come to their senses, but because the defeat from the Tula was an unpleasant surprise for fans of the army. At the same time, in the first half, the owners possessed an undeniable advantage and could well open an account. The most dangerous moment was missed by Nikola Vlašić, who struck the post.

And immediately after the break, the guests unexpectedly managed to score. Arsenal launched a quick counterattack, which Daniil Lesovoi completed with an accurate blow. CSKA managed to recover only in the end. Wards of Viktor Goncharenko created several points, but could not even equalize.

Offensive draw of "Krasnodar" and the mistake of Appaev

In turn, “Krasnodar” at home did not manage to hit the gate “Tambov”, although the team had many dangerous moments. In particular, Marcus Berg struck the post at the beginning of the second half.

But the RPL newcomer still kept his goal intact and even missed a 100% chance already in the time added by the referee. Khizir Appaev, who came on as a substitute, managed to hit the goal with a header from a few meters away.

Thus, the “Locomotive” despite the defeat of the “Dynamo” remained in second place. CSKA and Krasnodar were not able to take advantage of the next misfire of the railway workers and will meet in person in the next round.