Eight degrees of frost and a battle draw in Kazan
The program of the first winter tour of the RPL was opened with a match in Kazan. Recently, Rubin and Dynamo show not very satisfactory results and won only one victory for two rounds in five rounds. In addition, this time the players had to go on the field in adverse weather conditions. Thermometers showed -8 ˚C, which could not but affect the attendance. A little more than 3 thousand spectators gathered in the stands.
Mentor of the hosts Kurban Berdyev in this regard made a sharp criticism of the system "autumn - spring."
The first ball of the fans freezing in the stands had to wait almost 70 minutes. Kazan played the corner, the defender of the white-and-blue Alexei Kozlov tried to take the projectile out of his own penalty, but got right in the back of his partner Yevgeny Lutsenko. From his shell and flew into the net. But to keep the winning score “Rubin” failed. In a matter of minutes before the end of the main time, Vyacheslav Grulyov, who replaced him, with a precise blow, pulled out an important draw for Dynamo.
On Saturday, in even worse weather conditions, I had to play Yenisei and Akhmat. The compilers of the calendar RPL decided to put the game in Krasnoyarsk on the first day of winter. The hosts initially tried to move the match to the playpen, but the opponent opposed, and the players had to go on the frozen lawn of the Tsentralny stadium.
At the same time holding the meeting until the last questioned. On Saturday, the temperature in the city dropped to -15 ˚C, which allowed to cancel the match, but the organizers still found the conditions suitable.
As a result, one of the most frosty matches in the history of Russian football ended in a draw - 1: 1. In 1859, the fans who visited the arena witnessed the blunder of Yenisei goalkeeper David Yurchenko, who failed to catch the ball fired from the flank, and a penalty kick realized by Valery Kichin.
After the final whistle, there was no limit to the outrage of representatives of both teams. In particular, guest defender Andrei Semenov called the incident “a disgrace to Russian football” and admitted that he almost lost consciousness in the locker room.
And Akhmat’s mentor, Rashid Rakhimov, called “sheep” people who measured the temperature in the stadium.
“I don’t understand how you can measure the temperature in such a way as to say that it was -13.9 C. Why did you surround this thermometer? Get away from it! They moved away, and in five minutes the column dropped to -14.6 C. Then it was said: “Everything! No more measuring! ”Are the rams here, are you, or are you the smartest? Everywhere in the city -16 ...- 19 ˚C, and on the field -13 C! ”- the coach at the press conference was indignant.
An even colder match could have been held in Orenburg, where the local team of the same name was supposed to take over Krylia Sovetov. However, common sense triumphed: the game was postponed because the air temperature at the stadium was dangerous for the health of football players -17 ˚C.
The game between Anji and Ufa did not take place in the best weather conditions. Frosts did not get to Dagestan, but Makhachkala was covered with heavy rain. As a result, most of the match, the players struggled with the field rather than with each other, and after each tackle a real fountain rose over the lawn.
Zero draw in such conditions has become a logical outcome. In this situation, three points of one of the teams could only bring an accident, and it happened 20 minutes before the final whistle - the judge appointed an unobvious penalty kick in the gate of the guests.
However, Vladislav Kulik failed to implement the penalty kick. Alexander Belenov reflected the blow from the point and came in second place on this indicator in the history of the championships of Russia. On the account of the goalkeeper of "Ufa" 15 reflected penalties, while the ex-goalkeeper of "Zenith", "Dynamo" and "Torpedo" Roman Berezovsky - 18.
Injuries to Ari and Wanderson, goals of young talents
One of the many leader matches in the 16th round was held in Krasnodar. Local "bulls" met with "Ural", which in the last five matches did not suffer a single defeat and had a series of three victories in a row. The wards of Murad Musayev, who approached this meeting in the rank of the main pursuer of the leader of the RPL - Zenit, also successfully performed.
At the same time, Krasnodar had a significant advantage in personal meetings, who did not yield to Yekaterinburg over the past four meetings. This did not happen in this match, and the first roles were taken by the pupils of the black-and-green. At the 51st minute, a 19-year-old Magomed Shapi-Suleymanov appeared on the field, who after five minutes lit his name on the scoreboard. A little later, Ivan Ignatiev distinguished himself. However, immediately two leaders of the “bulls” were forced to leave the field due to injuries.
“Ari has problems with the back of the thigh, and Wanderson has been troubled for two days already, a nerve in his shoulder is pinched. If the ninth number has a tear, it means that the football year is over for him, ”Musayev said after the match.
32 thousand in the stands and unrealized penalty Vlašić
The victory over “Rostov” was extremely important for CSKA for two reasons at once. Firstly, the wards of Viktor Goncharenko wanted to rehabilitate themselves after the debacle in the Champions League, and also to avenge the defeat in the first round. Then at the "VEB Arena" yellow-blue won with a minimum score. There was a revenge and the absence of Ayaz Guliyev as part of the hosts, who missed the meeting due to disqualification.
Goncharenko left Fedor Chalov on the bench, which surprised not only 32 thousand fans who gathered in the stands, but also many experts. As a result, RPL top scorer appeared on the field only in the middle of the second half.
CSKA significantly surpassed Karpin wards, but could not hit the opponent's gates. The most real chance to snatch three points was missed by the leader of the red-blue Nikola Vlašić. In the 55th minute, the midfielder was able to perform the 11-meter, but Sergei Pesyakov beat off the first blow, and the finishing moves from the Croat did not work. The point in the match was put by the removal of Ivan Oblyakov, after which the army had no strength left for the final assault.
For the goalkeeper of the Moscow club this match has become a landmark. Once again, leaving his goal intact, Igor Akinfeev became the first Russian goalkeeper in history who managed to hold 300 matches at zero.
Trauma Rebrov and goal Glushakov
Much more eventful turned out to be the central match of the tour between Spartak and Lokomotiv. Experts assumed that the derby would not be very spectacular due to severe weather conditions, but their fears were not confirmed.
Already in the sixth minute, the red and white opened the scoring, and the disgraced team captain and former railroad footballer Denis Glushakov distinguished themselves.
Lokomotiv did not want to lose to its principal rival and could already recoup in the middle of the inning, but Fyodor Smolov from the limits of the goalkeeper miraculously failed to hit the target.
“Spartak” punished the guests for the mistake by the second goal. This time the canopy of Sofiana Hanni from the flank locked Luiz Adriano. Spoon tar for red and whites was only Fernando's injury.
After the break, the lack of events was not experienced by the fans either. For a start, a Spartak fan jumped out onto the field, who went straight to Glushakov. The young man failed to get to Denis, but later he still shook the captain's hand.
And in the 67th minute Nikolai Rasskaz, a young defender of Spartak, revived the intrigue in the match. The footballer played a hand after hitting Smolov from a destructive position and was sent off. Execute a penalty, despite a miss in the first half, went all the same Smolov. As a result, Fedor was in for a most severe disappointment: he broke into the left corner of himself, but hit the post.
Nevertheless, ten minutes before the final whistle, Loko played one ball. Jefferson Farfan pushed the projectile into the net past Artem Rebrov.
Unfortunately, in this episode, the goalkeeper received a serious dissection of the head. But Oleg Kononov has already done all the substitutions, and therefore Rebrov had to stay on the field. However, he practically did not have to enter the game. The partners in the remaining time rallied and in the minority defended the minimum advantage.
Thus, Spartak won a second victory in the RPL under the leadership of Kononov, and Loko lost the championship two times in a row.
The failure of "Zenith" and the revival of the championship race
The tour ended with the sensational defeat of Zenit in Tula. Piterites after a number of successful meetings went to visit Arsenal as an obvious favorite and hoped to win another victory.
However, in the sixth minute, Sergei Semak's wards unexpectedly missed. The defense of Petrograd, who spent one of the worst matches of the season, made a gross failure, and Evans Kang with a bounce from Andrei Lunov sent the ball into the net.
True, Zenit managed to quickly recoup. Daler Kuzyaev in the fall of ferried a projectile into the net after lumbago from the flank.
But Arsenal did not intend to surrender and, shortly before the break, came forward again. This time, Resiouan Mirzov sent the ball with a strong and accurate kick from outside the penalty area to the far post.
Zenit won back after the break. Hernani's precise strike allowed the team to restore the status quo, and, it seemed, the guests would still finish the opponent. However, the wards of Semak were too enthusiastic about the attack and eventually missed twice more. At first, Miha Mevlya, who actually dropped the ball under the blow of Kangwe, made the gross mistake, and then Zelimkhan Bakayev distinguished himself after a solo pass.
The sensational victory of Arsenal allowed the team to raise its head after Kononov left, and also revived the champion's intrigue, because now Krasnodar is just two points behind Zenit.