Arrival of "Beauty" at random and the expectation of a third victory in a row

On the eve of the second leg with Tuna, the famous football blogger Eugene Krasava Savin released a video about Spartak and the team’s newcomer Andre Schürrle, who had collected 250 thousand views only at the time of writing the report.

During the filming, the commentator and TV presenter also managed to communicate with the club's general director Thomas Zorn, and the functionary told Savin a lot of interesting things. In particular, Zorn said that he managed to agree with Guus Thiel to move to Russia in just 40 minutes, and Schurrle's services were initially offered by his agent in red and white.

The general director commented and rumors that Oleg Kononov on the coaching bridge of the team in the near future will be replaced by Stanislav Cherchesov.

“Will Kononov maintain a credit of trust if we do not pass the Tun?” I think “Thun” is not an indicator. Yes, and we must pass the opponent. Is it true that I was helped to come to the Cherchesov club, which will become the new head coach after Kononov left? No, that’s not true, ”said Zorn.

“The success of my work will be evaluated by the shareholder. For me personally, success is building the right structure. Not only in the sports part, but also in the club in general. Reform the academy, carry out work on Spartak-2, youth. Failure? I hope it will not be, ”added the functionary.

Perhaps such a statement by the authorities only gave Kononov confidence in his abilities, especially in Switzerland there was no embarrassment, and Spartak won an important away victory with a score of 3: 2, although it traditionally patted the nerves of its fans. After that, most of the fans of red and white in the final success of the team in this confrontation did not doubt and no longer remembered the sad examples of “St. Gallen”, “Legia” and AEK.

A convincing away victory over Akhmat lifted the torside’s mood even more. At the same time, the team’s newcomers took an active part in it: Schurrle scored the first goal for Spartak, and Til gave two assists.

True, the Dutchman, like Jordan Larsson, could not help the red and white in the return match with Thun, since he had already played for another team in the qualification of the LE of the current season. But the fans were waiting for the next bright game performed by Zelimkhan Bakaev, who made doubles in the last two matches. It was necessary to prove himself and earned a three-match disqualification in the RPL Esekiel Ponce.

As a result, the starting lineup of Spartak turned out to be quite predictable, except that the experienced Andrei Yeshchenko took the place of Nikolai Rasskazov on the right flank of the defense, and Andreo Shyurrle replaced Jano Ananidze.

🔴⚪ Our roster for the match # SpartakTun

Shyurrle and Mirzov will start the game at the start! # Spartak # Power Association pic.twitter.com / Ai7g84tUg5

- FC Spartak Moscow (@fcsm_official) August 15, 2019

A missed ball in the seventh minute and sluggish football

The enthusiastic fans of Spartak were expecting good football from the team, but in reality the red-and-white failed the first half. Wards Kononov did not even close show that game that was demonstrated on Sunday. Of course, this could be blamed on the absence of Larsson and Thiel, but on the other hand, they only made their debut in Grozny.

To begin with, Spartak missed in the seventh minute and utterly aggravated the intrigue in the confrontation. The guests had a good attack from the left flank, followed by a cross through the entire penalty area, and defender Stefan Glarner, who joined the attack, neatly put the ball into the far corner without a chance for Alexander Maksimenko.

True, right away the score with a cannon strike almost equalized Schurrle, but the goalkeeper “Tuna” Guillaume Fevre, who made a lot of mistakes in the first match, transferred the shell to the crossbar. In general, the German was the most active footballer in Spartak and almost always found a good option to continue the attack. So, after one of his shots, Ponce did not have a few centimeters in order to score.

But the rest of the red-white players acted not in the best way. They clearly lacked emotion and sports anger. Wards Kononov seemed to save power in front of the derby from CSKA and acted on a third of their capabilities.

In the end, a similar pace lulled and “Tun”. Spartak owned the ball, but without much aggravation. In addition to Shurrle’s shot, one can only recall the slightly inaccurate strike of Roman Zobnin in the far corner after Bakayev’s discount from the front.

The Swiss team almost doubled the score just before the break. Simone Rappa was sent face-to-face with Maksimenko with a thin cutting pass on the offside line, but Alexander played competently and fought off an opponent’s blow.

The start of the second half and Schurrle's replacement for a standing ovation

Fortunately, at the beginning of the second half, the red-and-white slightly increased their speed and quickly turned the match upside down, indicating the enormous difference in the class rivals. It should be noted that Schurrle took the most active part in the comeback of the red-white.

First, he delivered a rather unpleasant, but not the most dangerous blow from the left corner of the box. However, Fevre, instead of tightly catching the ball, released it right on Ponce's leg. Esekiel did not even immediately believe that he could easily compare the score with a meter, and did it in a couple of touches. Thus, the Argentine scored the second goal for Spartak.

True, the joys of red and white immediately missed. Basil Stilhart took advantage of the absolute failure in the defense of the hosts and broke into a rendezvous with the goalkeeper, but Maksimenko again rescued Spartak. The young goalkeeper for this game has earned a solid “five”.

And soon the red-white still came forward, and this time Schurrle distinguished himself. However, Reziuan Mirzov did everything for the German, who dribbled into the penalty area and dribbled the ball into an empty net. Andre chalked up his third score for performance in three games for Spartak (two goals and one assist).

After that, the meeting could actually end. “Thun” attacked more by inertia and at least had no real chance to equal the score. “Spartak”, on the eve of the derby, switched to an energy-saving mode. True, in the end, Kononov’s wards on counterattacks could well have scored the third goal.

The coach, on the other hand, gave rest to his leaders Bakaev and Shyurrle. It is noteworthy that the German audience literally held a standing ovation, and he watched the match with a Spartak scarf tied to his neck.

The red and white ones are not without difficulty, but nevertheless passed the inferior in the “Thun” class and in the playoff round they will meet with the winner of the “Brondby” (Denmark) - “Braga” (Portugal) pair. And the next match, “Spartak” to be held on Monday, August 19, with CSKA.