A major victory for Zenit, the defeat of Lokomotiv and the departure of fans from the stands: what did you remember about the matches of the RPL leaders in the 19th round

Half empty stands

The main event of the matches of the 19th round of the RPL with the participation of leaders was the mass departure of spectators from the stands. At the end of the first half, the fans organizedly left the stadiums in St. Petersburg and Tula, thus supporting the initiative to unite Spartak fans Fratria. Half an hour after the start of the matches, the support groups of Lokomotiv, Dynamo and Arsenal left their places, and after ten minutes Zenit fans joined them.

The reason for the rally was dissatisfaction with the actions of the police at the match between Zenit and Spartak in the previous round of the Russian championship. Then, before and during the meeting, about a hundred fans were detained, including one of the leaders of the red-white fan movement, Valery Bevz. He received a fine and a ban on attending sporting events for 1.5 years.

“On December 1, 2019, we, the fans of Spartak, faced unjustified aggression by the city authorities and law enforcement agencies of St. Petersburg. Hundreds of Spartak fans without explanation and explanation of their legal rights were detained and sent to the cells, and three of them still have not returned home ... In this regard, we urge the stadium stands to leave the 30th minute of the matches of the 19th round RPL, ”the association said in a statement.

It is noteworthy that numerous detentions in anticipation of the derby of the two capitals are associated with the figure of Artyom Dziuba. So, the situation around the fans escalated in connection with insulting shouts at the Zenith striker, who chanted first at the Euro 2020 qualification match between the national teams of Russia and San Marino, and then at the meeting of the Ural RPL - Spartak. At the same time, the athlete himself claimed that they shouted not only rudeness at him.

“This group occupied the rostrum and hung the flags of various red-white groups. In addition to insults, shouted fascist slogans! I heard this, so I reacted that way, ”Dzyuba admitted in an interview with Sport-Express.

At the same time, the legendary midfielder Spartak Andrei Tikhonov expressed his opinion on what is happening in the stands. He encouraged fans to behave with dignity and decency.

“I think that everything should have its own rules: both on the field - for players, and in the stadium - for fans. They are a single part of one process, a holiday. I really want Russian football and all its participants to create a similar atmosphere for the city, region, country, ”Tikhonov RT said.

The big victory of “Zenith” and the first failure of Novikov

The spectators remaining in the stands of the Gazprom Arena could watch the end of the win-win Dynamo series led by Kirill Novikov. After the victories over CSKA, Rostov and Lokomotiv, the blue and white awaited a feat in the Northern capital, but on that day they were completely unassembled. So, already in the first half, they conceded three unanswered goals and subsequently could not recover.

Dynamo players violated the rules a lot, attacked little and inventively, and made gross mistakes in the defense. One of them already in the sixth minute led to the goal of Serdar Azmun. Alexey Sutormin made a cross from the right flank, and the Iranian turned out to be quicker than Anton Shunin. At the same time, the goal might not have taken place, but Vladimir Rykov did not support the partners during the creation of the artificial offside.

“Zenith” looked utterly stronger than its counterpart and surpassed it in all aspects, and this despite the fact that he could not count on a number of players. So, Daler Kuzyaev, Yuri Zhirkov, Sebastian Driussi, and also the disqualified Magomed Ozdoev did not get into the application. Nevertheless, Dynamo could not find approaches to the goal of Mikhail Kerzhakov, before the break noting just one shot on target.

Petersburgers, at first, doubled their advantage, and then completely brought the score to a major one. First, Branislav Ivanovich marked an accurate shot after a corner, and then Artyom Dzyuba said his weighty word. Forward received a pass in the box, easily figured out the guardian and sent the ball into the corner. After that, he had 11 goals and nine scoring goals before in the matches of the current RPL season.

The second half was not the most intense and became evidence of the complete failure of the blue and white in this meeting. Wards Novikov could not break into the opponent's penalty area and were forced to rely on long-range strikes. One of the most dangerous was the replacement Clinton N'Zhye, but Kerzhakov leveled the threat.

“Zenith” was not configured to force the match and by all means send four or more goals to the Dynamo goal. In anticipation of the most important meeting of the Champions League with Benfica, Sergei Semak's wards decided to save their strength and calmly won, extending the unbeaten run to eight games.

The fiasco of Lokomotiv and the Arsenal series

Unlike the match in St. Petersburg, in Tula all the goals fell in the second half, in connection with which active fans did not see a single goal. But they became witnesses to a rather tough game, as evidenced by 20 violations of the rules. True, the chief referee Sergei Ivanov was not going to throw yellow cards, so in the first 45 minutes he only twice awarded the players with “mustard plasters”. Dmitry Barinov received a warning as part of the guests, and Gia Grigalava scored among the hosts with a minus sign.

But in the second half, events began to develop rapidly. Arsenal did the same trick as in the confrontation with CSKA and sharply accelerated its speed, which immediately exposed Lokomotiv’s defense problems. Dmitry Zhivoglyadov missed the breakthrough of Daniel Lesovoy, and Benedict Hövedes followed Rykov’s example and prevented the creation of an offside position. Igor Gorbatenko took advantage of the confusion of the opponents and hit with his head opened the scoring for goals scored this season.

This failure broke down the railway workers, who had neither the strength nor the depth of the staff to turn the tide of the meeting. The absence of the disqualified Vladislav Ignatiev deprived the team of harmony in the defense, and the injuries of Anton Miranchuk and João Mariu - sharpness in the attack. In addition, Anton Kochenkov did not save, appearing at the base instead of the damaged Guillerme.

In the period from the 63rd to the 78th minute, the chances of red-green on the comeback were put an end to. First, Yevgeny Lutsenko outplayed Vedran Chorluka in the horse fight, and then he scored with a graceful sweeping strike from the penalty area. At this point, the guests were already in the minority. Maciej Rybus got two yellow cards in eight minutes and went to the tribune room.

After that, “Lokomotiv” stopped playing, and Goran Chaushich’s goal completely demoralized the wards of Yuri Semin. Seven minutes before the end of normal time, the Serb was quickest in the penalty area and upset Kochenkova for the fourth time.

Lokomotiv suffered a second defeat in a row and lagged behind Zenit by 11 points. The railway workers not only seriously complicated their task in the fight for the championship, but also lost the status of a favorite in the fight for the second line. So, by the end of the tour, they can fall to fifth place, skipping forward “Krasnodar”, CSKA and “Rostov”.