Two goals from Dziuba from the penalty spot, three canceled goals and the productive series of Glushakov: what did RPL remember Friday's matches

Zenit willful victory and controversial decisions of the judge

On Friday, June 26, the leading Zenit took another step toward winning the second consecutive championship. Wards of Sergei Semak at home won a strong-willed victory over the closing wings of the standings “Wings of the Soviets” - 2: 1.

The chances of an outsider to score points in St. Petersburg were initially assessed as extremely low, but the guests managed to leave for a break, taking the lead.

The team of Miodrag Bozovic expectedly gave the ball to the opponent and made bets on counterattacks. “Zenith” to pass a saturated defense was not easy. Numerous canopies in the penalty area of ​​the Samara team did not help either, which the high defenders of the opponent easily managed. And in those episodes when it came to blows, goalkeeper Evgeny Frolov confidently acted. For example, he fended off a shot at the near nine from outside the penalty area performed by Malcolm.

And at the end of the first half, Wings of the Soviets carried out a rare counterattack and unexpectedly scored. The goal was created by two pupils of Chertanov. After an excellent cross of Anton Zinkovsky from the left flank, Maxim Glushenkov struck his head into the near corner. The midfielder leased from Spartak excelled in the second match of the RPL in a row, although he had not scored in the Premier League before.

After the break, Zenit expectedly increased momentum and almost immediately equalized. Malcolm from the right corner of the box sent the ball into the far corner along a beautiful path. However, Judge Pavel Kukuyan, after watching VAR, canceled the goal due to a microscopic offside by Artyom Dziuba, who previously at that moment dropped the ball on Serdar Azmun.

But this did not affect the actions of the hosts. They continued to attack, while the opponent ran out of strength. And the pressure, in the end, bore fruit. After an hour of play, the tired Artyom Timofeev, trying to interrupt the transfer to Dziuba, played with his hand. The judge confidently pointed to the "point". Artyom himself took the lead of the penalty kick and beat Evgeny Frolov.

And after only six minutes, Zenit earned another penalty. Replacing the “Wings” a minute before, Sergei Terekhov in the penalty area held Alexei Sutormin with his hand, and he fell on the lawn. The referee again no doubt registered a foul. The second eleven meter also sold Dziuba.

Now Artyom has 15 goals scored in the current RPL season. With this result, the striker takes the first place in the tournament scorers of the tournament with a margin of four goals from the closest pursuers - Eldor Shomurodov and Alexander Sobolev.

Not only that, after a few minutes, Dziuba made an effective discount on Azmuna, but Kukuyan again considered that Artyom was in a small offside.

It seemed that “Wings” would no longer be able to recoup, however, ten minutes before the final whistle, the guests managed to hit other people's gates. After throwing Zenit into the penalty area from the right flank, Glushenkov threw the ball to Dejan Radonych, who inflicted a strong and accurate shot.

However, Kukuyan, in consultation with his assistants, canceled this goal. The judge considered that in addition to the head, the ball also hit Glushenkov in the hand, although in the repetitions the violation of the rules did not seem the most obvious.

Nevertheless, “Zenith” for the seventh time in a row beat “Wings of the Soviets” and won a third victory in a row in the RPL. Samarians, by contrast, extended a series of defeats to three matches.

Beautiful goal of Burmistrov and saves Dzhanaev

In the second match of the game day two more teams came together fighting for survival - “Akhmat” and “Sochi”. Southerners expected to extend the winning streak in the national championship to five meetings, and Grozny intended to increase the gap from the last place that the team left after winning in Samara a week ago.

As a result, no one got three points - 1: 1. Opponents exchanged goals scored in the first half. At the same time, Igor Shalimov's wards took the initiative and delivered 23 shots on goal against ten opponents. A quality match was held by the Sochi goalkeeper Soslan Dzhanaev, who made six saves.

Only Denis Glushakov managed to break it. At the 33rd minute, an experienced midfielder opened in someone else's penalty area, received a pass from a partner, beat Ivan Novoseltsev and delivered an accurate shot under the crossbar. Former captain of Spartak for the first time in his career distinguished himself in three RPL games in a row. In the last round, he hit the gates of “Wings of the Soviets”, and in the last match before the break due to the COVID-19 epidemic - Dynamo.

The guests recouped during the first half added by the referee. Nikita Burmistrov unexpectedly struck from outside the box, and Evgeni Gorodov was not ready for this and was late with a jump. Probably he was prevented by Timofei Margasov, who was closing the review.

In the second half, “Akhmat” did everything to snatch three points, but luck was not on the side of Grozny. In addition, several memorable saves made Dzhanayev. After an hour of the game, the hosts even claimed a penalty for a game with the hand of Alexander Kokorin in their own penalty area, but referee Sergey Karasev did not see a violation of the rules in the actions of the forward.

The technical defeat of Orenburg and questions on Dynamo and Rostov

Also on Friday it became known that the match between Orenburg and Krasnodar will not take place on June 27. On the eve of the Orenburg club reported the passing of positive tests for coronavirus by six players. According to the regulations, the team was forced to quarantine.

In this regard, it was unclear whether the match would take place with Krasnodar. It was not possible to transfer the game, since the southerners last week agreed to hold a meeting with Dynamo on the only reserve date - July 19. A way out for Orenburg would be to play with a youth squad following the example of Rostov.

But the club decided not to follow this path and announced the cancellation of the match with Krasnodar. Thus, the team should receive a technical defeat - 0: 3.

“In connection with the identification of positive tests on COVID-19 among players and employees, FC Orenburg decided that it was impossible to conduct a game with Krasnodar. It was also decided not to put on the youth squad. Our youth team did not train and will not be able to provide proper resistance to the guests. Such football will be uninteresting to the fans and, in our opinion, will cause damage to both our club and all Russian football, ”the Orenburg press service said in a statement. 

Two more matches of the 24th round remain in doubt, since Dynamo and Rostov continue to be in quarantine after passing positive tests on COVID-19 last week. The cancellation or rescheduling of games with their participation has not yet been reported. According to RPL President Sergei Pryadkin, Rostov is ready to play with Arsenal on June 27.

“All representatives of the club strictly complied with the requirements, regularly conducted tests for coronavirus. Based on the foregoing, we hope that the local Rospotrebnadzor will allow all the players who passed several negative tests during the isolation period, and the clubs will hold the match with military personnel, ”the press service of the Russian Premier League quoted Pryadkin as saying. 

The functionary also emphasized that all Dynamo players passed negative tests for coronavirus.