“The controversial decisions of the judge, as always, are not in favor of Spartak: what they said after the victory of CSKA in the derby

“I regretted my action and apologized to the team”

After defeating Spartak in the Moscow derby, CSKA head coach Viktor Goncharenko was in a great mood. The unexpected departure of a specialist to his homeland in Belarus raised many questions, but the return turned out to be ideal. 

CSKA won their first victory in the RPL in seven months, avenged their principal rival for the relegation from the Russian Cup and kept their goal intact in the second match in a row. But the specialist himself was not embarrassed that his team played as carefully as possible.

“We have many teams waiting for the opponent’s mistakes, we missed a lot of counterattacks in home matches. They knew that Spartak was strong in this component, so they decided to play like that. When Nikola Vlašić scored, they sat down even deeper into the defense. Konstantin Kuchaev in the attack? There were ideas to look for zones behind the backs of the defenders, ”Goncharenko explained. 

But, of course, the story of the departure of the coach to Belarus aroused much more questions from the journalists. According to the expert, this move was supposed to “shake the team”.

“Since this has benefited, then we have done everything right. I regretted my action and apologized to the team. How did the players react to the departure? Listen, such a great match, and we are talking about leaving. Normally they reacted, at first they were clamped, did not understand what was happening, then they came to their senses. As for the future, I am happy to work in this team. Sometimes my emotions go wild, but I work further, ”Goncharenko admitted. 

The CSKA coach also spoke about the nature of the injury Fedor Chalov. The attacker received damage in the second half and was forced to ask for a replacement. But Goncharenko suggested that the striker’s injury is not very serious.

"Such a rude game of Zobnin is unacceptable."

In turn, Domenico Tedesco noted that in the first half, Spartak had more dangerous moments, while CSKA, according to him, was remembered only by the effective strike of Nikola Vlasic.

“In the second half, we changed the scheme, switched to a game with four defenders, and CSKA felt that we were threatening their goal. At that moment, Roman Zobnin was shown a red card. It’s hard to turn the game ten times. We did this in the Cup, but today did not work out, ”the trainer complained.

The specialist emphasized that after the change of tactical line-up, Spartak pressed the opponent to the goal, but CSKA acted well in defense.  

“Speaking of the attack, we could serve more from the flanks and deploy the game faster, transfer the ball from flank to flank. CSKA did not surprise us by playing on defense. CSKA defended one-on-one, but we found ways out of the situation. However, one must pay tribute to the defenders of CSKA - they played excellently, ”the coach emphasized.

When asked about the removal of Zobnin, the red-white mentor called Roman “a very calm person,” who is extremely difficult to piss off.

“Perhaps there were good reasons for this. When the penalty was not set on him, when Nikola Vlašić threw the ball back. But such a rude game is unacceptable, although there really could be reasons, ”Tedesco added.

The German spoke about the game of Zelimkhan Bakayev. Midfielder did not have the best match. 

“Bakaev is a very important football player for us. The team played well without him, but he is the one who can decide the outcome of the match. He can beat one on one, knows our attacking scheme. Perhaps today he did not succeed much. But Vlašić was in shock and decided the outcome of the confrontation. If he didn’t succeed, the big question is how CSKA would play. Bakayev is self-critical, he needs to be more cool, ”Tedesco explained. 

Of course, journalists could not help asking the coach about his conflict with Goncharenko. In March, after the cup match, the Belarusian refused to shake hands with the German. 

“Why should I be the first to go to shake Goncharenko’s hand? If he were a woman, I would, as a gentleman, come up first. I don’t understand why you are asking about this. This topic is too bloated. This is not the first time that coaches do not shake hands. I went to the guys to cheer them up, summarize the match, then they went to thank the fans on the podium, ”Tedesco summed up.

“The ball fell into the hands of CSKA defender, but no one began to watch”

The captain of Spartak Georgy Dzhikia, who returned to duty after disqualification, also answered questions from journalists. The defender was dissatisfied with the work of the referee Alexei Yeskov and emphasized that the controversial decisions “as always” were made not in favor of the red-and-white.

“I'm already used to the way we are judged. Interestingly, this time the experts will say. I'm not talking about the episode with the removal of Zobnin. Review the moment at the end, before the second goal of Vlašić. There Alexander Sobolev went in the fight, and, it seemed to me, the ball hit the CSKA defender in his hand. But nobody began to look at anything as always, ”complained Jikia. 

In addition, the red-white captain said that after receiving the red card, Zobnin apologized to the team and shared his impression of the atmosphere at the stadium. 

“We’ll sort the game tomorrow. Do you like to enter the field now with three thousand spectators? It is difficult, of course, when people get sick, I want this to be less. Today it was difficult without our fans, we are waiting for the game at the home stadium. Is Bakaev in decline? Who noticed the decline? I have no questions, ”added Jikia.

A short comment after the final whistle was given by the main character of the match, Vlašić, who scored a double. 

“Perhaps the first half was really the best for me. I got a lot of ball, bypassing the opponent's players. The first goal was very good. In the second half, we defended more. But the most important thing is victory. I’m very glad, ”the Croatian said on Match TV.

Vlašić also commented on how the team reacted to the departure of Goncharenko to Belarus. 

“The situation with the departure of Goncharenko is strange, but people sometimes make mistakes. In our club we are all one big family and we are doing everything for each other, ”quoted the Croatian words“ Championship ”.