24 hits of Dynamo and Lutsenko goal against the former club
On the eve of the 26th round, the Dynamo RPL was considered the main contender for sixth place, which provided the Zenit triumph in the Russian Cup gave a ticket to the Europa League. The wards of Kirill Novikov, even if they did not win a single victory after the resumption of the season, but had an equal number of points with Spartak and Ufa, and this is taking into account the match in reserve. Yes, it would be reckless to assume that Muscovites will certainly take points from Krasnodar in July, but the statistics of recent games spoke in favor of such a scenario. In 2019, the teams tied twice with a score of 1: 1.
In the confrontation with Arsenal, Dynamo expected only success, which was due to the difficult situation with the Gunners. They had five losses in a row in a liability and a few days ago they lost their head coach. The place of Igor Cherevchenko was taken by Sergei Podpaly, who had never before worked in the clubs of the country's top division. However, the mentor was able to properly prepare the team and help her not only score points, but also present one of the main sensations of the tour.
Already in the 17th minute, “Pushkari” pressed opponents to the goal with the help of pressure and forced Grigory Morozov to lose the ball at the border of his own penalty. Daniil Lesovoy performed a cross on Yevgeny Lutsenko, and he irresistibly shot through the gates of his former team. The striker scored in the fourth game in a row and chalked up the 13th goal of the season, approaching the result of Artem Dziuba. The assets of the best scorer of the RPL are two more accurate hits more.
Dynamo expectedly took the initiative in their hands and squeezed the enemy in his half of the field, and in the 35th minute the position of the guests became very difficult. Kirill Kombarov received a second yellow card for a careless tackle and prematurely left the field. The hosts began to push and in 90 minutes delivered 24 shots on goal, nine of which reached the target, but failed to break through Yegor Shamov. After riding innings Nikolay Komlichenko and Sylvester Igbun could have distinguished themselves, but the first shot failed, and after hitting the second ball hit the crossbar.
As a result, the first victory for Arsenal in 125 days, which was given to the Tula people at a great price. In addition to Kombarov, six footballers received guests “mustard plasters”, and for Victor Alvarez and George Kostadinov, they became the eighth of the season. Thus, they are guaranteed to miss the game of the next round with Wings of the Soviets. Dynamo extended the unsuccessful series to three meetings and allowed the gunners to get to them at a distance of one point.
Lack of VAR and problems of “Spartak” in defense
Sensation could not be ruled out in the match between Spartak and Tambov. At least for the reason that in the first round, the RPL debutant already prevailed over the ten-time national champion. It is noteworthy that then the failure not only cast doubt on the prospects of the red and white in the championship, but also heated the atmosphere around that time red and white head coach Oleg Kononov. It was after that meeting that the mentor began to be called a “jacket” on an ongoing basis, and he was soon fired.
After unsuccessful matches with Ufa and CSKA, Spartak needed to take three points, so the players went to the meeting of the 26th round extremely motivated. True, they were destined to succeed in the absence of Roman Zobnin. The midfielder successfully performed after the resumption of the championship and at times even resembled himself a sample of the champion season, but received a direct red card in the game with CSKA. But the disqualified Georgy Dzhikia and Alex Kral returned to the squad. Guests outside the application were left rented from red and white Georgy Melkadze, who did not have the right to go against his native club.
It is worth noting that the match between Spartak and Tambov was the only match in the 26th round on which the VAR system did not work. This was due to the fact that the league could not ensure its use at more than four meetings within one game day, and the RFU refereeing department decided to “deprive” Muscovites. It is all the more remarkable that even in the first half, the help of video assistants would not have prevented the chief referee Vladimir Moskalyov. At the 34th minute, Jordan Larsson fell into the opponent's penalty area after a collision with Soslan Takazov and earned 11-meter. It was quite difficult to talk about breaking the rules. Zelimkhan Bakaev approached the “point” and for the third time in his career he successfully realized a penalty.
Red and white almost completely reigned over the initiative, but at the end of the hour of the game showed miracles of inconsistency. Nikolai Rasskazov ran into Nail Umyarov, Kral decided not to advance to the pitching Alexei Rybin, and Dzhikia allowed Valery Chuperka to freely drive the ball into the net. At the same time, Larsson turned out to be the fifth defender, replacing defensively joining the attack non-stop throughout the meeting of Samuel Gigot. True, four minutes later, Jordan demonstrated his skills and single-handedly made the return goal. The Swede perfectly struck from the penalty, again brought Spartak forward and immediately left the field.
In the absence of Larsson, the red and white still managed to send the third ball into the goal of Giorgi Shelia, but it was canceled due to a violation of the rules by Alexander Sobolev. The episode was extremely controversial and most likely would have been considered by the VAR referees if they were present at the match. True, by this moment Spartak had already allowed Tambov to even the score, and after a few minutes he missed it a third time. After drawing the standard, Alexey Gritsaenko scored, and Vladimir Obukhov just struck from the “point”. As the main anti-hero, Zhigo strengthened, kicking Alexander Kaplienko in the penalty area.
Spartak suffered a second defeat in a row and extended the losing streak. Previously, under the leadership of Tedesco, the red and white only failed to win three games in a row. In late November - early December, they shared points with Ural, after which they lost to Zenit and Rostov. Tambov won the championship for the eighth time and climbed to 12th place.
Two canceled goals of Lokomotiv and an unbeaten penalty
Until recently, Sochi was not considered among the candidates for a ticket to the European Cups, but 14 points in six matches allowed it to fly to ninth place. Among the competitors for a ticket to the Europa League, the team of Vladimir Fedotov faced the most difficult test. In the 26th round, they met with the railroad, continuing to fight for a direct hit in the Champions League. In addition, in the event of a loss of points, Lokomotiv provided Zenit with the opportunity to take the championship on Sunday, which was hardly part of his plans.
Serious losses in the composition of Muscovites could be a help for the “leopards”. Due to the exhaustion of the yellow cards, the right-back defender Vladislav Ignatiev missed the meeting, and because of the injury the main goalkeeper Marinato Guillerme did not get into the application. Initially, the headquarters of Lokomotiv were convinced that the damage to the goalkeeper of the Russian national team was not serious, and he would be able to take part in the confrontation with Sochi, but in the end the situation turned out to be more complicated. As a result, Dmitry Zhivoglyadov appeared in the defense, and Anton Kochenkov in the “frame”.
This did not greatly affect the performance of the railroad. Wards Marco Nikolic had the advantage and could score twice in the first half. But first, the goal of Eder was canceled due to the “offside” position, and then the terrible handling prevented him from realizing a one-on-one exit with Soslan Dzhanaev. At the same time, starting from the 20th minute, the hosts again remained without a solid part of the fans. Some fans again left the stands in protest against the non-renewal of the contract with Yuri Semin.
During the break, Fedotov released Dmitry Poloz instead of Mihi Mevli, which indicated a transition to a more attacking scheme with two central defenders. However, the initiative remained with Lokomotiv, which continued to dominate the field. Not to say that the performance of the railway workers was delightful, but the individual skill of the performers allowed them to create acuteness in the possessions of opponents. The brothers Aleksey and Anton Miranchuk looked especially brightly, more than once leaving the defense of the guests out of work. True, there was no one to strike a decisive blow. Eder did not shine, and there was simply no worthy replacement.
Until the 91st minute, one of the most memorable episodes of the second half remained a blow due to a free kick by Brian Idov, Alexander Kokorin's t-shirt torn in the fight against Murilo and the original “wall” performed by the guests. Before the blow of Alexei Miranchuk, five people stood in a row, and Elmir Nabiullin lay on the ground right behind them. Perhaps this confused the Lokomotiv midfielder, who struck very unsuccessfully.
Nevertheless, in the compensated time more bright events occurred than in the main one. First, the chief referee Alexei Matyunin with the help of video referees canceled another goal against Sochi, seeing that Timur Suleymanov was in an offside position at the time of the transfer. And then he awarded a penalty for breaking the rules against Grzegorz Krychowiak. Alexey Miranchuk had every chance to become the main character of the match, but struck the post.
Sochi defended a draw and scored 30 points, reducing the gap with Dynamo, Spartak and Ufa to two points. “Lokomotiv” for the second time in a row could not prevail and gave Zenit a chance to guarantee gold for four rounds to the end.