In the 29th round of the Russian Premier League (RPL), Spartak defeated Akhmat in their field with a crushing 3-0 score, partially managing to rehabilitate themselves for previous failures. However, during the match, the refereeing team, led by Alexei Sukhim, immediately made several ambiguous decisions in favor of the guests, which made the red-and-white once again doubt the objectivity of her work. Not only the club management, but also the fans expressed their dissatisfaction.

Representatives of the Fratria fan association wrote an open letter to the President of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Alexander Dyukov. In their opinion, in each of the seven matches of Spartak, after the resumption of the Russian championship, the referees made mistakes. In this connection, the fans called on the functionary to pay attention to the situation and influence the work of the judiciary, which has been headed by Hungarian Viktor Kashshai since January. In particular, they proposed amendments to the rule prohibiting arbitrators from publicly commenting on their decisions.

“Football is a game that millions are watching, it should be a model of fair and understandable decisions. We, the Russian fans, demand from the football authorities and the organizers of the competitions the main thing: equality in the interpretation of the rules, an equal approach to all the participants of the championship by the organizers and referees serving the games, as well as public explanations and comments of the referees made in controversial game episodes, ” - said in a statement.

Recall that in the 24th minute of the match with “Akhmat”, Sukhoi sent a penalty into the home net, which he later changed to a free-kick after watching a video replay. Five minutes later, Esekiel Ponce's head blocked the pitch from the corner, but VAR revealed an offside position at Samuel Gigot and the goal was not scored. At the same time, another 11-meter was not appointed after the ball fell into the hand of Grozny defender Andrei Semenov.

Immediately after the meeting, the owner of Spartak Leonid Fedun made an emotional speech. Commenting on the work of the Sukhoi brigade, he hinted that the referees have different attitudes towards different RPL teams.

“I told the guys that it was necessary to answer the judiciary. I propose to make a hashtag #SuiteSpartakKakZenit, then we will be champions, ”Fedun quotes the“ Championship ”.

In addition, the functionary noted that the red-and-white may not even go out on Sunday's Russian Cup match with Zenit if Mikhail Vilkov, who was suspended from RPL games due to numerous mistakes, was appointed as the main referee in November.

At the same time, Andrei Fedun, a member of the board of directors of red and white, and Shamil Gazizov, general director of Spartak, took a more neutral position. The latter refrained from criticism, emphasizing that the players proved everything with their actions on the field.

“Refereeing? Three beautiful goals from the game is an answer that shows that you can and should play, play the attack. Well done guys. On positive emotions, we approach the match with Zenit, ”Gazizov said.

The fears of Spartak and its fans are shared by some experts, given the upcoming meeting with Zenit and the principle of victory in the Russian Cup, which gives the last chance to get into the Europa League. In addition, Muscovites are far from the only team dissatisfied with Kashshai and the judiciary. So, the famous commentator Gennady Orlov agreed that the judges really too often make inexplicable mistakes in favor of the red and white rivals, and the former midfielder Maxim Kalinichenko suggested that the outcome of the cup match is already a foregone conclusion.

Refereeing as it hints what to expect in the Cup semi-finals? So no one is expecting anything, calm down😏

- Maksym Kalinichenko (@ kalynych25) July 15, 2020

Ex-Spartak midfielder Valery Kechinov is also confident in the criticism. In his opinion, in each of the matches after the resumption of the championship, the referees were mistaken in favor of the rivals of Spartak.

“Net goals are not counted, no penalty is awarded. For example, they canceled the goal of Alexander Sobolev at the gate of Tambov, although there was no violation there. And there are a lot of such examples. I don’t know if there is an analysis of the actions of the referees after the games, but we saw obvious errors. Therefore, Muscovites and want to judge paid attention. In my opinion, there is no question of any pressure on the RFU, ”Kechinov said in an interview with RT.

At the same time, he did not agree with the representatives of Fratria on the fact that the arbitrators should report on their decisions after the matches.

“I don’t think it makes sense. It seems to me, on the contrary, there will be an even more tense situation around the judges and this will not help, ”Kechinov added.

Former Zenit midfielder Alexei Igonin has a different point of view. He believes that Spartak are not in good shape, so he is trying to shift the attention of the football community to another.

“I think they just get nervous before the Sunday match, nothing more. After all, “Spartak” has the only chance to rehabilitate this season. The red and white want to say that the judges are to blame for their mistakes? And the expensive players themselves are in reserve, the CEO has been dismissed, the team is in eighth place in the standings, although recently it was still the champion of Russia. Obviously, the matter is not in the arbitrators, there are more global problems. It is clear that Spartak is a serious organization, and the RFU will have to answer. But anyone can write a letter there, so you should not take it seriously, ”Igonin is sure.