Zenit pressure and Spartak inflexibility: what the teams of Semak and Tedesco showed in front of the full-time semifinal of the Cup of Russia

Successful exit Sobolev and rest for young players

After the defeat in the previous round, Spartak almost lost the chances to take the sixth place in the RPL table, which could not but affect his motivation. In light of this, the meeting with Akhmat could only be seen as the final stage in the preparations for the confrontation with Zenit in the Cup of Russia, which should take place on July 19. A victory in this tournament could provide a red-white ticket to the Europa League and slightly brighten up the bad competition year.

In many ways, taking into account the future derby of the two capitals, the Spartak squad for the game with Akhmat was formed. The application did not include a defensive midfielder Nail Umyarov, and the main right lateral Nikolai Rasskazov remained on the bench. As Andreas Hinkel, who replaced Domenico Tedesco, who was disqualified until the end of the season, explained, this was due to the desire to provide rest to young athletes. As a result, Roman Zobnin and Alex Kral were located in the central line, and Pavel Maslov took the place on the flank.

Over the past month, meetings with Spartak’s participation have become closely associated with judicial scandals, and this time the trend has not changed. By the 35th minute, the hosts missed two possible 11-meter. At first, the refereeing team, together with the video assistants, considered that the violation on Ayrton happened before the penalty area, and then they did not see a hand game performed by the defender of the guests Andrei Semenov. At the same time, in the interval between these episodes, the goal of red and white was canceled. Samuel Gigot got offside and did not allow Ezekiel Ponce to distinguish himself. Perhaps the referees considered that the Frenchman participated in the episode, because in fact he did not touch the ball.

Returning to the roster, in addition to the absence of Rasskazov and Umyarov, the questions could have caused Sobolev to miss the foundation, who had already established himself as one of the most striking attacking red and white footballers. As a result, it was the ex-striker of Wings of the Soviets, after he replaced Jordan Larsson on the field, who became one of the main characters of the meeting.

Four minutes after its release, Roman Zobnin performed a magnificent long-range strike, and 30 minutes later Alexander himself distinguished himself. Moreover, the performance turned out to be more than impressive. Sobolev effectively beat Semenov and elegantly struck under the crossbar.

Spartak’s coaching staff made four more replacements, almost all of which were successful. The only exception was the entry into the field of Reziuan Mirzov, defined as the left lateral instead of Ayrton. The former Arsenal midfielder did not feel very comfortable in the new place and was repeatedly mistaken in defense. Nevertheless, they did not lead to conceded goals, and the Brazilian footballer managed to save a little strength before the match against Zenit.

But the appearance of Rasskazov in his favorite place did not raise questions. Nikita Bakalyuk, who made his debut as part of Spartak, also did not spoil the big picture. In addition, Guus Thiel, who was considered by many to be the main transfer failure of the club in 2019, was pleased. The Dutchman replaced the tired Bakaev and perfectly dispersed the team’s quick counterattacks, and in the third compensated minute he scored a goal. Midfielder famously struck from outside the penalty area and interrupted the almost 11-month “dry” series.

In general, the performance of Spartak left a positive impression. The hosts interrupted a series of five matches without victories, were active ahead and created more than enough moments. And this time, red-white managed to realize some of them. With positional attacks, everything was still not in the best way, but, having led the score, the Spartacists were able to act in their favorite counterattack manner and succeeded twice.

The only alarming bell was a dangerous moment at the gates of Alexander Maksimenko after a corner. This season, Zenit is the leader in goals with his head (11) and with standard provisions (nine) and may well use these qualities in the semifinals of the Cup of Russia. It’s enough to recall that it was the serve from the flank and the lost fight on the second floor that led to the last ball in the derby of two capitals at the moment. Then the author of an own goal was Ilya Kutepov, a second before which allowed Artem Dzube to break through.

Two goals of Azmuna and a chance for the pupils

In the match against Orenburg, Semak, unlike his German counterpart, gave a break to both main flank defenders, releasing Yuri Zhirkov and Igor Smolnikov from the first minutes. And the appearance in the center of defense of Danila Prokhin became possible only thanks to the problems of Branislav Ivanovich. A week ago, the Serb flew home due to family unhappiness and from that moment on he was no longer in the squad. At the same time, the goalkeeper Alexander Vasyutin, who had not previously played for Zenit in the RPL, had previously entered the field.

On paper, it might seem that Orenburg can hardly be called a serious test before the match against Spartak. After the championship was resumed, Konstantin Paramonov’s team entered the field four times and never scored. However, after 33 minutes they corrected this misunderstanding. Joel Fameye distinguished himself, however, with this blow he only equalized. In the opening, Andrei Malykh sent the ball into his own goal.

At this point, the game “Zenith” has already begun to raise serious questions. Wards of Semak experienced great difficulties in breaking the opponent’s defense and out of habit relied on long casts. But Dziuba and Azmun could not get the upper floor. Malkom tried to introduce diversity, but partners did not always support attempts to act on the bottom.

In defense, there was a lack of concentration and teamwork. Wilmar Barrios and Magomed Ozdoev were not familiar with the chain on the approaches to the penalty area, and the pair Prokhin - Rakitsky acted in it not quite in coordination. At the same time, the experienced Ukrainian, who lost the fight on the second floor, became the culprit of the missed ball.

In the second half, little has changed in the game of Petersburgers. They continued to rely on long gears designed for tall Jubu and Azmuna. The difference was that the Orenburgers were noticeably tired and began to make more mistakes. It was the positional errors of the defenders that led to the Iranian being twice without guardianship in the penalty box of “Orenburg” for several minutes. One of the moments he confidently realized and scored the 15th goal of the season.

This event reassured Semak, and he gave a break to a number of major players. First, the age Zhirkov went on the bench and took part in two goals of Ozdoev, and then the leaders represented by Malcolm and Barrios. Moreover, while the former were replaced by the young Leon Musaev and Daniil Shamkin, the latter by the more experienced Alexey Sutormin and Daler Kuzyaev.

Subsequently, Oleg Shatov also appeared on the field, but the leaders still played key roles. At first, Azmun scored twice, and then Dziube helped to distinguish himself. True, the Iranian’s second ball turned out to be rather controversial, but the referees considered that he was not in an offside position.

The match with Orenburg left more questions than answers for Zenit fans who were clearly waiting for a more confident victory over the RPL outsider. For 90 minutes, the hosts delivered fewer shots on goal and almost did not surprise the guests. The key role was played by the level of physical readiness and performing skills. At the same time, this may not be enough in the semifinal of the Cup of Russia.