Bikfalvi's masterpiece and the interrupted Lutsenko series
The very first match of the penultimate round between Ural and Arsenal was marked by a beautiful goal by Yekaterinburg midfielder Eric Bikfalvi. At the end of the first half, the Romanians, after filing from the right flank, struck a spectacular blow through themselves.
True, this did not help the wards of Dmitry Parfyonov score points. Arsenal scored twice after drawing standard provisions. At the beginning of the meeting, 19-year-old Daniil Khlusevich scored a debut goal in the RPL, and in the second half, Vladislav Panteleev from the penalty, appointed on the left flank, unexpectedly spun the ball into the near corner.
In the time added by the referee, the point in the match was put in as a substitute Sergey Tkachev, who had five minutes on the field to distinguish himself and set the final score - 3: 1 in favor of the “Gunners”. The Tula players won their third victory in four matches after the resignation of Igor Cherevchenko.
The crushing victory of Spartak and the preservation of registration in the Akhmatom RPL
But “Spartak” a little later, on the contrary, interrupted an unsuccessful series for itself, defeating “Akhmat” on Wednesday at the “Opening-Arena” - 3-0. Red and white did not know victories in the RPL for five matches, but did not win at home since November 9 last year.
The main character in the hosts was Roman Zobnin, who opened the scoring with a beautiful long-range shot and gave the assist to Guus Thiel. In turn, a substitute footballer from the Netherlands scored the first goal this year.
Another castling of the Spartak coaching staff also worked. Alexander Sobolev, who appeared on the field after the break, scored the second goal for the red-white and the 12th in the current RPL season.
But, oddly enough, the defeat did not greatly upset the guests, because after a draw in the Krylia Sovetov and Krasnodar matches, they kept their residence in the Premier League.
Krasnodar's elusive silver and reliable goalkeeper play
Samarians took the most important points from the southerners, which can cost Sergey Galitsky club silver medals and a direct ticket to the group stage of the Champions League. After the resumption of the season, wards of Murad Musaev regularly misfire and won only once in five matches, except for the technical victory over Orenburg.
Beat “Wings” “Krasnodar” also failed. The away team had possession of the ball, but the teams created almost equally dangerous moments. The best in this meeting were goalkeepers, Evgeny Frolov and Matvey Safonov, who made six saves.
Moreover, the hosts managed to score in the middle of the second half - Maxim Glushenkov sold one on one. However, Judge Vladimir Moskalyov, after watching the replay, canceled the goal because of an offside that was difficult to distinguish on the television picture.
A little later, the referee showed the second yellow card to the defender of the guests Sergey Petrov for a dangerous game and left the guests with ten of them.
Departure "Orenburg" and the pursuit of Azmuna Dziuba
While Akhmat retained a residence permit in the Premier League, despite an unsuccessful trip to Moscow, Orenburg lost its chances of salvation after a devastating defeat against Zenit in St. Petersburg - 1: 4.
At the same time, the guests, weakened by the outbreak of coronavirus, showed a decent game and in the first half they even managed to excel for the first time in the last four months.
However, at the end of the meeting, Serdar Azmun came to the fore. The Iranian scored twice, and also gave an assist to Artyom Dziuba. The captain of the Russian national team scored the 17th goal in the current season of the RPL and repeated his own record for performance in the Russian championship.
Dziuba continues to lead the tournament in the scorers of the tournament, but now Azmun is only one goal behind him.
Another pleasant moment for the Petersburg fans was the entry to the field of six six Zenit students at once. From the first minutes, goalkeeper Alexander Vasyutin and defender Danila Prokhin appeared on the field. In the second half, Daler Kuzyaev, Alexey Sutormin, Leon Musaev and Daniil Shamkin entered the game. At the same time, the goalkeeper made his debut in the RPL.
Nine infected in Sochi and the technical victory of Tambov
On the last day of the 29th round, it became known that one match will not take place. Sochi became another club in which an outbreak of coronavirus was recorded. On the day of the game with Tambov, when the team had already landed in Nizhny Novgorod, information appeared immediately about nine infected football players. Among them could be Micah Mevl, whose temperature was recorded the day before.
According to RT, Sochi will now be awarded a technical defeat, which will allow Tambov to maintain residence in the RPL. Thus, “Wings of the Soviets” will certainly not rise above 15th place, even if in the final round they will also be awarded a technical victory over Sochi. Meanwhile, the Samara people still have a chance to stay in the elite if Khimki finally refuses to go on the rise. Clarity on this should appear after the Moscow Region team holds the match of the semifinal of the Russian Cup against Ural.
The seventh goalless draw of Rubin and the lost Rostov medal
“Rostov” finally lost the chance to win medals and play the next season in the Champions League. The team of Valery Karpin still had a theoretical opportunity to overtake Krasnodar, but after the Rostov guests played a draw against Rubin, they would definitely not be able to get into the top three.
At the same time, Kazan were closer to victory than their rivals. Khvich Kvaratskhelia managed to create two excellent moments in the second half, but both times Sergey Pesyakov prevented him from scoring. In total, the Georgian striker struck three shots on target and several times brought the partners to the shock positions.
“Rubin” with 17 goals continues to be the most ineffective RPL team of this season, and a goalless draw became the seventh draw for Leonid Slutsky's wards in the season ending. “Rostov” extended the unbeaten run to six games and now only in absentia will argue with CSKA for the right to play in a later round of the Europa League.
The end of the win-win series “Ufa” and the goal of Joaozinho from the penalty spot
Dynamo has become the main contender for sixth place, which in the future can bring a ticket to the Europa League. This happened after the Muscovites beat their direct competitor “Ufa” on its field.
The match might not have taken place due to two more cases of coronavirus infection in the hosts. However, wards of Vadim Evseev still came to a meeting against the blue and white. The Ufa team lacked a few players of the basic structure, and first of all goalkeeper Alexander Belenov.
In his absence, Alexei Chernov tried to restrain the Dynamo team, but he still missed the ball from the penalty spot, which was realized by Joaozinho. The hosts hoped to earn their penalty in time, but the VAR did not record a violation.
Ufa suffered its first defeat in the last nine matches and missed Dynamo in the standings, which in addition to meeting the 30th round with the departed Orenburg still has a guest match in reserve with Krasnodar.
Miranchuk's two penalties and Nababkin's fatal mistake
In the central match of the tour, a ticket to the Champions League was disputed by Lokomotiv and CSKA. The winners of the Moscow derby were the railroad. Important three points wards Marco Nikolic brought two penalties, which sold Alexei Miranchuk.
First, the attacking midfielder sent the ball into the net from the point after Igor Diveev’s tripping. Miranchuk outplayed Igor Akinfeev, for whom this match was 456th in the Russian championship. On this indicator, the goalkeeper caught up with Sergei Semak.
After the break, CSKA was able to recoup thanks to a goal by Nikola Vlasic. CSKA tried to stop the home team’s attempts to come forward again, but Lokomotiv got it thanks to a mistake by Kirill Nababkin. At the last minute, the defender put up his hand and hit the ball in his own box. Miranchuk from the penalty spot again scored the goalkeeper and the ball in the corners, thanks to which he scored twice and brought up to 12 the number of goals scored in the current season.
CSKA to get into the Champions League now need to hope that the “Krasnodar” will score one point in the two remaining matches, and they themselves will win the “Tambov”. To the railwaymen, in order to win the second place, which gives the right to direct qualification in the group stage of the Champions League, it is enough to beat the Urals in the 30th round.