The unsuccessful Spartak series in St. Petersburg and Zenit’s dreams of a “golden double”

The match of Zenit and Spartak turned into one of the main ones after the resumption of the football season in Russia. 

For Petersburgers, the opportunity was at stake for the first time in ten years to get a “golden double” and add success in the Cup of the country to the victory in the Russian championship. 

For Spartak, the current meeting was the only chance to save the season. Indeed, in the RPL standings, red and white occupy only ninth place and can no longer break into European cups through the national championship.

At the same time, in the Cup final, the winner of the confrontation had to meet with the FNL Khimki team, who a bit earlier sensationally beat the Urals away.

However, many experts before the match were sure that Spartak had no chance of winning. For example, the former president of the club, Andrei Chervichenko, said that Sergei Semak's wards are two heads taller.

Against the guests spoke and statistics. The last time they succeeded in St. Petersburg eight years ago. Then the team of Valery Karpin turned out to be stronger in the championship (3: 2) and took second place, which allowed the red and white to break directly into the group stage of the Champions League.

Of the participants in that meeting, only Artyom Rebrov remained in both teams. And who realized the penalty, Semak switched to coaching. Since then, in eight matches in the Northern capital, Spartak has suffered six defeats with two draws. 

And before the cup game, Domenico Tedesco, in addition, immediately lost two key performers - Esekiel Ponce and Roman Zobnin. Both were disqualified for busting cards. 

As a result, Zobnin's place in the center of the field was taken by Nail Umyarov, and Alexander Sobolev in the attack was a couple to Jordan Larsson. At the same time, on the right flank of the defense, as in the game with Akhmat, Pavel Maslov, and not Nikolai Rasskazov, was placed.

Semak could not rely only on the injured Andrei Lunev, whose place was expectedly taken by Mikhail Kerzhakov. But the output of Douglas Dos Santos recovered from the damage in the supporting zone was a surprise to some extent. At the same time, Yuri Zhirkov played on the left edge of the defense, and Magomed Ozdoev remained on the bench.

Penalty kick at Maksimenko’s goal after watching the VAR and the canceled goal

The first half fully met the expectations of the fans. The teams demonstrated a beautiful double-edged football with a lot of moments. At the same time, emotions in every game episode went through the roof.

The initiative was captured by the hosts from the first minutes. Already at the start of the meeting, they created several dangerous moments. So, Daler Kuzyaev, after giving Zhirkov left, struck his head a little higher, and Serdar Azmun, easily defeating Umyarov, from outside the penalty area did not get into the near corner at all.

After ten minutes, “Spartak” managed to push the game away from their gates. Red and white even answered the champion with their own promising attack. After Zelimkhan Bakayev’s strike on Kerzhakov’s goal, Yaroslav Rakitsky made the ball out of the line.

In general, Bakaev acted as useful as possible for the team and already in the first half he “put” on the yellow cards two oporniks of Zenit, Barrios and dos Santos.

I also remember the controversial episode in the penalty area of ​​Petersburgers, when after shooting back from the right edge Zelimkhan Zhirkov pulled Sobolev's shirt, and he was on the lawn. However, the judge did not react to this episode.

But in the middle of the first half, the assistants of Sergei Ivanov for the first time entered the game on VAR. Ilya Gaponov did not notice Azmuna jumping out from behind and hit him on the leg. The arbiter did not initially indicate the “point”, but, after consulting with his colleagues and watching the replay, he changed his mind. 

The eleven-meter confidently implemented Dziuba, who hit the gates of Spartak for the first time in three years.

Having opened an account, Petersburgers began to build up their own advantage. They found a weak spot in the defense of Spartak in the person of Gaponov and Maslov and regularly carried out attacks on the left flank. And the young red-white defenders could not cope with experienced opponents and looked frankly confused.

However, Tedesco wards withstood the pressure and at the end of the first half managed to re-transfer the game to someone else's half of the field. In a good way, the conflict between Sobolev and Dziuba angered the team. The attackers did not divide something in the center of the field and almost met in hand-to-hand combat.

And just a few minutes later, Alexander performed the perfect discount on Samuel Gigot after filing the standard. However, Ivanov, having watched the replay, canceled the Frenchman's goal because of the obvious offside.

But in the first minute added, Sobolev distinguished himself on his own. After giving Bakayev from the right flank, Alexander struck his head on target with a rebound from the crossbar. Tedesco, celebrating a goal, gestured for the judges to turn to VAR for help.

However, Spartak failed to keep the score until the break. In the third minute added, Zenit stepped forward again. Once again, the right flank of the red-white defense failed. Dziuba easily won the fight against Gaponov and threw the ball at Malcom, who left Maslov and performed a perfect cross on Kuzyaev.

Ozdoev’s toughest tackle and Osorio’s controversial martial arts with Ayrton

In the second half, “Spartak” had no choice but to go forward in an attempt to recoup. Opponent calmly gave the red-white ball and went on the defensive. 

Hacking her Tedesco wards was not easy. Often, the attacks of the guests came down to innings from the flanks in the direction of Sobolev. But after an hour of the game, Alexander barely moved his legs and soon completely dropped out of the game. The same could be said about Larsson, because the Swede almost never met with the ball. 

One dangerous moment after the break, Sobolev still created. 15 minutes before the final whistle, after a shot from the right flank, the striker seemed to beat his head, for sure, but didn’t get into the far corner. By that time, Tedesco also threw Guus Til and Nikolai Rasskazov into battle.

Semak responded with the release of Ozdoev and Yordan Osorio, who was called to close Ayrton, who felt his game.

And two Latinos shortly before the end of the match witnessed one of the most controversial episodes of the match. The Brazilian at speed burst into the penalty area from the left flank and fell after contact with the Venezuelan's elbow. On the television picture, it seemed that the Zenit footballer had an accentuated hand movement, but the judge did not even watch the replay. 

Another controversial moment occurred already in the last minutes, when Ozdoev flew all the same to Ayrton in the ankle with his straight leg. Ivanov managed a yellow card.

Spartak did not have enough forces for the final assault. In the time added by the referee, Semak threw Seastian Driussi into battle with Alexei Sutormin, and they helped the Petersburgers keep the ball in the wrong half. The red and white in the end did not have a single approach.

Thus, “Zenith” reached the final of the Cup of Russia, in which it will be an unequivocal favorite, and took a broad step towards the design of the “golden double”. Spartak lost the last hopes of playing in European competitions next season. However, after the game in St. Petersburg, the fans of the team once again had questions for the judge.