Goals by Dziuba and Miranchuk, two passes by Rybchinsky and sending off Slutsky: how Zenit and Lokomotiv started in RPL with victories

Driussi's goal and pass and Dziuba's successful streak

For the second year in a row in the first match of the season, the reigning champion of the country examined the debutant of the Russian Premier League. In the past, Zenit hosted Tambov in their field, and this time they went to visit Rotor. The last time Volgograd played in the strongest division of the country was in 2004, so the excitement around the meeting was colossal.

Despite the status of the guests, the blue-white-blue took control of the game and opened the scoring already in the 21st minute. Sebastian Driussi did a great job in pressing and made a selection from the opponent's penalty, after which he executed a cross along the endline. Artyom Dziuba was left without guardianship and freely ferried the ball into the net. One of the best scorers of the last championship opened the scoring with his goals in the new one. 

Nevertheless, the "Rotor" did not become limp, but liberated and began to increasingly create problems for Mikhail Kerzhakov, who continues to replace the injured Andrei Lunev. In the first 45 minutes, the hosts created several good chances, and the greatest danger came from Kamil Mullin. The most striking episode with his participation occurred in the 36th minute, when the pupil of Lokomotiv first struck, and then he himself tried to finish off the ball into the net. The goalkeeper was on the alert.

In the second half, Zenit's advantage became even more impressive. Although he did not often disturb Alexander Dovbnya, he kept the goalkeeper in suspense on a constant basis. For the first 15 minutes I especially remembered either the kick or the serve performed by Yaroslav Rakitsky. The Ukrainian defender joined the attack and was going to execute the canopy, but the ball flew under the crossbar of the hosts' goal. It turned out unexpectedly, but not very dangerous. As for the rest, Rotor played quite confidently in defense, and one of the leaders of the defensive line was Cedric Gogua, rented from CSKA.

Despite the opportunity to make five substitutions, both head coaches did not let fresh players onto the field for a long time. Alexander Khatskevich first used the services of the substitutes only in the 63rd minute, throwing Ilya Zhigulev, rented from Krasnodar, into the battle, and Sergei Semak waited until the 70th minute. Top scorer of the past season Serdar Azmun and star Malcolm left the lawn, and their place was taken by Emiliano Rigoni and Yuri Zhirkov. It is noteworthy that the Russian midfielder is the only active Zenit player who previously met with Rotor in the RPL. True, in 2004 he defended the colors of CSKA.

As it turned out, Semak guessed right with a substitution, because it was Rigoni who became one of the creators of the second goal against Rotor. Emiliano broke through on the right edge and shot Dziube under the blow. The pass did not reach the forward, and the ball ricocheted from the defender went straight into the hands of Dovbne. But the goalkeeper made an offensive mistake and could not fix it. Driussi arrived in time for the finishing move and doubled the number of points for performance, which allowed him to strengthen his status as the main character of the meeting. It is noteworthy that for the entire previous championship, Sebastian scored only six (4 + 2) points.

Two passes from Rybchinsky and the removal of Slutsky and Begich

Like a year ago, the silver medalists of the Russian championship faced a test in the person of Rubin. The wards of Leonid Slutsky looked quite impressive in the final part of the last championship, and in the offseason they seriously strengthened. Alexander Zuev was bought out from Rostov, Oliver Abilgor - from Aalborg, and Mikhail Merkulov, Oleg Shatov and Djordje Despotovich moved to Kazan as free agents. True, only the ex-defender of the Urals found a place in the base. Despotovich remained on the bench, and Shatov did not make it into the application at all due to injury.

Lokomotiv also did not have several representatives from the base. Stanislav Magkeev and Vladislav Ignatiev remained on the bench. At the same time, another participant in the event, Anton Miranchuk, was not at all in the application. The reason for this was the disqualification for busting yellow cards. Also, there was no place for Eder at the start, and Fyodor Smolov, who returned from the loan at Celta, took over the role of the only forward.

Alexey Miranchuk became the main hero of the beginning of the match. He took advantage of Dmitry Rybchinsky's pass and extended his successful streak against Rubin. In the last championship, he hit the gates of Kazan three times, and in the second round he was marked with a victorious double.

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Throughout the half, the teams acted on a collision course and practically did not stay in the central zone. And the third ten-minute period was the most eventful. First, "Rubin" carried out an exemplary counterattack, led by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. The former player of the red-greens single-handedly walked half the field and with a thin pass brought Ivan Ignatiev one on one with Marinato Guilherme, collided with him and ended up on the lawn. Nevertheless, the chief referee Sergei Ivanov did not point out the point, and the video assistant also did not see the violation.

It is all the more offensive for Rubin that already three minutes later Lokomotiv has consolidated its advantage. Rybchinsky again left out of work the guardian and acted as an assistant. Dmitry made a raid from the flank to the center and rolled the ball back. This time, Dmitry Barinov became the addressee of the transfer, who shot freely on goal. Yuri Dupin could not help out the owners.

Meanwhile, according to Match TV commentator Konstantin Genich, Rubin's head coach was removed during the break. According to the journalist, Slutsky came into conflict with Ivanov and in a rather harsh form expressed dissatisfaction with his work. The judge replied that the specialist may not go to the second half, but he said that he would do it anyway, and the referee would have to show him a red card in front of everyone. In the end, this is what happened. After a long dialogue, Leonid Viktorovich went to the room under the stands.

Unlike Slutsky, Silvie Begich did not spend half an hour on the field. During the break, the Croat entered the field instead of 21-year-old Ilya Samoshnikov, and already in the 65th minute received a direct red card. First, he allowed Smolov to take the ball away from him, after which he threw the striker onto the lawn. Ivanov considered this a "foul of the last resort" and left the hosts not only without a coach, but also without a football player of the center of defense.

In the remaining time, Marko Nikolic released Ignatiev and Magkeev on the field, but this did not help to realize the numerical advantage. But even at their gates, the guests did not allow anything dangerous to be created. Even the presence of Despotovich and Denis Makarov on the field did not contribute to this. I only remember the clever canopy from the corner performed by Darko Jevtich. The Swiss tried to twist the ball on target, but Guilherme was vigilant.