Two high-profile referee scandals and six dry away victories: what will be remembered for the first round of the RPL

Zenit began their defense of the title of champion of Russia with a guest victory over Rotor, who returned to the elite division. CSKA, Krasnodar, Rostov, Dynamo and Lokomotiv also won their away games without conceding a single goal. Rubin's head coach Leonid Slutsky was sent off the field for disagreeing with the decisions of the referee Sergei Ivanov, and after the meeting broke out in an angry tirade about refereeing in the national championship. Another high-profile scandal happened in the match "Spartak" - "Sochi", in which Vasily Kazartsev put two dubious penalties against the red and white. The main events of the first round of the RPL of the new season are in the RT material.

Dzagoev's injury and Gaich's debut

The new RPL season opened in Khimki, where the team of the same name, which returned to the Premier League after 11 years of absence, hosted CSKA. The clear favorites of the meeting were the army men who took fourth place in the previous draw of the Russian championship.

However, the hosts managed to surpass the rival both in the number of shots (18:14) and in the number of shots on target (4: 3). But Dmitry Gunko's wards did not realize their chances, and the guests scored two unanswered goals in the first half.

The main character of the meeting was Konstantin Kuchaev, who first distinguished himself on his own, and then performed an assist to Alan Dzagoev. It is curious that in the last season of the RPL, the 22-year-old midfielder did not score a single point for performance. Dzagoev scored his first goal in 889 days.

Unfortunately, at the beginning of the second half, Alan was replaced due to another injury. But in the end Adolfo Gaich made his debut with CSKA. In the time added by the referee, the Argentine newcomer could even hit someone else's goal, but hit the crossbar, closing the partner's transfer in a swift counterattack.

It should be noted that for the first time in 21 years, not a single legionnaire was included in the starting lineup of CSKA. The last time CSKA started the Russian championship game without foreigners in April 1999.

Mamaev's 50th goal and one hit by Tambov on target

Rostov started the season with a victory. Valery Karpin's wards beat Tambov with a minimum score on the road in Saransk. In order to score three points, the team needed a goal from Pavel Mamaev in the middle of the first half. After a lumbago from the right flank and a ricochet from the defender's leg, the footballer turned the ball into the near corner of Sergei Ryzhikov's goal.

By the way, the goal became the 50th anniversary of his career for the 31-year-old midfielder. And after returning from prison, he distinguished himself for the third time (not counting two goals in the Parimatch Premier Cup in Qatar). “Tambov” practically did not threaten the other's goal and scored with only one shot on target.

Three goals of Krasnodar in 13 minutes and a double by Cabell

And the current bronze medalist Krasnodar defeated the uncompromising Ufa away. In the absence of Daniil Fomin and Oston Urunov, who left the team, the Bashkortostanians were unable to resist the southerners.

If in the first half the hosts kept their goal intact thanks to the saves of Alexander Belenov, then at the beginning of the second they conceded three goals in 13 minutes. The head coach of Ufa, Vadim Evseev, had to complain that his players seemed to be "left in the locker room."

As part of Krasnodar, Remy Cabella scored the first double. And Wanderson gave two assists. An experienced Swedish striker Markus Berg finished the match.

Unassigned penalty and injury in collision with own goalkeeper

But "Arsenal" and "Akhmat" in Tula did not manage to hit each other's goal. Thus, the team from the Chechen Republic in the debut match under the leadership of Andrei Talalaev was forced to be content with a draw.

a burn in the ointment for the Gunners was the injury of defender Alexander Denisov at the beginning of the second half. And he got it in a collision with his own goalkeeper Yegor Shamov. While playing on the way out, the goalkeeper accidentally knocked his teammate in the head. The victim could not continue the game.

Three goals in the opening and Tedesco's apology

The most scandalous match of the tour took place in Moscow, where Spartak missed the victory over Sochi in the last minutes. At the same time, the red and white started the game excellently and by the tenth minute, thanks to the accurate shots of Alexander Sobolev and Jordan Larsson, they secured a comfortable advantage in the score.

However, the guests quickly won back one ball from a controversial penalty. Dmitry Poloz distinguished himself. And in the 88th minute Sochi scored the second penalty, the appointment of which raised even more questions. This time Alexandra Maksimenko and Christian Noboa threw the ball in different corners.

It is curious that the decisive foul was earned by 19-year-old debutant Anatoly Nemchenko, who played the first game in the RPL. Moreover, in this episode, the young footballer, after a collision with Samuel Gigot, even suffered a knee injury.

So Spartak failed to beat Sochi in the second match in a row. In July, the red and white lost to their opponent on the road with a minimum score. To the credit of Domenico Tedesco, he did not blame the judges for all the troubles and found the strength to apologize to the fans.

“We scored twice, started well, but lost a little in pressure, intensity and speed. We had an excellent second half, we didn't play on hold. There were also counter-attacks, our attack group played well ”, - quotes the words of the head coach of“ Spartak ”“ Championship ”.

Fomin's debut and Shimanski's assistant double

With the exception of the red and white in the first round, all the Moscow teams won. So Dynamo beat Ural 2: 0 away. Yekaterinburg residents had more possession of the ball, but did not manage to break through Anton Shunin. The blue-and-white counter-attack at the end of the first half and a corner kick at the beginning of the second brought success. Goals were scored by Clinton N'Zhier and Sylvester Igbun. And two assists were given by Sebastian Shimanski.

Also worth noting is the debut of midfielder Daniil Fomin, who has moved from Ufa, to Dynamo. He spent the entire match on the field and scored a free-kick in the crossbar in the first half of the meeting. The player also made 49 assists, 85.7% of which were accurate. On both counts, Fomin became one of the best in the team.

Rotor's return and Driussi's performance

Volgograd hosted the first match of the top division of the Russian championship in 16 years. Local "Rotor", which has not played in official matches since March, got the most difficult opponent. Zenit came to visit the RPL newcomers, which during the same time not only had a constant playing practice, but also won three trophies.

Among the charges of Sergei Semak, Sebastian Driussi especially tried to prove himself. At the end of last season, he was one of the main candidates to leave St. Petersburg due to the new limit on foreign players, but now his chances of staying with the team have increased.

On the 21st minute of the match, the Argentinian took the ball away from someone else's penalty area and passed the ball to Artem Dzyuba, who immediately opened the scoring and caught up with the Hulk on goals for Zenit - both strikers scored 55 goals. After substitutions in the second half, Driussi moved from the flank closer to someone else's goal and scored himself after the mistake of Alexander Dovbni, who released the ball from his hands. "Rotor", in the composition of which there were almost no changes after the promotion in the class, did not show serious resistance and began the season with defeats.

Slutsky's removal and Rybchinsky's assists

The round ended with a match between Rubin and Lokomotiv in Kazan, which was also remembered for the referee scandal. The hosts were defeated with a score of 0: 2 and were dissatisfied with the work of the chief referee Sergei Ivanov.

Wards of Leonid Slutsky almost immediately after the starting whistle were in the role of catch-up. Alexey Miranchuk passed a pass from the flank to Dmitry Rybchinsky, who beat the defender and returned the ball back, after which the midfielder opened the scoring with a shot into the far corner.

Kazan went to recoup and could achieve their goal in the middle of the half. Ivan Ignatiev was knocked down by Guilherme in the penalty area and the hosts had the right to count on the appointment of a penalty kick, but neither Ivanov nor the VAR team recorded violations. This demoralized Rubin so much that he immediately missed the second goal from Dmitry Barinov, who scored from the serve of the same Rybchinsky.

For the second half, Slutsky did not withdraw the team. The coach was so dissatisfied with the work of the referee that he was sent off the field. Kazan refused to surrender and played enough for at least one return goal, but still Guilherme played the match to zero. For the sixth time in the round, the victory went to the guests.