The program of the second round of the Russian football championship ended with the match between Rostov and Zenit. Petersburgers were absent from Valery Karpin's wards for only three and a half weeks, having managed to win the Cup and the Super Cup of the country during this time, and also to start a new RPL competition with a victory over Rotor. The Rostovites also approached the first home game of the season with three points earned, beating Tambov away.
During Zenit's last visit to Rostov-on-Don, the team was unrecognizable. Sergey Semak brought a lot of young players and released only three legionnaires in the starting lineup. Now only three Russians entered the field from the first minutes. There could have been more if not for the injury of Artyom Dziuba. Even in previous matches, he complained of back pain and this time he stayed at home. Semak released Sebastian Driussi instead, who in Volgograd just confirmed that he can successfully play in one bundle with Serdar Azmun.
Rostov as a whole has retained its core, being strengthened by Ivelin Popov, who missed the last game with Zenit due to disqualification. The owners did not spend a second on the buildup and immediately began to create problems for the Petersburgers. Already in the first minute, Malcolm in a single combat with Evgeny Chernov hit his opponent in the face and received a warning. The Brazilian himself restored the status quo on yellow cards, forcing Matthias Normann to foul on himself.
Mikhail Kerzhakov experienced even more unpleasant moments at the beginning of the match. His mistake almost led to a goal against Zenit already in the fourth minute, if Pavel Mamaev had more carefully disposed of the rebound in his direction. He immediately got a second chance to excel thanks to the pass of Alexei Ionov, but this time the goalkeeper played much more reliably and closed the top corner.
The starting assault of "Rostov" was crowned with a failed goal, in which Dejan Lovren could be involved. Horvat, who had already played at Rostov-Arena during the World Championship, in a single combat with Eldor Shomurodov knocked the ball straight into the legs of the overclocked Ionov. The midfielder immediately took aim and hit the goal, but the score was not opened - he shot from an obvious offside position.
After that the guests started playing in full force. First, Malcolm hit the bar after Azmun's discount, and then tried to hit his head, but hit Chernov in the elbow. After checking for VAR, referee Pavel Kukuyan appointed a penalty, at the same time punishing the defender with a yellow card.
Azmun approached the "point" in the 24th minute. The first kick on the goal of the former team did not work out - Sergei Pesyakov was able to hit the ball with his feet. But in the second attempt, the Iranian was already accurate and scored the first goal this season, without becoming much of a celebration.
At the end of the first half, Azmun could have made a double. After an excellent pass by Driussi in the fall through himself, the Iranian striker was already hitting almost an empty goal, but missed the target. Malcolm, who started this attack, soon tried to take the game into his own hands, but Pesyakov did not take his feints and calmly reflected the blow into the near corner. At the break, the teams left with the score 1: 0 in favor of Zenit.
In the second half of the match, the Russian champions no longer forced events and gave up the initiative. “Rostov” responded to one of the unsuccessful attacks by Driussi staged a counter-attack, which Yaroslav Rakitsky had to stop at the cost of a yellow card. Two minutes later, the hosts almost bounced back - Mamaev found himself with the ball six meters from someone else's goal, but missed the target. His partners continued to create moments, only there were no more dangerous ones than this one.
"Zenith" did not establish an attacking game, and the guests increasingly began to differ from the negative side. Dennis Hadzhikadunich twice found himself on the lawn after the jerks of the opponent, but only Azmun was punished for this, while Driussi escaped the yellow card. After a series of substitutions, the Petersburgers' style of play did not change, they still had to fight back in violation of the rules. In the 78th minute, Rakitskiy knocked down Baktiyor Zainutdinov in a subcategory and received a second warning - the defender would not play in the next home game against CSKA.
"Rostov" got a chance to get at least a draw, especially since his players continued to control the course of the game in the second half, but they did not come up with any insoluble problems for Kerzhakov. Zenit not only kept the lead, but also increased it three minutes before the end of regular time. A rare free kick near Rostov's goal ended with Lovren's debut goal as part of the St. Petersburg team. Horvath jumped to an unattainable height, trying to close the canopy of Douglas Santos, and sent the ball along a trajectory that Pesyakov did not take.
For the third time in a row, Rostov lost to Zenit, which became the third team after CSKA and Lokomotiv, which finished the second round without points loss. Petersburgers also have not conceded a single goal, which apart from them can only boast of the "railroad" and "Dynamo".