Azmun's double and Vlašić's beautiful goal: how Zenit beat CSKA and became the leader of the RPL

The central match of the third round of the Russian Premier League ended in St. Petersburg. Serdar Azmun's double helped Zenit take the upper hand over CSKA and extend the league's successful streak. Sergei Semak's wards scored nine points and became the sole leaders of the national championship.

Recently, St. Petersburgers have become one of the most uncomfortable opponents for the army. In the last 14 matches, the red-blues have won only one victory and suffered seven defeats. The latest success was dated November 2018. Then the charges of Viktor Goncharenko sent two unanswered goals into the gates of Andrei Lunev, and Fedor Chalov and Arnor Sigurdsson were noted for accurate strikes. It is noteworthy that if CSKA almost completely retained that composition, having lost only Rodrigo Bekao and Dmitry Efremov, then Zenit was renewed by more than half. Evgeny Chernov, Luis Neto, Claudio Marchisio, Oleg Shatov and Robert Mac left the club, while Emmanuel Mammana went on loan to Sochi.

As always, special attention was paid to the chief arbiter of the meeting. This time it turned out to be Vitaly Meshkov, who previously received only two appointments for the matches between Zenit and CSKA. He last served in a team confrontation in 2015. Then the rivals dispersed in peace.

In comparison with the previous round, there were changes in the compositions of both teams. At Zenit, Artyom Dziuba recovered from injury, as a result of which Emiliano Rigoni remained in reserve. At the same time, Sergei Semak solved the problem with the absence of the disqualified Yaroslav Rakitsky in a rather original way and assigned the nominal defensive player Douglas Santos to the center of defense. At the same time, Yuri Zhirkov took his place on the left flank.

At CSKA, Nikola Vlasic returned to the cage and immediately got into the number of starting 11. What can not be said about Fedor Chalov, who once again remained out of the application. But from the first minutes on the field of "Gazprom Arena" appeared Icelandic defender Hördur Magnusson, as well as Argentine striker Adolfo Gaich. The footballer nicknamed "Tank" was first included in the team and was the only forward, while the winner of the winning goal against Tambov, Ilya Shkurin, remained on the bench.

Just two months ago, the teams met each other at the VEB Arena, and then by the eighth minute the Petersburgers were leading by two goals. The Muscovites clearly took into account the mistakes and were more collected in defense, not allowing the trio in the person of Dziuba, Malcolm and Serdar Azmun to dominate near their own penalty area. Yes, the hosts had an advantage, but for some time they could not create any special problems for the guests. All creativity was limited to flank serves and individual actions of the former Barcelona striker. At the same time, at the beginning of the attacks, the absence of Rakitskiy, who had an excellent first pass, was felt.

But the pressure of “Zenith” still bore fruit. At the 19th minute, another throw on Dziuba turned out to be accurate, and the forward of the Russian national team won the fight on the second floor and made a discount in the penalty area. Igor Diveev forgot about one of the two top scorers of the past season and allowed Azmun to shoot Akinfeev without hindrance. The Iranian distinguished himself in the second match in a row.

But already seven minutes later, Diveev rehabilitated himself and acted as an assistant in the episode with a CSKA goal. The central defender dragged the ball into someone else's half of the field and left it to Vlašić. He at first tried to find options for developing the attack, but did not find any and took the initiative into his own hands. Nicola moved to the center, removed Vilmar Barrios and delivered a magnificent blow to the far corner. Mikhail Kerzhakov was powerless.

At the end of the half, the fans witnessed not only several dangerous episodes, but also conflicts. CSKA's top scorer Konstantin Kuchaev perked up and had two chances to score, and Vlašić got a double. But if the Russian did not have enough accuracy, then Kerzhakov prevented the Croat. At the same time, the former Everton midfielder managed to make a mark with a minus sign, having received a yellow card for hitting Zhirkov with his elbow in the eyebrow. The veteran of "Zenith" opened a dissection, and the medical team had to go to the field.

Not without controversial points. So, during one of the guests' offensives, the ball hit the hand of Magomed Ozdoev, but Meshkov did not react in any way. Alexei Sukhoi, video assistant of the referee, did not tell him either. The teams left for the break with the same score as their previous confrontation in the Northern capital ended.

Even at the end of the first half, Kirill Nababkin was injured, and during the break it turned out that the defender could not continue the meeting. As a result, Viktor Vasin, who became one of the antiheroes of the previous match between CSKA and Zenit, took his place in the top three. Then he repeatedly lost the riding duel to Dziube, and in the episode with Malcolm's goal he waved his foot past the ball.

The beginning of the second half turned out to be very calm, and the most notable event was the double replacement of Goncharenko. Gaich was not remembered for his successful actions and went to rest, and Konstantin Maradishvili accompanied him, in whose liabilities there was a yellow card. But if Yaka Biyol's appearance was quite expected, then the appearance of Nair Tiknizyan could be called a surprise. The student of the academy settled down on the left flank, and Vlašić took on the role of the “false nine”.

However, the tactical transformations of Goncharenko did not help. Petersburgers took the ball for themselves and began to besiege the enemy's possessions. At first, all the danger came from Malcolm, who made solo passes and hit from outside the penalty area, but 20 minutes before the end of regular time, Azmun scored a double. The positional attack ended with the transfer of Vyacheslav Karavaev to the oncoming Iranian, who irresistibly shot into the corner and came out on top in the RPL scorers race. According to this indicator, he caught up with Christian Noboa.

Nine minutes before the end, CSKA made all possible five substitutions, while Zenit did not make a single one. Vlasic and the tired Kuchaev left the field, and instead of them Shkurin and Sigurdsson appeared. However, this did not help the guests to tip the scales to their side. Moreover, the hosts were closer to increasing the difference in the score, and Azmun missed the best chance. Petersburgers succeeded in a lightning-fast counterattack, during which Malcolm brought Serdar out one-on-one with Akinfeev. But the Iranian was not so skillful in processing and could not pierce.

In the very ending, the opponents exchanged dangerous attacks, but the hosts were again closer to the goal. They responded to the headbutt of Magnusson with attempts by Dziuba and substitute Alexander Erokhin, but they all turned out to be inaccurate. Zenit took over CSKA at home and extended the winning streak to three meetings. Semak's wards scored nine points and became the sole leaders of the RPL. CSKA with six points are on the fourth line.