The match at Otkritie Arena meant a lot to the mentors of Spartak and Zenit.
This was indicated by the seriousness of Domenico Tedesco and Sergei Semak, with which they answered questions on the eve of the game.
The first was dominated by the need to confirm the validity of Muscovites' claims to the first line.
Moreover, earlier "Spartak" lost to another direct rival CSKA.
Zenit has not yet won this Russian Premier League game, and has not even scored in Moscow.
Here the only defeat so far happened - from Dynamo.
Another failure could have developed something like a capital complex among the Petersburgers.
And, even worse, to cause discontent with the club's management, which has repeatedly made it clear that it does not see Spartak as an equal opponent.
At least, the general director of Zenit, Alexander Medvedev, said that the glove thrown by the red-and-white gloves did not reach St. Petersburg.
Realizing the exceptional importance of the game, which some called the main event of the fall in the RPL, people who were not indifferent to Zenit staged a psychological attack on Spartak.
For example, the former team coach Vlastimil Petrzhela called the Spartak team "whiners", and ex-captain Vladislav Radimov posted a selection of Alexander Sobolev's simulations on Twitter.
The VIP fan of blue-white-blue Mikhail Boyarsky went even further, noting that the clubs would fight for the prestige of the two cities, and the loss of his favorites would be a blow in the stomach.
Zenit's current defender Denis Terentyev even promised to arrange barbecue at the stadium in Tushino, which angered the opposing camp.
By the way, he spent the whole match in reserve.
Andrey Arshavin put it more restrainedly.
In his opinion, fans are able to forgive Zenit for a poor final result in the championship for the victory over Spartak.
Of the three Zenit players who had injuries, two came out on the field from the first minutes - Dejan Lovren and Malcom.
Serdar Azmun joined them in the middle of the second half, but did not create any special problems for the Spartak defense.
Nail Umyarov, who was eliminated due to injury, was replaced by Oston Urunov at Spartak.
This week, the red and white have leased Nikolay Rasskazov and Reziuan Mirzov.
Taking into account the injuries, their bench was significantly inferior to the Petersburg one.
In fact, Tedesco could only count on Sobolev in the front line.
The blue-white-blue reservists were not inferior in names to their partners, whom Semak released at the start.
Zenit started the match very actively.
Taking possession of the ball, the guests immediately delivered it to the penalty area of "Spartak".
Already in the second minute, the first blow to the goal of Alexander Maksimenko was struck with his head by Andrey Mostovoy.
It turned out not too dangerous - right into the hands of the Spartak goalkeeper.
In the first half, Mostovoy was one of the most prominent on the pitch.
It was he who, in the 22nd minute, recorded the second strike of the Petersburgers as an asset: now the midfielder threatened the goal from the penalty line.
Once again, Maksimenko did not give cause for concern.
It was noticeable that the teams were very nervous.
At some points, the players tried to play more reliably and hold the ball, and not go on the attack and expose their area of responsibility.
At Spartak, Zelimkhan Bakaev tried to take on the role of leader.
Already in the opening, he scored crosses into the penalty area, first from the right flank, then from the left.
Bakaev also appeared in the center of the field, but often his actions did not bring the desired effect.
The midfielder allowed a lot of marriage and seemed to be angry with himself about it.
Without Umyarov, Alex Kral felt more confident in the center of the field.
Finding himself with the ball, the Czech did not seek to give it to his neighbor, but was looking for a partner in the attack.
In turn, Urunov traditionally pulled to the left.
Unlike his previous appearances on the substitution, he did not risk going into a stroke, as if demonstrating a refusal to take risks.
This was where Tedesco's work was felt.
Probably, the mentor asked Urunov to play more team football.
It seemed that "Zenith" has a margin of safety and conserves strength.
In the second half of the first 45-minute, Spartak had to endure several unpleasant minutes, when the Petersburgers swirled their own attacks on the approaches to their penalty carousel.
In one of the offensives, the guests hit the ball three times in a row - and Maksimenko designed a kind of goalkeeper hat-trick, becoming the winner of these duels.
Forwards red and white Ezequiel Ponce and Jordan Larsson reminded of themselves only sporadically.
Only in the 37th minute did the Swede get the opportunity to escape to the operational space.
At the price of a yellow card, Larsson's breakthrough was stopped by Douglas Santos.
The teams were probably afraid of each other.
Zenit's browsers Santos and Vyacheslav Karavaev did not dare to go forward for a long time.
Semak's wards attacked with limited forces, but even this was enough to create tension near Maksimenko's possessions.
After the break, Zenit again tried to take control of the ball.
But Spartak got a chance to open an account.
Bakaev with a timely pass brought the inconspicuous Larsson to a rendezvous with Kerzhakov.
The forward called to the Swedish national team beat from the goalkeeper's corner, it seemed, for sure.
However, in an incomprehensible way, he sent the ball above the goal.
Tedesco instantly made a substitution, but removed from the field not Larsson, but Bakaev.
Sobolev entered the battle.
Thus, “Spartak” simultaneously had three nominal attackers on the field.
Sobolev began his epic in this match with a foul on Lovren in someone else's penalty area.
The Russian was very indignant at the decision of Pavel Kukuyan to fix his violation of the rules, aggressively waved his hands towards the judge and received a yellow card.
Subsequently, Sobolev took revenge from Lovren.
For fouls on him in riding martial arts, Vilmar Barrios earned warnings, followed by a Croat.
On 62 minutes Ponce burst into the penalty area from the left edge and hit the net from the outside.
Almost immediately the rule worked: if you do not score, they will score for you.
When we got the impression that Zenit was physically hooked, and Spartak, on the contrary, spread its wings and was preparing to take the decisive assault, there was a scoring attack by the guests.
Twice in a row, the players of Muscovites played incomprehensibly, allowing themselves to be robbed.
And if, after Urunov's mistake, his partners were able to fight back, then the next such moment was fatal for the home team.
The culprit was Larsson, who did not manage to get rid of the ball in time.
A cross into the penalty area of "Spartak" followed, where Dziuba won the air and conveniently threw the ball to Alexander Erokhin.
The midfielder left no chances for Maksimenko at close range.
Following Dziuba, he almost received a serious injury.
In the fight for the ball, Georgy Dzhikia dangerously stepped on his foot from behind.
The captain of the Petersburgers lay for a long time on the lawn and could hardly hold back his tears.
Azmun appeared at the edge of the field.
Contrary to the development of the situation, the Iranian replaced not Dziuba, but Mostovoy.
As part of "Spartak", substitutions also suggested themselves.
But Tedesco had no suitable shots to attack.
Therefore, the age defender Andrey Yeshchenko was sent to save the game.
Zenit, meanwhile, tried to keep the ball at home.
It was felt that experienced guests would be able to maintain a minimal advantage.
However, the ending remained with Spartak, who found strength for several more attacks.
The red and white could restore the status quo in the 80th minute, when, after a corner kick, the ball, touching Kerzhakov's fingers, hit the bar and bounced off the lone Ponce.
In front of the Argentine there was an open corner of the goal and a minimum distance.
Obviously not expecting such a gift from fate, he, like Larsson earlier, did not get into the "frame".
More successful was Ponce's third attempt in this match to break Kerzhakov.
In the endgame, Kral shone with his individual skill.
Having received the ball at the right corner of Zenit's penalty area, he dashed away from two opponents at once and then with a sharp movement sat down on the fifth point of Santos, conveniently rolling the ball to Ponce.
Now the Argentine hit not on strength, but on accuracy.
The result is 1: 1, and already in stoppage time, the forward also won the horse fight at his gate.
“After the goal was scored, we lost the thread of the game, began to put less pressure, dropped low and conceded,” explained Semak, who also noted that Zenit was dissatisfied with the outcome of the meeting.
And as Arshavin admitted, after 1: 1 "the smell of fried smelled, Spartak was closer to snatching victory."
For a two-week break in the championship because of the matches of the national teams "Zenit" and "Spartak" leave with the same number of points (21).
Red-white are inferior to blue-white-blue only in additional indicators.
CSKA loses two credits to them.