Controversial penalty kicks and goals after ricochets: how Arsenal and Dynamo knocked Zenit and Spartak out of the Russian Cup

Defeat of "Spartak" in the Moscow derby

The holding of the match between Dynamo and Spartak was initially under a big question.

At the beginning of the week, the media reported that the derby could be carried over.

However, the joint commission of the Russian Football Union (RFU) and the Russian Premier League (RPL) recognized the VTB Arena field as fit for the game. 

The head coach of the red and white Domenico Tedesco also spoke out against the transfer.

“If possible, we want to play.

We know what to think about the health of the players.

One of the alternatives is to move the start time of the match from 19:30 to 15:30.

But I understand that this is a question of television and fans, ”the expert said.

Yes, and on the day of the match in Moscow warmed up to minus 10 degrees Celsius, and accordingly, according to the rules, the meeting could be safely held on time.

And the fans were not frightened by the frost.

So, on Saturday morning it became known that the fans of the guests had bought all the tickets intended for them.

Tedesco's tactical arrangement was also quite unexpected for football fans.

Many wondered if the German would go to change the scheme in the new year, but they could hardly imagine that he would do it in the first match.

The four defenders in the line were Pavel Maslov, Samuel Zhigot, Georgy Dzhikia and Ayrton.

On the flanks of the midfield are Victor Moses and Roman Zobnin.

Obviously, such a decision of the compatriot surprised Sandro Schwartz.

Spartak actively started the match and in the first minutes simply suppressed the opponent.

Ayrton and Moses, who regularly changed positions, were especially active on the left.

But Dynamo quickly came to their senses and created a couple of unpleasant moments at the gates of Alexander Maksimenko.

And in the 15th minute, the referee Kirill Levnikov appointed an extremely controversial penalty.

After filing a corner, the ball seemed to hit Moses in the shoulder, but the referee, looking at the replay, pointed to the "point".

The penalty kick was confidently implemented by Daniil Fomin.

This development of events unsettled the red and white people.

They continued to possess the ball, but they did it without emotion and practically without aggravation.

The hosts, on the other hand, fled over and over again in dangerous counterattacks.

Spartak's newcomer Jorrit Hendrix, acting in the support zone just below Nail Umyarov, could not keep up with his counterpart and generally made a huge number of mistakes.

The blue and white fled to someone else's half of the field in the amount of five or six people and created chances.

So, after half an hour of the game, Fomin could have made a double, but almost from the penalty spot he miraculously shot higher.

"Spartak" Anton Shunin did not worry at all.

Ezequiel Ponce and Jordan Larsson were reliably covered by defenders, and Zobnin on the right flank almost did not receive the ball.

To provide Roman with greater freedom, Tedesco after the break moved him to the left flank, and sent Moses to the right.

And this castling immediately had a positive effect on the game of "Spartak".

The team even managed to strike the first shot on target.

Larsson, having received a cutting pass, burst into someone else's penalty area, beat the defender and shot into the far corner.

Shunin managed to put his foot out, and then coped with not the strongest finishing off Moses.

Schwartz reacted to the episode as if Dynamo had already won the trophy.

And literally in the next attack, the goalkeeper of the Russian national team again played as reliably as possible, coping with the heel of Zobnin.

However, the period of activity of the guests did not last long again.

Quite quickly, the speeds dropped to almost zero, and the possession of the red and white became absolutely sterile without creating dangerous moments.

Is that in one of the episodes Larsson fell into someone else's penalty area after a single combat with Roman Ordets, but Levnikov did not point out the "point".

Hoping to escape, Tedesco threw another forward, Alexander Sobolev, into battle, who replaced Umyarov.

At the same time, Zobnin took the third position in the match - in the support zone, and Larsson went to the right edge.

The Russian striker immediately struck dangerously at someone else's goal.

Schwartz, on the other hand, released young Konstantin Tyukavin on the field a little earlier, who showed himself great in winter test matches.

And the replacement fully justified itself, because already eight minutes after joining the game, the 18-year-old striker scored his debut goal for Dynamo. 

Moreover, the goal was beautiful.

The blue and white have earned a standard on the left flank.

Sebastian Shimanski made a cross into the penalty area, and Tyukavin, ahead of Gigot, ferried the projectile into the near corner with his heel.

After that, it was almost impossible to save Spartak.

Finally, everything became clear when Moses received the second yellow card for disrupting the attack.

So, for the first time since 2016, Dynamo reached the quarterfinals of the Russian Cup and, for the first time since 1985, beat their principal rival at home with a two-goal difference.

Arsenal's sensational victory in St. Petersburg

In another match of the day, Zenit hosted Arsenal.

In this meeting, the organizers initially did not have to worry about the frost, because the Gazprom Arena stadium has a retractable roof that is able to protect football players and fans from bad weather.

As for the confrontation itself, the Petersburgers looked like clear favorites, given the weak results of the Tula, who won the last victory in the RPL in mid-October.

And Sergei Semak did not take care of his leaders and threw all the strongest into the battle with the exception of Vilmar Barrios, who passed a positive test for coronavirus.

And Malcolm could not enter the field due to injury.

Serdar Azmun, Douglas dos Santos, Sebastian Driussi also missed the game for various reasons.

Nevertheless, the beginning of the meeting did not bode well for the Petersburgers, who calmly took the ball under their control and carried out attack after attack, mainly trying to break through to someone else's penalty area through the flanks.

True, Artyom Dziuba, who played his 200th match for Zenit, was not very noticeable in such a game.

And when the hosts opened an account in the middle of the first half, it seemed they would not have any problems in the future.

After a corner kick and Deyan Lovren's kick, Artur Nigmatullin knocked the ball straight into Daler Kuzyaev, from which the projectile bounced into the net.

However, Arsenal did not think to give up and quickly restored the status quo on the scoreboard.

The standard position also helped the team of Dmitry Parfyonov excel.

Kirill Panchenko struck from a free-kick, and the ball with a rebound from Magomed Ozdoev unexpectedly ended up in the net.

And in the 37th minute, the guests took the lead.

And again Panchenko was in the spotlight, who imposed a fight on his opponents and sent the ball towards the goal with his head.

Lovren, according to the judge, had to stop the ball on the ribbon with his hand.

However, this did not save his team from a goal.

An extremely controversial penalty kick was confidently converted by Robert Bauer.

In the second half, the favorite had no choice but to go ahead with the whole team.

However, Semak's charges still did not succeed in practically anything.

It was noticeable that they lacked physical fitness.

The hosts were in possession of the ball, but they did it so slowly that the opponent managed to block all the free zones. 

In fact, only Nigmatullin, who was still hesitant on the outs, created the edge at the Arsenal goal.

But Dzyuba and partners were unable to take advantage of the goalkeeper's mistakes.

Artyom played an extremely nondescript match and was remembered only by sluggish attempts to argue with the judge Stanislav Vasiliev.

Closer to the final whistle, Semak released young Stanislav Krapukhin and Alexander Erokhin to help him, but this did not help either.

Zenit not only did not create dangerous chances, but also almost missed the third in the counterattack.

So, after an hour of play, Panchenko struck heavily under the crossbar from the right corner of the penalty area, but Andrey Lunev coped with this shot.

And in the 74th minute, Evgeny Lutsenko went one on one with the opponent's goalkeeper and sent the ball into the net, but the refereeing team canceled the goal after a short pause due to a small offside position for the striker. 

Nevertheless, the final whistle recorded an absolutely logical victory for the Tula.

The current trophy holder did not even manage to organize the final assault and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.