Slutsky's hope for revenge

The match between Spartak and Rubin aroused increased interest among fans.

First, the red and white had to rehabilitate themselves in front of their own fans for leaving the Russian Cup last week.

They conceded two unanswered goals in the derby from Dynamo and finished their performance in the tournament.

Secondly, Quincy Promes could make his debut game after returning to the team.

The footballer signed a contract with the club on Thursday and took part in training on Friday.

But it seemed that Domenico Tedesco would not dare to immediately throw the midfielder into battle.

However, the coach took a risk and not only included the tenth number in the application, but also released him on the field from the first minutes.

Moreover, Quincy took not his usual place on the left flank from Spartak, but a position on the right edge.

The second change in the roster concerned the attack line itself.

Ezequiel Ponce and Alexander Sobolev made up the duo of forwards this time, as Jordan Larsson missed the match due to too many yellow cards.

You can understand Tedesco, because the team needs glasses here and now, and there is no time for experiments.

On Saturday, Sochi defeated Arsenal and pushed Spartak out of third place in the RPL standings.

At the same time, in the event of a victory, the red and white got the opportunity to rise to the second line and reduce the gap from Zenit to four points.

Rubin also needed to gain three points in order not to lose hope of playing in European competitions.

Leonid Slutsky was also determined to take revenge on his opponent for two defeats last year.

In July, his players lost in Kazan - 1: 2, and two months later - in Moscow - 0: 2.

And in general, the guests last beat the red and white in the championship almost seven years ago - in April 2014.

Then they won a strong-willed home victory (2: 1) thanks to goals from Marko Devic and Alexander Prudnikov in the 92nd minute.

Yura Movsisyan scored in the opponent's squad.

Of the participants in that meeting, not a single person remained in the teams, except that Artyom Rebrov was on the bench.

Lapochkin's hard solution

However, even the return of Promes did not help make the first half really bright.

The game, in fact, was divided into episodes from the first minute.

Often the teams' attacks consisted of only a few passes, after which the referee Sergei Lapochkin blew another whistle, fixing the violation of the rules. 

There was enough marriage in the actions of the players, which regularly led to fouls.

Only in the first half was the referee forced to show six yellow cards, one of which turned red.

And the defender of the guests Alexander Zuev left the field after a tough clash with Moses.

Especially active "mustard plasters" collected on himself the technical Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

First, Samuel Gigot knocked him down in a hard tackle on the left flank.

15 minutes later Roman Zobnin was forced to shoot down the Georgian.

The team created moments mostly in spite of, not thanks.

Spartak had a slight advantage, but Tedesco's charges once again demonstrated that they did not feel very comfortable in a positional offensive.

Basically, they just loaded the ball into someone else's penalty area from the flanks.

Promes especially succeeded in this, every action of which the fans met with applause.

But it was felt that Quincy still lacks mutual understanding with partners.

His transmissions were often unaddressed, although he tried very hard.

In the middle of the half, the footballer from the Netherlands swapped flanks with Moses, but this did not help much.

As for the dangerous moments, they were almost never at the gate of Yuri Dupin.

I remember only the episode at the end of the first half, when Philip Uremovich at the last moment knocked the ball out from under Sobolev's feet, who was ready to hit an empty corner from a meter.

Rubin scored only with a couple of not the most dangerous shots on target.

So, Djordje Despotovich shot straight into the hands of Alexander Maksimenko from outside the penalty area.

The goalkeeper also coped with not the strongest long-range shot by Denis Makarov.

But in the third added minute, the Kazan midfielder played much more useful.

In his half of the field, he cleverly closed the ball from Zobnin and forced the Russian national team player to foul.

Lapochkin did not feel sorry for the offender and showed him a second yellow card.

Tedesco, who was caught by the camera at that moment on the podium, only ironically applauded, but, in fact, the removal turned out to be fair and completely flowed from the logic of chaotic rough play.

Canceled goal of Sobolev

The removal of Zobnin forced the coaching staff of the red and whites to change the formation.

The team returned to the scheme with three central defenders, and on the right flank was not the strongest footballer Moses in terms of destruction.

And already in the 54th minute, Kvaratskhelia took advantage of the Nigerian's weaknesses.

Georgian easily left the opponent, shifted from the edge to the center and performed a subtle pass into the penalty area to Despotovich.

Moses tried to correct his mistake and intercept the ball, but only corrected it for the Serb, who did not miss his chance.

After that, "Spartak" had no choice but to go forward.

Footballers of "Rubin" calmly placed themselves in their half of the field and began to defend themselves.

And again the red and white lacked an idea in the attack.

The hosts' offensive was absolutely chaotic.

The ball, as in the first half, was often delivered to the flanks, from where the canopies followed into someone else's penalty area.

But there the "second floor" was won by tall Uremovic, Karl Starfelt and Silvie Begich.

Promes didn't do too much either.

In search of the ball, he regularly shifted from the left edge to the center, but, as a rule, he did not have the opportunity to give a truly sharpening pass, since all the passes into the penalty area were closed.

For such a game, the red and white could only rely on standard provisions.

And one of them really helped them excel.

After Promes' filing from a corner, Gigot tweaked the ball to Sobolev, who delivered an accurate shot from a meter.

However, the line judge immediately raised the flag, signaling an offside position.

The angry striker of "Spartak" launched the ball in his direction, for which he received a yellow card. 

At the same time, a few minutes before this, the compositions equalized.

All the same Sobolev forced him to break the rules of Abilgore.

The Swede, like Zobnin, received a second yellow card.

But this did not help the Muscovites to recoup, although Tedesco went all-in in the end and replaced Pavel Maslov with Zelimkhan Bakaev.

And in the 89th minute, Rubin scored the second.

Once again, Kvaratskhelia played excellently, who picked up the ball in someone else's half of the field, dragged it to someone else's penalty area and delivered a strong blow.

Maksimenko saved the team, but was unable to cope with the finishing off from Despotovich. 

Thus, Spartak suffered a third defeat in a row in the championship and missed the chance to move up to second place and get closer to Zenit.

Kazan beat the red and white in the national championship for the first time in seven years.