Strange mistakes of "Tambov"

In the opening match of the year, the RPL in Saransk met Tambov and Rotor, who were experiencing serious financial problems.

The nominal owners entered the field with an experimental line-up.

Only four footballers who made it to the base played for the team last year.

The rest came at the last moment.

Four of them made their debut in the Premier League that day (Nikita Drozdov, Artyom Arkhipov and substitutes Tigran Avanesyan and Evgeny Chabanov).

Arkhipov unexpectedly opened the scoring at the end of the first half.

His goal became especially important, because the striker is a pupil of Tambov football.

But in the second half of the meeting, the struggle did not work out.

The 19-year-old Tambov defender Zurab Gigashvili played extremely poorly.

First, he sent the ball into his own goal, and then in two scoring episodes he easily lost the fight on the "second floor" to his opponents.

Such unsuccessful actions on the part of the football player even gave rise to talks in the media about the allegedly contractual nature of the meeting, but the club's sports director Pavel Khudyakov denied such suspicions.

Seventh victory for Khimki in six games

The second part of the national championship was successfully started by Khimki, which on Saturday turned out to be stronger than Ufa - 2: 1.

Along the way, the Moscow Region team extended the unbeaten run in the national championship to seven matches, and in this segment the team won six victories and climbed to the middle of the standings.

The first half was an equal fight, but immediately after the break, Mohamed Konate opened the scoring after Ilya Kukharchuk's discount.

And after an hour of the meeting, Denis Glushakov scored the second goal in the current RPL season.

Nevertheless, the ending turned out to be difficult for Khimki.

First, Kukharchuk received a second yellow card for hitting his opponent with an elbow in the face, and then Vladislav Kamilov scored after a corner kick.

But it was already the fourth added minute, and Ufa did not have time to recoup.

Sow's two curious goals

But for the reigning champion Zenit, the beginning of the year turned out to be extremely unfortunate.

Last week the team flew out of the Russian Cup, and this week lost points in the home match with Rostov - 2: 2.

Even the birthday of Sergei Semak, who turned 45, did not serve as an additional incentive for the owners.

After the first half, Petersburgers were inferior with a minimum score.

Mikhail Kerzhakov released the ball in a not very dangerous situation and allowed the debutant in the rival Ali Sow to score the first goal for the team.

In the second half of the match, Zenit seemed to have managed to turn the tide of the game.

First, Maxim Osipenko received a direct red card for a tackle at the feet of Serdar Azmun, and then the champion scored twice within five minutes.

At the same time, Daler Kuzyaev scored the second goal in eight days.

But the blue-white-blue failed to keep the winning score.

Shortly before the end of regular time, Sow again successfully put himself under the blow of a partner and became the author of the double.

Thus, the teams of Semak and Valery Karpin for the first time in history parted ways.

Four victories remain in the assets of the Zenit coach and two - for the Rostovites' mentor.

17 unsuccessful shots of CSKA

But the statistics of the confrontation with CSKA for Marko Nikolic is still ideal.

After arriving in Russia, he met three times with the army team and always won.

Once again, the railroad workers were helped to achieve success by the serious personnel problems of the rival.

According to media reports, Igor Akinfeev, Igor Diveev, Ivan Oblyakov and Emil Bohinen were out of action due to the coronavirus.

In turn, Lokomotiv, due to various injuries, could not count on Anton Miranchuk, Ze Luis and Fyodor Smolov.

This did not prevent the hosts from excelling twice already in the first half.

Foreign gates were struck by legionnaires Vitaly Lisakovich and Grzegorz Krychowiak, for whom this goal became the fifth in all tournaments this season.

In the team's scorers' race, he is second only to Miranchuk (7).

In the second half CSKA had an excellent opportunity to return to the game, but Nikola Vlašić shot higher from the penalty spot.

At the same time, the Croat can hardly be called a reliable penalty kicker, because in his entire career he implemented only seven attempts out of 11 (in Russia - five out of eight).

As a result, the army team struck 17 shots on the opponent's goal (seven of which were on target), but did not manage to break through Marinato Guilherme.

It is also worth noting that Lokomotiv midfielder Dmitry Barinov returned to service after a severe knee injury.

The footballer of the Russian national team came on as a substitute and played the first game in 188 days.

Three Sochi goals in eight minutes

In the meantime, the teams that knocked out two Champions League participants from the Russian Cup last week met in Sochi.

It's about Sochi and Arsenal.

But in their confrontation, the struggle did not work out.

If the first half ended without goals scored, then in the second on the field, it seemed, only Vladimir Fedotov's wards were present.

Immediately after the break, the hosts distinguished themselves three times in eight minutes.

The account was opened by Anton Zabolotny, who managed to excel in the third match in a row in all tournaments.

Also, someone else's goal was struck by Sergey Terekhov and Joaozinho.

And Artur Yusupov put an end to it on the 67th minute.

The top scorer of the team, Christian Noboa, did not score this time, but gave two assists.

Sochi won its fourth victory in a row in the RPL and climbed to third place in the standings.

Arsenal, on the other hand, increased their unbeaten streak in the national championship to nine matches.

Rubin's first victory over Spartak in seven years

In the event of a victory over Rubin, Spartak could not only oust Sochi from the top 3, but also move up to second place, and also reduce the gap from Zenit to four points.

However, the red-whites were unable to solve this problem, and they suffered their first defeat from Kazan in the championship since April 2014.

In their native walls, they completely lost to an opponent for the first time since July 2010.

On that day, Rubin won with a minimum score at Luzhniki thanks to a goal from 25-year-old Noboa.

Improved personal statistics of the confrontation with Spartak and Leonid Slutskiy, for whom this success was 15th in 28 matches with seven defeats and six draws.

Even Quincy Promes did not help Muscovites to score points.

In the first game after returning to Russia, the midfielder spent all 90 minutes on the field, but did not score points for performance.

And the main hero of the confrontation was Djordje Despotovich, who completed the second double in the current season of the RPL.

In turn, the judge Sergei Lapochkin made a kind of double from the deletions.

In time added to the first half, he showed a second yellow card to Roman Zobnin, and in the 71st minute - to Oliver Abilgor.

The debut goal of the 17-year-old football player "Dynamo"

And after the victory over Spartak in the Russian Cup, Dynamo beat Akhmat in the national championship - 2: 1.

The main hero of the meeting was the 17-year-old midfielder of the blue and white Arsen Zakharyan, who in the fall was among the 60 best young football players born in 2003 according to The Guardian.

For the first time in his career, he was in the starting lineup for an RPL match and immediately declared himself.

Already in the seventh minute, the young talent managed to earn a penalty.

After Zakharyan's lumbago, the ball hit Wilker Angel's hand, and referee Vladislav Bezborodov pointed to the point.

The penalty kick was confidently realized by Daniil Fomin.

And shortly before the break, Arsen scored his debut goal in his adult career.

Having received the transfer in someone else's penalty area, he removed the same Angel on the backswing and rolled the shell between the goalkeeper's legs in the fall.

So Zakharyan, at the age of 17 years, nine months and two days, became the youngest author of the ball in the current RPL season.

It seemed that after such an unsuccessful first half, Grozny would no longer be able to come to their senses, but they spent the second half much better.

At the 68th minute, Anton Shvets, after a corner kick, even reduced the team's backlog to a minimum.

But soon “Akhmat” was let down by Artyom Timofeev, who played roughly against Roman Neustädter in a subcategory in another half of the field and received a second yellow card.

Left in the minority, Andrei Talalaev's team could not escape.

Hour "Krasnodar" in the minority

The 20th round of the RPL turned out to be rich in unexpected results.

It is not surprising that it closed with a sensation.

Krasnodar failed to beat Ural at home - 2: 2.

On the other hand, the southerners approached the match not in the best psychological state.

In eight days, they suffered three defeats and flew out of the Europa League and the Russian Cup.

On Sunday, Murad Musaev's wards also lost the most important points in the national championship. 

At the same time, the beginning did not bode well for the team.

Already in the 12th minute, Magomed-Shapi Suleimanov opened the scoring.

However, even in the first half, the hosts managed to be left without both full-backs.

Evgeny Chernov was injured, and Igor Smolnikov received a second yellow card.

This removal became the sixth in the round.

After the break, Musaev switched to a game of three defenders and quickly paid for it.

"Ural" began to conduct one after another swift counterattacks.

In just eight minutes, the Yekaterinburg team scored twice and turned the tide of the match.

Moreover, in both cases, the gates of the 19-year-old RPL debutant Stanislav Agkatsev were struck by Rafal Augustynyak with long-range strikes, for whom this double was the first in his career.

Musaev was forced to throw into the battle the remaining leaders on the bench: Tonny de Vilhena, Wanderson and Remy Cabella.

And in the 85th minute, the substitutions worked.

The Frenchman, after the Belgian's discount, leveled the score and saved Krasnodar from defeat.