Controversial offside position of the Rostov forward

In the first match of the tour, Khimki defeated Rostov, who is fighting for the European competition, with a minimum score and extended the streak without defeats in the RPL to nine meetings.

Moreover, in this segment, they were only twice content with a draw.

In turn, the yellow-blue ones do not know victories for four rounds.

And the confrontation with the Moscow Region team in the current season, Valery Karpin's wards did not particularly succeed, because in the first round at home they missed two unanswered goals from them.

This time, it was again not without a goal from Resiuan Mirzov.

At the beginning of the second half, the footballer rented from Spartak earned a penalty and converted it himself.

But if this decision of referee Sergei Lapochkin did not cause questions from the fans, then Ali Sow's canceled goal 20 minutes before the final whistle turned out to be extremely controversial, because it is extremely difficult to see the offside position of the striker on repeat.

True, shortly before the final whistle, the referee showed a second yellow card to the hosts' midfielder Alexander Troshechkin, who came on as a substitute.

But this did not save the refereeing panel from the indignation of the guests, who, according to media reports, filed a complaint with the RFU expert referee commission on three episodes at once, including the uncounted Sow ball.

Incredible rescues of the Rotor goalkeeper

Only one goal was scored in the confrontation between Ural and Rotor.

Throughout the match, Yekaterinburg took the initiative and delivered 18 shots to the opponent's goal, eight of which were on target.

However, they did not manage to break through Josip Chondrich.

The Volgograd goalkeeper made a total of six saves, while his counterpart Yaroslav Godzyur - none.

But in the 83rd minute, Yuri Matveev's wards still snatched the victory.

Eric Bikfalvi from close range sent the ball into the near nine thanks to a rebound and scored his sixth goal in the current RPL season.

So "Ural" managed to interrupt a five-match losing streak in the national championship, which had lasted since November 29 last year.

The Premier League rookie, by contrast, suffered his first defeat in five games.

Two send-offs for Arsenal in three minutes

Also on Saturday, matches were held with the participation of teams occupying the first two places in the RPL standings - Zenit and CSKA, respectively.

CSKA on the road played with the outsider Arsenal and, it seemed, should have gained three points, especially since Igor Akinfeev and Igor Diveev returned to the ranks.

However, the meeting did not work out for them from the very beginning.

In the middle of the first half, Mario Fernandez received a head injury.

And at the end of the first half, Viktor Goncharenko's charges conceded two goals in four minutes.

It is curious that the pupils of "Spartak" managed to distinguish themselves.

First, Vladislav Panteleev converted the penalty, and then assisted Alexander Lomovitsky.

The latter, celebrating the goal, even folded his fingers into a diamond.

In the second half of the meeting, the red-blues still did little, but in the end they almost made a comeback.

In this they were helped by the judge Vladislav Bezborodov, who removed two Tula footballers.

Valery Gromyko appeared on the field in the 87th minute, and already in the 91st he managed to get a second yellow card.

Alexander Dovbnya saw a red light in front of him for arguing with a judge on the 93rd. 

The guests managed to reduce the backlog to a minimum after the setoff.

The debut goal for CSKA was scored by a graduate of the club Nair Tiknizyan.

And in the added time by the referee, Fyodor Chalov and Jose Salomon Rondon missed one hundred percent chances at the opponent's goal.

Thus, the Muscovites suffered an extremely painful defeat, and Arsenal interrupted two unsuccessful series at once.

Dmitry Parfyonov's team scored the first goals in the RPL since November 7 last year and put an end to the ten-match losing streak in the national championship, which lasted since October.

Four goals from Zenit

“Zenith” took advantage of the misfire of CSKA and increased the gap from second place to four points.

The home match against Akhmat, despite the final score 4: 0, turned out to be difficult for the reigning champion.

In the first half, the hosts did not manage to hit the opponent's goal.

A beautiful long-range shot by Vyacheslav Karavaev helped them move forward.

Unfortunately, this game was also not without a controversial decision of the referee.

After an hour of the meeting, Vitaly Meshkov, after watching the replay, awarded a penalty to the Grozny team for putting his hand on Dmitry Chistyakov's shoulder.

The penalty kick was confidently converted by Serdar Azmun and with 13 goals strengthened his leadership in the tournament's scorers' race.

Artyom Dzyuba also managed to excel, who scored the 129th goal in the elite division of the Russian championship and reduced the gap to Dmitry Kirichenko, who is third in this indicator, to one effective hit.

Oleg Veretennikov (140) and Alexander Kerzhakov (141) are also in front.

Andrei Mostovoy, who came on as a substitute, put an end to the match.

Moreover, he managed to hit someone else's gate after only two minutes after appearing on the field.

Another failure of Dynamo in the Moscow derby

Spartak moved up to the second place thanks to the victory in the Moscow derby over Dynamo (2: 1).

Even Pavel Maslov's curious own goal in the 18th minute did not prevent the red and white from scoring three points.

The guests quickly managed to recoup thanks to an excellent pass from Alexander Sobolev and an accurate shot by Victor Moses from outside the penalty area.

And in the second half of the meeting, Domenico Tedesco's wards earned a penalty, which was realized by the same Sobolev.

Thus, the striker scored the third goal in the last two RPL matches and in the team scorers' race with nine goals in all tournaments this season is second only to Jordan Larsson and Ezequiel Ponce, who have scored ten times.

“Spartak” not only took revenge from the opponent for the defeat in the 1/8 finals of the Russian Cup three weeks ago, but also won the eighth victory in the last nine away matches with the blue and white in the national championship.

And the last away defeat of the red and white in the Premier League in the framework of the confrontation took place back in 2008 at the old Dynamo stadium.

In the current drawing of the national championship, the Tedesco team as a whole feels confident in the battle with the Moscow teams.

In four games against Dynamo, Lokomotiv and CSKA, Spartak scored seven points and is leading in a kind of metropolitan standings.

Also, the red and white this season of the RPL has no equal in the number of strong-willed victories - there are four of them.

The other teams have no more than one of them.

Rubin's three balls in the green derby

Meanwhile, "Rubin" in 2021 goes to the national championship without losses.

After victories over Spartak and Zenit, Kazan defeated Ufa on the road in the so-called green derby - 3: 0.

The charges of Leonid Slutsky from the first minutes suppressed the opponent with high pressure and unexpectedly easily penetrated into someone else's penalty area.

Alexander Belenov repeatedly saved his team, but in three episodes he was powerless too.

The main heroes of the match were Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Denis Makarov, who scored two points for performance.

The latter scored a beautiful goal in the second match in a row, opening the scoring with a spectacular shot from outside the penalty area.

And “Ufa” can be called the player’s favorite rival, because in the first round match he scored a double, and “Rubin” won with a similar score.

The only fly in the ointment for the guests was the damage to Kvaratskhelia and Djordje Despotovich, due to which the leaders of the team left the field ahead of schedule.

Lokomotiv's third win in a row

Lokomotiv also won the third victory in a row in the national championship.

The railroad workers beat their direct competitor at home in the fight for tickets to the European cups "Sochi" - 3: 1 and now share with the southerners and "Rubin" the fourth place in the standings with a lag of only three points from the top-3.

François Camano and Rifat Zhemaletdinov made the most significant contribution to the most important success.

The first scored a double, and the second gave three assists.

It is curious that the Guinean, acquired by the capital club in the summer for € 5.5 million, did not score a single goal for Loko in 2020, but in 2021, with the transfer to the position of a striker, he scored three times in four matches in all tournaments.

Zhemaletdinov, for the first time in his career, gave three assists per game.

Previously, at the club level, he assisted partners only once twice.

It is also necessary to note Fyodor Smolov, who recovered from an injury, who in the second round in a row hit someone else's goal after coming on as a substitute.

On Monday he upset Arsenal, and on Sunday - Sochi.

At the same time, in the first part of the season, the striker scored only three times.

The long-awaited defeat from Krasnodar

Krasnodar, on the other hand, managed to interrupt a five-game losing streak in all tournaments.

However, after the defeat by Spartak, Murad Musaev's wards simply had no right to lose points in the match with Tambov, which is in financial distress.

Moreover, experienced goalkeeper Sergei Ryzhikov left the team last week, and a 21-year-old pupil of Lokomotiv Vitaly Sychev, who had previously played only one meeting at the senior level - in the PFL with Kazanka, took the place at the last line.

At the start of the game, the namesake of the former striker of the Russian national team even managed to make a couple of spectacular saves.

But on the 27th minute the goalkeeper was unable to save Tambov after Remi Cabella's magnificent free-kick.

The Frenchman scored the eighth goal in the current RPL draw.

After the break, the southerners finished off the opponent.

In the second match in a row, Yuri Gazinsky managed to excel, which is surprising, since he is not famous for high performance.

For example, last season the midfielder never scored.

Kristoffer Olsson upset Sychev just a couple of minutes after coming on as a substitute.

And Alexey Ionov earned and converted the penalty himself.

At the same time, goalkeeper Yegor Baburin, who made his debut with Krasnodar, was recognized as the best player of the meeting, who only entered the game in several episodes.