Wendel's double, Akhmetov's removal and a penalty reflected by Akinfeev: how Zenit beat CSKA away in the 23rd round of the RPL

On the eve of the 23rd round of the Russian championship, many agreed that it was the meeting between CSKA and Zenit that could become one of the decisive ones in the fight for first place in the RPL.

A similar point of view was shared by former army striker Ivica Olic and two-time Russian champion in the St. Petersburg team Roman Shirokov, and ex-coach of the red and blue Viktor Onopko stated that gold medals would be at stake in this match.

And there really were reasons to make such statements.

If successful, Viktor Goncharenko's wards reduced the gap to the leaders of the tournament table to two points and twisted the intrigue to the limit in the battle for the trophy.

Otherwise, the guests not only prevailed over the principled opponent, but also increased the handicap.

An additional motivation for the hosts could have been not only an offensive defeat in the previous round from one of the main outsiders of the championship - Arsenal, but also a series of failures in the confrontation with Petersburgers.

In the last 13 games in the Premier League, CSKA have suffered six defeats and won only one victory.

In November 2018, the red and blue took over with a score of 2: 0, thanks to the accurate punches of Fedor Chalov and Arnor Sigurdsson.

This time the Russian and the Icelander were also at the disposal of Goncharenko, but they started the game on the bench.

Also before the match, one of the main intrigues (in relation to the army team) was the state of Mario Fernandez, who left the field during the meeting with Arsenal.

In one of the episodes of that game, the defender was kicked in the head, he received a bruise and abrasions of soft tissues.

However, the Russian national team player managed to recover and in the duel with Zenit took his place on the right edge of the defense.

Surely, many expected that after an unsuccessful performance in the 22nd round, Goncharenko would carry out a large-scale rotation of the roster, but the Belarusian mentor decided otherwise.

The changes affected only the middle line - not Georgy Maradishvili, but Ivan Oblyakov came out together with Ilzat Akhmetov.

At the same time, both Chidera Edzhuke and Konstantin Kuchaev remained in their places.

Particular attention was expected to be paid to the figure of Jose Salomon Rondon, who was preparing to play against the former team for the first time.

As for Zenit, Sergei Semak still could not count on the injured Mikhail Kerzhakov and Sebastian Driussi.

Moreover, if the first was successfully replaced by Andrey Lunev, then the absence of the second significantly limited the attacking potential of the reigning champions.

On the positive side, Malcolm returned to the squad, who had missed more than a month due to a knee injury sustained in the game against the Jordanian national team.

The Brazilian went to Moscow, but was not at the start.

The head coach of the blue-white-blue did not change the winning line-up and limited himself to only one change - the place of Dmitry Chistyakov in the center of defense was taken by Dejan Lovren, who had served a suspension.

The central match of the 23rd round of the RPL began with a ten-minute delay relative to the schedule.

The league leaders and the fans who arrived at the VEB Arena had to wait for the end of the broadcast of the game Rotor - Rostov (0: 4).

However, the first minutes of the meeting turned out to be quite eventful and became worthy compensation for the overtime stay at the stadium.

In a quarter of an hour, the rivals struck four shots on goal, and three of them fell on Zenit.

More active than the others was Daler Kuzyaev, who first shot dangerously from a distance, and then almost punished the army team for their sluggishness.

Bakhtiyor Zainutdinov gape on the border of the penalty area and made a loss, but the Russian midfielder was inaccurate.

CSKA responded by taking control of the ball and, as the hosts, tried to act as the first number, but at first it did not bring dividends.

The hosts mainly attacked through the right flank and relied on throws into the penalty area on the overall Rondon, but either Konstantin Kuchaev could not cope with Douglas Santos, or the Venezuelan was covered by the defenders.

It is all the more remarkable that almost the first attack from the left edge ended in a goal.

Edzhuke left Magomed Ozdoev out of business and found the transfer of the head of Jose Salomon, who hit the gate of the former club.

The main character of the last 15 minutes of the half was Igor Akinfeev, and at first he distinguished himself with a minus sign.

The CSKA goalkeeper played extremely unsuccessfully at the exit and allowed Artyom Dziuba to restore parity.

But in the end, he returned the favor to the captain of the Russian national team.

Chief referee Evgeniy Kukulyak had to resort to watching a video replay in order to see Fernandez playing with his hand and assigning a 11-meter to the hosts' goal.

Dziuba approached the “point”, but struck as unsuccessfully as in the confrontation with “Ruby”.

The goalkeeper reacted and updated the RPL record for the number of reflected penalties.

The first eight minutes of the second half turned into a nightmare for CSKA.

At first, Goncharenko's wards failed in their own penalty area when playing out and allowed Wendel to score the first goal after moving to St. Petersburg.

The Brazilian midfielder got a discount from Dziuba and shot irresistibly under the crossbar.

And then the judge Kukulyak finally dispelled all speculation that his stay at one time in the army team's double could affect the objectivity in the key meeting of the tour.

The referee showed a straight red card to Akhmetov for a rough foul against Kuzyaev and left the red-blues in the minority.

In the unequal line-ups of CSKA it was very difficult to compete with Zenit.

The army team still tried to act as the first number, but the superior forces of the Petersburgers held back their raids without any problems.

One of the most dangerous moments occurred in the 75th minute, when Rondon, Zainutdinov and Vlašić were in the penalty area.

The Croat was given the opportunity to break through, but he hesitated and missed his chance.

The reckoning followed immediately.

Kuzyaev confirmed the status of one of the most active players of the guests and made another raid on half of the opponent's field, followed by a pass to Wendel.

The Brazilian shot Akinfeev and scored the first double in his career.

Until the very end of the meeting, CSKA could not create serious problems for the defenders of Zenit and almost missed for the fourth time.

Akinfeev parried the blow, but, as it seemed on the replay, allowed the ball to cross the line.

However, the video assistant and the chief arbiter did not react in any way to this episode.

Everything went to a confident victory for the guests, but in the 90th minute the hosts got the right to take the penalty themselves.

Emil Bohinen provoked the substitute Alexei Sutormin to foul and was noted for a useful action in his opening for the Muscovites.

Unlike Dziuba, Vlašić struck irresistibly and reduced the score gap to a minimum.

In stoppage time, Fernandez had the opportunity to draw the match, but the throw into the penalty area was too strong.

CSKA lost to Zenit in the RPL for the third time in a row and missed the opportunity to close the gap with the leader.

After 23 rounds, they are separated by eight points.