Problems on the flanks, failures in defense and lack of sharpness in attack: how Spartak lost to Benfica in the Champions League

For the first match of the third qualifying round of the Champions League with Benfica, Spartak did not come up with the most optimal squad.

In the meeting of the second round of the RPL with Wings of the Soviets, which ended with the victory of the red and whites with a minimum score, the team lost three leaders at once due to injuries: Georgy Djikia, Quincy Promes and Victor Moses.

Immediately before the meeting, Rui Vitoria at a press conference suggested that the Russian and the Nigerian would be able to play, but the Netherlands midfielder would definitely not enter the field.

As a result, the tenth issue, in fact, was not even in the application, as well as Georgy Melkadze, who received muscle damage.

Moses got into it, but remained in reserve.

But Jikia got a place at the base.

Under these conditions, the coaching staff suddenly opted for a 4-3-3 formation rather than a 4-2-3-1 formation.

In defense, Ayrton, Dzhikia, Samuel Zhigot and Nikolay Rasskazov are expected to be located.

Much more curious was the fact that Jorrit Hendrix was the company of two midfielders Nail Umyarov and Roman Zobnin.

And on the edge of the triangle is the footballer of the Russian national team.

The question arose: who will lead the attacks from the center of the field and provide transfers to Jordan Larsson, Alexander Sobolev and Zelimkhan Bakaev?

By the way, Benfica did not manage without losses.

Jorge Jesus is having problems in the attack.

In the summer, the Lisbon team acquired two strikers Rodrigo Pinho and Roman Yaremchuk, but both were unable to take part in the match.

The first one was injured, and the Ukrainian was simply not included in the application, since he had just transferred from Ghent a few days ago.

As a result, Haris Seferovich was in front alone.

Before the start of the match, many assumed that Spartak would play number two.

However, the hosts were not at all going to sit out in defense.

On the contrary, in the first minutes they relied on intense pressure.

Larsson, Bakaev, Sobolev and Zobnin, who was climbing up to them, immediately tried to regain it when they lost the ball.

And along the flanks, Rasskazov and Ayrton boldly walked forward.

It was almost impossible to go through the center of the three powerful defenders of the opponent - Lucas, Nicholas Otamendi and Jan Vertongen, as well as to beat them at the top.

But the red and white tried to look for free space at the bottom.

So, they regularly created an overload on the left flank of the attack, where Diog Gonçalves had a hard time.

Bakaev and Ayrton often moved here.

In a similar vein, Spartak created one of the most dangerous moments in the first half.

Zelimkhan cut through the opponent's defense with an excellent pass from the bottom and brought Larsson almost one-on-one.

The Swede tried to execute a cross to the far post for Sobolev, but Odysseas Vlachodimos interrupted him.

Unfortunately, the Muscovites did not have enough strength to act in such an intensive manner for a short time.

Soon, Benfica took control of the ball.

It immediately became clear how well the guests were technically well prepared.

They easily passed the center of the field and tried to look for free space on the flanks.

It was especially difficult for Rasskazov, who was chosen by his opponents to be the "weak link".

Nikolai with great difficulty coped with Alejandro Grimaldo, Pizzi and others.

I remember the episode when the defender, who lost a player in the penalty area, tried to play subcategory, but flew past Seferovich and allowed him to serve.

Fortunately, Oleksandr Maksimenko parried Gonçalves' kick in the opposite direction.

Problems arose not only for Rasskazov, but also for the reliable and experienced Djikia, who in a couple of moments also very easily allowed himself to be beaten.

However, Benfica did not have enough strength even before the break, and at the end of the half, Spartak again took over the advantage.

In addition, due to injury, the Lisbonians were left without one forward - Seferovich.

His place on the field was taken by Gonçalo Ramush.

And the owners almost lost Umyarov.

Just before the break, Jikia accidentally hit his partner's Achilles.

Nail first continued the game, but then showed the coaching staff that he was uncomfortable and sat down on the lawn.

His departure would be a serious loss, because the midfielder of the Russian youth team spent an excellent 45 minutes: he made a large number of tackles and interceptions, and also marked a dangerous long-range shot, which Vlachodimos coped with with some difficulty.

Fortunately, no replacement was required.

If in the first half "Spartak" was able to create problems for the opponent, then the second showed that today the difference in the class is still quite large.

As soon as Benfica increased the speed a little, the red-and-white fell.

And the hardest thing this time was not Rasskazov, but Ayrton on the opposite flank.

The Brazilian time after time did not have time to go to the selection, and he was easily passed in a couple of assists.

The first goal of the Lisbon team was indicative, when the guests tore the left edge of the hosts' defense in a few passes.

In turn, Ayrton did not keep track of Rafael Silva's connection to the penalty area and allowed him to easily hit the near corner.

Vitoria tried to change the course of the unsuccessfully developing match with substitutions. First, he removed Zobnin, who was aimed at destruction, from the game and threw Mikhail Ignatov into battle. Then he released the not fully recovered Moses instead of the tired Bakaev. But all the castling gave little. For a while, the Russian team pushed the game away from their gates, but thoughts in the attack did not increase, and there were no chances at the gate of Vlachodimos at all. It would be logical to simplify the game and switch to casts in the direction of Sobolev, but Alexander was reliably closed by powerful defenders of the opponent.

Finally, everything became clear after Benfica's second goal.

And again the Spartak team failed collectively in defense.

Lucas sent the shell into the free zone between Djikia and Ayrton in one pass, and Moraes Gilberto went one-on-one with Maksimenko and outplayed him.

The team captain tried to save the situation in a desperate tackle, but did not have time.

Having conceded the second goal, the red-whites practically gave up playing.

Until the final whistle, they did not manage to create a single approach.

The only thing I remember is Moses' fall at someone else's penalty area, to which the referee did not react in any way.

It remains to state that “Spartak” will have to perform a miracle to pass to the next round.

And the first match showed that the red and white simply had nothing to offer the team from Portugal.