Dynamo's sensational defeat in Grozny: how Spartak and CSKA joined in the pursuit of RPL leaders

Confrontation between Berezutsky and Semin

The fourth round of the RPL opened with three matches at once with the participation of Moscow top clubs.

In the central confrontation of the game day in Rostov-on-Don, Rostov and CSKA met.

Both teams did not start the season very well, and therefore they just needed three points.

CSKA barely beat Ufa, but then lost to Lokomotiv and Dynamo, although they opened an account.

After this, the future of Alexei Berezutsky turned out to be a big question.

In turn, the southerners scored only one point.

Valery Karpin, after two defeats at the start, decided to focus on the national team and gave way to the club to Yuri Semin.

Thus, at the Rostov Arena, the most experienced 74-year-old coach met a novice specialist who 16 years ago managed to play under his leadership in the national team.

Berezutsky practically did not make substitutions before the important match.

The only place of the injured Anton Zabolotny at the forefront of the attack was taken by Fedor Chalov.

Konstantin Kuchaev replaced him on the right flank.

From the first minutes, Nikola Vlasic also entered the field, whose father this week directly announced his son's desire to leave CSKA.

Semin this time made a bet on a 4-3-3 formation, having formed a powerful fist from Matthias Normann, Kento Hashimoto and Daniil Glebov in the supporting zone.

It is difficult to say what exactly the venerable coach's plan was, but in the first half, the hosts did not succeed.

It seemed that having saturated the center of the field, they were supposed to gain an advantage in the support zone, but in reality the guests easily passed it over and over again.

Maxim Mukhin and Ilzat Akhmetov, on the contrary, acted accurately and reliably.

Opening an account for the army team was again helped by the standard position.

After the corner Yak Biyol, easily peeled off from Maxim Osipenko, sent the round to the far corner.

It is curious that Vlašić made the effective serve.

Keeping in mind the previous meetings, CSKA fans shouldn't have relaxed.

But Rostov did not create anything in the attack.

The powerful Nikolai Komlichenko practically did not receive the ball, and it did not come to shots on goal by Igor Akinfeev.

Soon, the red and blue completely seized the initiative and began to weave combinations near someone else's penalty area.

Time after time, Chidera Edjuke took place on the left flank of Khoren Bayramyan.

Mukhin and Vlašić calmly struck from the support zone.

In the end, CSKA doubled the lead.

Moreover, they managed to score not in a positional attack, but in the course of a quick breakaway.

Edzhuke, in his half of the field, immediately left two opponents, dragged the ball almost to the penalty area and rolled the projectile to the left to Chalov.

He gently struck in touch with the bottom into the far corner.

To top it all off, Rostov was left without Norman, who had recently recovered from an injury.

His place in the center of the field was taken by 18-year-old Danila Sukhomlinov.

To the credit of the owners, they did not give up, and Semin found a solution that helped his players return to the game.

He threw Bashtush and Pontus Almqvist into the fight and moved to a 5-3-2 formation with three central defenders.

This helped, on the one hand, to saturate the defense, and on the other, to create problems for the opponent on the flanks.

Yuri Pavlovich's idea worked completely.

Rostov immediately took the ball under its control and pushed the opponent to the goal.

The goal was not long in coming.

And the southerners also distinguished themselves after the corner draw.

Glebov was the first to rebound and hit the far corner.

It seemed that CSKA, which had twice missed a victory in previous rounds, could swim.

But the army team coped with the opponent's onslaught, and Berezutsky, after an hour, made his castlings and seriously refreshed the composition.

Konstantin Maradishvili, Kirill Nababkin, Emil Bohinen, and a little later, Alan Dzagoev appeared on the field.

The presence of the latter helped the team to take control of the ball.

The hosts continued to attack by inertia, but by and large had the only moment to escape defeat.

In the 86th minute, Almqvist struck his head dangerously into the near corner, but Akinfeev saved the guests.

And soon the red and blue put an end to, organizing a good counterattack.

Young Vladislav Yakovlev from the left edge moved the ball to the center to Akhmetov, and he gave the pass to absolutely free Maradishvili.

Duel of "Spartak" with an outsider

A very interesting coaching confrontation was also planned in the match "Spartak" - "Ural".

After an unsuccessful start to the season (one point in three rounds), the guests' management decided to replace the helmsman and Igor Shalimov was invited instead of Yuri Matveyev.

The pupil of the red and whites, who played for the capital's team for five years, was probably eager to upset the former team.

Moreover, as a coach, he never succeeded.

The owners, however, bleed from the nose, needed a victory after three defeats in a row in all tournaments and relegation from the Champions League. It is curious that in comparison with the return leg with Benfica, Rui Vitoria made only one change in the starting lineup. Nail Umyarov's place in the support zone was taken by Alex Kral. But Alexander Sobolev, who had signed a new contract with the club the day before, remained in reserve again. The duo of forwards was formed by Ezequiel Ponce and Jordan Larsson, and the Russian appeared only in the 87th minute.

In general, "Spartak" played another nondescript match, but at the same time scored the most important three points.

In terms of the game, it was difficult to say what kind of football the Portuguese mentor was trying to instill in the team.

In the first half, the ten-time champion of Russia used the voids in the opponent's half of the field and regularly created chances.

But it was possible to open an account after the play of the set.

Roman Zobnin, taking advantage of Samuel Gigot's discount, pushed the projectile into the net.

But in the second half of the meeting, Vitoria's charges looked much more inert, and in the last 20 minutes they completely gave up the initiative to their opponent.

Surprisingly, the Yekaterinburg team surpassed the favorite in possession - 53% versus 47%.

Ural could easily equalize the score, but the team was not favored by fortune.

Erik Bikfalvi alone missed two advantageous chances, and Daniel Miskic, after playing the corner, hit the crossbar with his head.

Nevertheless, "Spartak" managed to solve the set task and interrupt the "black streak".

We can say that the sky over Vitoria cleared up a little.

And with the final whistle, the whole team went to their fans.

Captain Georgy Dzhikia stayed for a conversation with the fans to explain why some players ignored the stands in the last round.

Bright performance of Karapuzov in a match with his own team

Not only did CSKA and Spartak win, they received a gift from Dynamo in the form of a sensational defeat from Akhmat on the road.

For the match in Grozny, the blue and white approached one of the leaders of the RPL standings and were supposed to win a fourth victory in a row.

Moreover, for the first time Sandro Schwartz started the first-time rookie Denis Makarov.

As a result, he positioned himself on the right edge of the attack, and Arsen Zakharyan - on the opposite.

And in the first half, the guests looked more active and had an undeniable advantage.

But the main character of the confrontation was a man who did not even enter the field from the first minutes.

It's about Vladislav Karapuzov, the rights to which still belong to Dynamo.

The pupil of Lokomotiv, who moved to the camp of the blue and white in 2019, remained in the reserve and was thrown by Andrey Talalaev in the middle of the first half only due to the injury of Marat Bystrov.

But in just four minutes, the midfielder managed to take part in the scoring of Anton Shunin's goal twice. First, he earned a free kick, which was converted by Daniil Utkin. It should be noted that last week he also upset Rubin from the standard. In total, the player's asset in the current RPL season includes three goals in four meetings. And then Karapuzov himself was marked by a biting blow. The shell hit the barbell and bounced off Shunin's back into the net.

No sooner had the second half begun than Dynamo managed to close the gap to a minimum thanks to a shot by Sebastian Shimanski. The blue-and-white had plenty of time to escape, but they acted primitively, knocking over canopies and shots from the flanks. In such a game, the guests were left practically without chances and for the first time in the current championship of the country they lost points. Thus, Zenit and Rubin got the opportunity to break away.