Zainutdinov's curious goal, Krasnodar's nine-man victory and Dziuba's achievement: what will be remembered for the ninth round of the RPL

Saving Zenit in St. Petersburg

The current champion of the country "Zenith" almost stumbled in the confrontation with the "Wings of the Soviets" who returned to the RPL. Although the Samarans were forced to defend themselves for most of the meeting, at the first opportunity they organized quick counterattacks, which the opponent did not always have time to cope with. In addition, almost the first of them ended in a goal. On the 14th minute Stanislav Kritsyuk failed to cope with Anton Zinkovsky's shot from outside the penalty area.

Perhaps the guests, acting with enviable dedication, would have been able to take the glasses away from the Northern capital, if not for Artyom Dzyuba. The striker, who refused to be called up to the national team due to insufficient form, showed that he is gradually gaining condition. In the previous round match against Rubin, he scored a double, and on Saturday he scored and earned a penalty. Along the way, with 140 goals, he managed to come out on a clean second place in the list of the best scorers of the Russian championship in history. Now the pupil of "Spartak" is three strikes behind only Oleg Veretennikov.

True, both effective actions of the forward turned out to be controversial.

In the first case, he pushed Nikita Chernov away from him and delivered an accurate head blow, and in the second he fell after a minimal touch from Alexander Soldatenkov.

Aleksey Sutormin converted the penalty spot and brought a strong-willed victory to the Petersburgers.

However, the owners also had questions to Vitaly Meshkov, because shortly before Zinkovsky's goal, the same Chernov shot down Malcolm in his own penalty area.

But the referee, after consulting with his colleagues at the VAR, pointed to the center.

Judge scandal in Krasnodar

And the southern derby Krasnodar - Sochi ended in a loud referee scandal.

Chief referee Igor Panin removed two bulls players Uros Spaich and Alexander Chernikov at once.

Serbia, he changed the yellow card to red after watching the VAR, seeing in his actions a foul of the last resort.

And the Russian was shown the second yellow card for a rather controversial violation of the rules.

But even with an incomplete squad, Viktor Goncharenko's wards easily defeated the opponent, sending three unanswered goals to Soslan Dzhanaev's goal.

The young pupil of the club Eduard Spertsyan opened the scoring in the third minute and earned a penalty.

Remi Cabella scored in the second championship match in a row.

And Grzegorz Krychowiak scored his debut goal as part of a new team in the RPL.

Thus, the southerners won their third victory in the last four rounds of the national championship.

However, this did not save the referee team from the wrath of the Krasnodar leadership.

General Director Vladimir Khashig accused Vladislav Bezborodov, who worked for VAR, of putting pressure on the “young judge” Panin, and also called Sochi “a team from St. Petersburg”.

In response, the head of the RFU Referee Committee Ashot Khachaturyants advised the southerners to "refrain from emotional statements."

Dynamo's third victory in eight days

Dynamo has also gained a splendid move lately.

For eight days, Sandro Schwartz's wards won three victories in all tournaments with a total score of 9: 0.

And if the defeat of teammates from Stavropol in the Russian Cup should rather be taken for granted, then six points in a confrontation with direct competitors in the fight for tickets to European cups Sochi and Rubin demonstrated the team's strength and helped it rise to second place in the RPL standings ...

On Sunday, Kazan on the road could not oppose anything to the blue and white.

The hosts looked much better physically fit and showed completely different speeds that the guests could not cope with.

As a result, the Muscovites won a confident victory (2: 0).

It is noteworthy that both goals of the capital's team were scored with a head.

An additional bonus for Dynamo was the end of one unpleasant series.

For the first time in almost nine years, the blue and white beat Rubin at home.

The last time they managed to do this was back in December 2012, when the blue and white defeated their opponent under the leadership of Dan Petrescu.

Revenge of "Spartak" Gazizov

Another metropolitan team, Spartak, also managed to score three points in the reporting round. However, the red and white had no right to misfire in the home confrontation with Ufa. Firstly, less than a week ago, they lost in the CSKA derby. Secondly, the matches with the Bashkortostanians acquired special adherence to principles after being fired from the Moscow club five months after the appointment of the general director Shamil Gazizov. The functionary still continues to sue the grantee for the payment of severance pay. Moreover, in the first match against Spartak after the head's return to Ufa, the outsider sensationally defeated the opponent at Otkrytie-Arena - 3: 0.

This time, Rui Vitoria's wards easily managed to take revenge.

Although the guests had the ball a little more time (52% to 48%), they practically did not threaten the goal of Alexander Maksimenko.

They have only two shots on target.

The top scorer of the RPL at the moment, Hamid Agalarov, was absolutely invisible.

The forward failed to distinguish himself and interrupted a five-game streak in the national championship.

Spartak scored two goals after the first half hour of the confrontation.

In the third minute, the account was opened by Ezequiel Ponce.

With four accurate shots, the Argentinian secured himself at the top of the sniper team race.

And then Quincy Promes scored the 71st goal in the red and white squad.

Success of Berezutsky in the duel of young coaches

And the confrontation between Nizhny Novgorod and CSKA aroused interest in the coaching duel. On Monday, for the first time in their careers, the paths of two young specialists, Alexander Kerzhakov and Alexei Berezutsky, crossed, who spent a lot of time together in the Russian national team. And if the army player is still more often criticized, then his counterpart has made a real "thunderstorm of authorities" out of his team. In the current Premier League draw, the newcomer of the elite division has already beaten Sochi, Spartak and Dynamo.

However, it was not possible to take points from another venerable opponent in the home walls.

The Red and Blues in the class won their third consecutive victory in all tournaments, scoring a goal in each half.

Especially worth noting is the goal of Baktiyor Zainutdinov, because the midfielder from Kazakhstan closed the serve of Chidera Edzhuke from the left flank with the fifth point.

After the break, Ilzat Akhmetov struck someone else's goal, who earned a penalty and converted it himself.

The only fly in the ointment for the Muscovites was Edzhuke's injury at the end of the match.

The Nigerian was unable to continue the game and asked for a substitution.

However, Berezutsky assured that his ward, probably, had just knocked his leg, and there was no talk of serious injury.