The comeback of Spartak in the derby, the defeat of Zenit in Tula and the rescue of Lokomotiv in Kazan: what will be remembered for the 11th round of the RPL

Second consecutive misfire of a leader

The main sensation of the 11th round of the RPL was the defeat of Zenit from Arsenal - 1: 2. Two weeks ago, the reigning champions lost at home to Sochi and it seemed that in Tula they were obliged to gain three points. However, they were not lucky on Saturday. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain such a result, because the advantage of the guests turned out to be overwhelming. They owned the ball 72% of the time and struck 25 shots on goal, eight of which were on target. However, the ball stubbornly did not go into the net, and the guests ruined the right moments. For example, Alexander Erokhin at the end of the first half failed to finish off a shell into an empty net. Anton Kochenkov, who made seven saves, also regularly saved the Gunners.

And after the break, Miodrag Bozovic's charges punished the opponent for extravagance, completing the counterattack with an accurate shot by Zuriko Davitashvili. The team of Sergei Semak managed to level the score only in the 88th minute. It is not surprising that Artyom Dzyuba, who scored an excellent move, distinguished himself. Along the way, he became the author of two important statistical achievements at once. Firstly, he scored the 100th goal for Zenit, and secondly, he scored the 143rd goal in the Russian championships and caught up with the record holder Oleg Veretennikov.

There was a feeling that the favorite is in a position to push the vis-a-vis, but instead the blue-white-blue missed.

Kings Kangwa on the other side easily left Deyan Lovren and sent a shell into the far top corner from outside the penalty area along an unpredictable trajectory.

So Arsenal snatched the victory and once again confirmed the status of an inconvenient opponent for Zenit.

Petersburgers lost the second match of the year to the Gunners.

In February, they lost to them at home in the 1/8 finals of the Russian Cup and completed their performance in the tournament.

The first game of Lokomotiv under the leadership of Gisdol

Another domestic top club Lokomotiv played its first match under the leadership of the new head coach Markus Gisdol.

The debut of the German turned out to be ambiguous.

On the one hand, the railroad workers in the confrontation with Rubin showed quite bright football.

They had more possession of the ball (63%), regularly kicked on goal and made combinations near someone else's penalty area.

And in case of a loss, they tried to instantly include high pressure.

On the other hand, in defense the Muscovites did not play the best way and allowed the Kazan team to score twice.

In both cases, 17-year-old goalkeeper Daniil Khudyakov could not help out the guests.

At first, he failed to cope with Anders Dreyer's neat kick into the near corner from outside the penalty area, and then failed to fix the ball after a cross from the front and allowed Herman Onugha to hit an empty target.

By the 66th minute, the position of the red-greens became almost hopeless, but the team showed character and managed to escape defeat thanks to the efforts of the Russian national team players.

Fyodor Smolov's quick return goal turned out to be very important, which put an end to the beautiful three-move.

Rifat Zhemaletdinov, who came on as a substitute, saved the guests in the time added by the referee.

Yuri Dupin failed to cope with the opponent's long-range shot.

Rubin managed to score the first points in four RPL meetings, but this draw was akin to defeat for Leonid Slutsky's charges.

Lokomotiv has not known victories in all tournaments for more than a month.

Two Spartak goals in five minutes

Spartak also managed to make an impressive comeback in the match against Dynamo.

Like Lokomotiv, the red and white were behind 0: 2 during the meeting, but managed to win back in the end.

Moreover, Rui Vitoria's wards took five minutes to hit the gates of Anton Shunin twice.

It is noteworthy that in both cases the team's central defenders - Samuel Zhigot and Georgy Jikia - distinguished themselves.

And their partner in the center of defense Maximiliano Kofrie gave an assist.

So Spartak extended the unbeaten run in all tournaments to four meetings and scored points for the second time in a month, conceding first.

Earlier this happened in a confrontation with Napoli in the Europa League (3: 2).

But the team of Sandro Schwartz not only was left without a victory in the second round of the national championship in a row, but again could not prevail in the derby.

Within the framework of the Premier League, Dynamo have defeated a principled opponent only once over the past eight years - in May 2018.

True, at the beginning of the year, the blue and white knocked out the red and white ones from the Cup of the country.

Akinfeev's 400th match for CSKA as captain

The tour did not go without another referee scandal.

Moreover, its main players were again CSKA players.

Two weeks ago, at the end of the match with Krasnodar, Vladimir Moskalev did not assign a penalty to the gates of the army team for playing Igor Diveev's hand.

This time the situation was exactly the same in Yekaterinburg.

After the set was served, the ball hit Baktiyor Zainutdinov's wrist, but Artyom Lyubimov, even after watching the replay, did not point to the "point".

As a result, the third goal of Chidera Ejuka in the current RPL season helped the red and blue to put the squeeze on Ural in the second half.

The outsider did not really have the opportunity to hit the gates of Igor Akinfeev, who was holding the 400th meeting as the captain of the Muscovites.

After the final whistle, Ural did not hide their disappointment with the referee's decision.

So, the president of the club, Grigory Ivanov, called the incident a lawlessness and promised to contact the ESC.

And the acting head of the RPL and the chairman of the RFU referee committee, Ashot Khachaturyants, did not analyze the episode and advised to wait for the decision of the commission.

At the same time, the ex-referee of the Premier League Igor Fedotov supported Lyubimov.

In his opinion, Zainutdinov's hand was in a natural position, and therefore there was no violation of the rules.

Agalarov's ninth ball in the RPL

But another team fighting for survival, Ufa on the road sensationally took away points from Krasnodar - 1: 1.

Hamid Agalarov helped the Bashkortostanians to do this.

The striker did not score in the previous two matches, but this time he distinguished himself already in the first minutes and scored the ninth goal in the current RPL season, which allows him to lead the tournament's top scorers race.

Unfortunately, in the middle of the half, he was forced to leave the field after a hard collision with a defender.

Southerners in the remaining time, although they had an advantage, but with difficulty overcame the saturated line of defense of the guests and created one hundred percent chances infrequently.

They were able to recoup only thanks to the decision of Alexei Sukhoi to assign a penalty for playing with Boyan Jokic's hand.

Grzegorz Krychowiak took the penalty spot with confidence.

And Viktor Goncharenko managed to upset the former team.

After the final whistle, Ufa did not hide their indignation at the fateful episode.

For example, head coach Alexei Stukalov admitted that he did not understand the interpretation of some of the rules.

And the general director of the club, Shamil Gazizov, complained that Sukhoi did not show anyone for the violation at Agalarov, which entailed his replacement.