The next championship of Zenit, the fourth in a row, turned out to be largely unexpected.
After the victory over Krasnodar, the intrigue in the fight for the championship practically died, but few could have imagined that the main pursuer, Dynamo, would sensationally lose to the outsider Ural and, in fact, would open the way for the Petersburgers to gold.
To solve the problem, they themselves needed to take over Lokomotiv at home.
I was also surprised that by the end of the meeting, the RPL Cup had been delivered to the Gazprom Arena, although, it seems, given the results of recent years, it could not have been taken away from here.
Well, the local fans had a pleasant feeling of deja vu, because last year the wards of Sergei Semak also guaranteed themselves the title in a home meeting with the railway workers, although they did it more confidently.
Yes, and this time there were fewer emotions.
Firstly, many players have already become fed up with victories in the domestic arena, and secondly, the future of the team and all domestic football is in a fog, in particular, it is not clear whether representatives of the Premier League will be allowed to play in European competition next season.
Artyom Dziuba, who won the tenth trophy together with the blue-white-blue, honestly admitted that he no longer experiences crazy sensations.
He noted that he wanted to keep the intrigue in the national championship until the very end, but this was not destined to come true.
“CSKA revived a little, then deflated.
Dynamo resisted, but more in words than in deeds.
If you want to fight for the championship, giving up the match with Ural is at least strange ... I would like a stronger championship so that the competition goes on until the last round, ”the striker emphasized on the Match Premier air.
Other old-timers of the team found a new motivation for themselves, for example, Alexander Erokhin announced his desire to get a second star on the emblem of the club.
It can be added for five championships.
The assets of Zenit now include nine, taking into account one victory in the championship of the USSR.
But there were players from St. Petersburg who took gold for the first time, and they certainly could not complain about the lack of emotions.
For example, Ivan Sergeev played in the FNL last season, and the current one started as part of the Wings of the Soviets.
In winter, he moved to Zenit and a few months later was recognized as the best player in the decisive match.
The happy striker hugged his partners, and one of them even called him a Canadian, apparently for a bushy beard.
“The debut in the RPL and immediately the championship.
Of course, at first I did not believe it, but now I realize.
The first, but God forbid, not the last, ”Ivan shared.
The cheerful Brazilians did not hide their happiness either, fortunately, now there are five of them in the team at once.
Of course, they couldn't just keep smiling.
Wendel, having received his medal, unexpectedly clamped it in his teeth and raised his hands.
Happy Malcom shouted into the camera: "Champions."
And Claudinho, following right on the podium, arranged a victory dance.
For him, this trophy is also his debut at Zenit.
“This is a very important achievement for me.
First career title since leaving Brazil.
I am glad that I managed to become the champion of Russia, ”admitted a happy Claudinho.
But the special moment is not even the awarding of medals, but the presentation of the cup, which they managed to bring to St. Petersburg.
Mikhail Kerzhakov and Artyom Dzyuba received it from the hands of the President of the RPL Ashot Khachaturyants as the most experienced players.
They carefully took him by the handles and carried him to the partners, who had already lined up in full force.
After a couple of seconds, the trophy soared into the air.
At the same second, hundreds of confetti flew up.
Such a familiar, but not annoying procedure for Zenit.
By tradition, many football players took children with them to the awards ceremony, for example, Alexander Erokhin did this.
Perhaps some of them will someday play for the blue-white-blue.
Wendel looked especially touching with a tiny daughter in his arms.
Following the team went to thank for the support of loyal fans.
And here another old-timer of the team, Magomed Ozdoev, took the initiative into his own hands.
He took the cup to the fan stand, and the Petersburgers, lining up in front of it, sang one of the most popular chants in the city on the Neva, "Op, come on, come on."
Well, the ceremony ended with the traditional swing of the coach.
At these moments, it became even scary for Semak.
It seems that the coach, who has not added a kilogram since the end of his career, has taken off into the air too high and may fall on the lawn.
Fortunately, it worked out.
All this specialist fully deserved.
Yes, the club has more serious financial opportunities than its competitors, but with other mentors it has not achieved such success.
With Semak, he has no equal in the RPL for four years in a row.
Sergey Bogdanovich himself, along with the ex-defender of Spartak Dmitry Ananko, ranks first in the number of championships in Russia (nine), and in terms of the number of gold among his colleagues he caught up with Valery Gazzaev and is now second only to Oleg Romantsev (eight).
“I continue to insist that Zenit do not dominate the league, although in terms of results you can say so.
But from the point of view of the game and the margin of safety, the benchmark for me is Bayern.
Our victories in most cases are associated with constant nerves.
Work is constantly in full swing, we cannot say that we easily beat someone in the championship.
So far, we do not dominate, but we would like to, ”Semak emphasized after the match.
And the general director of the club, Alexander Medvedev, pleased the fans with important news: the contract with the mentor was automatically extended.
He also spoke about the challenges facing the team for next season.
“The fourth championship in a row is a very rare case.
I know that in the history of Russian football, only Spartak has won more titles in a row.
But we do not stop at this figure, our task is to earn a second star for a T-shirt.
And the sooner the better,” the functionary emphasized.
Unfortunately, there was also a small scandal involving Dziuba.
A year ago, after the end of the "golden" match with Lokomotiv, he became the main character of the ceremony, dressed in a Deadpool costume.
This time he also came to the fore, but thanks to a conflict with journalist Konstantin Genich.
The commentator recently spoke about the dispute between him and the player before the start of the season.
Its subject was the performance of Sergeyev.
If he scored eight or more goals in the RPL, the ex-captain of the national team would have to fulfill his desire.
At the moment, Ivan has already nine goals in his asset.
But Dzyuba expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Genich publicly reported on the dispute.
In his opinion, Konstantin thus insulted his new teammate.
“We didn't argue about anything.
Konstantin Genich as a yellow press.
We talked tete-a-tete with him, but he blew it out of it, he does not know how to attract attention to himself.
For me, this is shameful.
Vanya Sergeev, probably himself, is uncomfortable for our conversation.
I didn’t know him before, he is a very good football player, I was sincerely worried about him.
How Genich behaved is fu.
It’s right that Spartak banned him, I banned him too, ”said Dzyuba.
The answer of the journalist was not long in coming and turned out to be extremely tough.
“Next to us, when we argued, there were a huge number of people.
It was not a private dispute ... What he said about Sergeyev ... Now he claims that Vanya is a good striker, but then he said that if he reproduced it now, it didn’t seem enough to him ... At that time it was an honest argument, which I had to take it like a man.
What Artyom said is rotten.
Now I understand perfectly why most of the fans hate and hate you, ”Genich recalled.