On the eve of the reporting match between Spartak and Zenit, one of the main questions was how motivated the rivals would be.

After all, for the first time in a long time they approached the derby of the two capitals without any tournament motivation.

Petersburgers have already guaranteed themselves gold medals and even managed to celebrate success with the fans, while Muscovites had no chance to seriously improve their situation.

Wards of Paolo Vanoli, only two rounds before the end of the championship, guaranteed themselves the preservation of residence in the RPL, and they can brighten up the impression of a failed season only by winning the Russian Cup.

Nevertheless, Spartak had something to fight for on the field of the Otkritie Bank Arena stadium.

In the first round, the red-whites suffered the biggest defeat in their history in the national championship and it is unlikely that they forgot about it.

Then Zenit humiliated the eternal enemy in its field with a score of 7:1 and stood on a par with Liverpool - previously only the Merseysiders managed to hit the red-and-white gates seven times.

And a convincing revenge in his field would not only be a gift for the fans, but would also allow to interrupt an extremely unpleasant series.

Muscovites could not beat the Petersburgers for eight meetings, and the last victory was dated November 2017 (3:1).

Then the ten-time national champions were led by Massimo Carrera, and Alexander Samedov, Luis Adriano and Mario Pasalic helped them take three points.

True, it was difficult to say from the line-ups whether the hosts were planning to fight for victory at all costs.

Vanoli left Samuel Zhigot, Zelimkhan Bakaev and Shamar Nicholson on the bench, while Maximiliano Kofrier did not get into the squad at all due to injury.

And most of all it hit the defensive line, which took on a threatening look.

The trio with Georgiy Jikia was formed by the nominal defensive midfielder Ruslan Litvinov and the lateral Daniil Khlusevich, while Nikolai Rasskazov, who had not started since October 30, settled on the flank.

In turn, Sergei Semak managed with a minimum of permutations and put on the field almost a combat squad.

Many have already got used to the presence of Nuraly Alip in the center of the defense, and Daniil Odoevsky took a place at the gate not only in the game with Rubin, but also in the match with Khimki.

The Brazilian quintet, led by Malcolm and Claudinho, and Ivan Sergeev, who in the previous three rounds chalked up three goals and an assist, also got into the base.

But Artyom Dzyuba again remained in the reserve, whose possible departure from the Northern capital remains the most discussed topic of recent weeks.

The first minutes of the match made it possible to count on a bright and uncompromising confrontation.

First, Alexander Selikhov almost cut the ball into his own net, and then Alexander Sobolev checked Odoevsky's vigilance.

Quincy Promes found the striker at the edge of the penalty area with a cool cutting pass, and he rolled the ball into the far corner.

But the young goalkeeper was alert.

After that, the active game suddenly subsided, for which Zenit is largely responsible.

Guests owned a territorial advantage, but did not rush forward.

In the first 35 minutes, although they struck five blows, none of them reached the target.

The closest were Yuri Alberto and Malcolm, but both failed to hit the far corner.

Apparently, Semak planned to wear down the enemy a little, find weaknesses in his experimental line of defense and hit towards the end of the first half.

In the final ten minutes of the half, the Petersburgers upped the pace and, although they could not disturb Selikhov, they created two great chances.

First, there was a throw into the goalkeeper's area for Dmitry Chistyakov, but the defender could not really handle the ball, and then Sergeev, in the fall, failed to close the chamber of Douglas Santos.

But Zenit's attempt to shift the focus towards the attack did not go unnoticed.

Spartak immediately got a little more space in front and could use it.

Stories unexpectedly ended up in the semicircle and shot from outside the penalty area.

The game finally revived in the 49th minute, when Spartak, almost for the first time in the match, managed to organize a signature quick attack.

Victor Moses provided a pass to Mikhail Ignatov, who was breaking through on the left side, and he performed a perfect throw at Sobolev.

Alexander overtook the stagnant Alip and shot right into the near corner.

True, it was not without watching a video replay, which almost turned into a scandal.

A few seconds before the kick, Khlusevich hit Santos in the leg while trying to pass, but Pavel Kukuyan rightly did not see a violation.

From that moment on, passive control of the ball was not enough for Zenit.

The Petersburgers moved forward with large forces and became vulnerable to counterattacks.

And "Spartak" had many opportunities to catch the enemy in oncoming traffic.

Moreover, Muscovites mainly used the left flank.

After entering the Zhigot field, not only Khlusevich and Mozes settled there, but Promes was also regularly shifted.

It was Quincy who was directly involved in the creation of two acute episodes, but none of them ended with a goal.

First, he himself struck directly at the goalkeeper, and then brought Sobolev to the shock position.

He literally had a defender hanging on his shoulders, but he still managed to break through from a roundabout.

The end of the meeting was marked by a tactical struggle between Vanoli and Semak.

The Italian one by one removed the main creators in the person of Sobolev, Mozes and Promes, and instead released Nicholson, Roman Zobnin and Zelimkhan Bakaev.

The Russian took a rather unexpected step and replaced three representatives of the Brazilian diaspora, with the exception of Malcolm and Santos.

And although Zenit was left without star legionnaires, he still managed to achieve a positive effect.

Spartak was pinned to its own goal and forced to frantically fight back.

Dzyuba and Alexander Erokhin fought in the penalty area, Andrey Mostovoy, Danil Krugovoi and Magomed Ozdoev pumped up pressure near its borders.

But the moments never came.

But the ex-captain of the Russian national team almost knocked out Zhigo.

During the struggle, Artyom hit Samuel with a knee in the head, after which he hardly came to his senses.

Much more dangerous was the jerk of Nicholson.

The Jamaican responded to a long throw, overtook Chistyakov, but failed to pierce the ball past Odoevsky.

However, Spartak still failed to leave the gate intact.

In the 90th minute, Dziuba turned out to be stronger in the riding fight with two defenders and performed a discount on Erokhin, who burst into the goalkeeper's area.

He tried to throw the ball past Selikhov, but collapsed on the lawn after contact with the goalkeeper.

And in the next couple of seconds, two events happened at once: the referee stopped the game, and Malcolm, who took advantage of the confusion of his opponents, irresistibly struck into the near corner.

Kukuyan blew his whistle before the Brazilian's kick, and the goal could not be counted, as a result of which it remained only to resolve the issue with a possible penalty.

On the replay, it was clearly visible that Selikhov, although he hit Erokhin's legs with his hands, was playing the ball a split second before.

However, the video assistant judges were not convinced.

Mostovoy approached the point and deprived Spartak of victory in the derby of the two capitals.