Sobolev's tears, Promes' bullet and Fomin's miss: how Spartak beat Dynamo in the Russian Cup final

Incredible hype

The Russian Cup final between Dynamo and Spartak caused an incredible stir in Moscow.

Although it was decided to hold the meeting at Luzhniki, even they could not accept everyone.

On the morning of the match, the RFU announced the full sale of tickets for the game with a total capacity of 73,189 spectators.

And already during the match, the presence of 69,306 people in the stands was announced.

Thus, a new attendance record was set for the decisive matches of the tournament.

The previous one also took place at the Grand Sports Arena even before reconstruction, when in 2006 the confrontation between Spartak and CSKA gathered 67 thousand spectators.

Such an interest is quite understandable.

Firstly, the red-white and white-blue are irreconcilable rivals, and secondly, the victory in the Cup was their last chance to finish the season with a trophy.

This was especially true of the wards of Paolo Vanoli, who in the year of the centenary of the club did not win anything and took tenth place in the RPL.

Thirdly, both teams have not taken the Cup for a long time: Spartak since 2003, and Dynamo since 1995.

Finally, the match could be the last for both coaches.

Sandro Schwartz, according to media reports, has already agreed with Hertha, and in case of defeat, he risked losing his post and Vanoli.

Fortunately, the experts approached the confrontation with virtually no losses.

The German could use all the wards, and the Italian was left only without the injured defender Nikita Chernov.

However, both coaches managed to surprise the fans.

So, the place at the last frontier of Spartak was taken not by Alexander Selikhov, but by Alexander Maksimenko.

The company of Samuel Zhigot and Georgiy Dzhikiya in the center of defense was not Maximiliano Kofrie, but Ruslan Litvinov.

And in the support zone, instead of Roman Zobnin, Danil Prutsev appeared.

Alexander Sobolev was at the forefront of the attack, while Shamar Nicholson remained on the bench, as did Zelimkhan Bakaev.

At Dynamo, the main intrigue concerned the goalkeeper's position, and Schwartz, despite five goals conceded from Sochi, left Igor Leshchuk at the base.

But in the attack, for the first time in the season, he relied on the duo of forwards - Fedor Smolov and Konstantin Tyukavin.

In defense, Sandro decided to “mirror” the opponent’s scheme with three central defenders, but when in possession, it was easily rebuilt into 3-4-3.

Failed Dynamo game

However, the blue and white players, it seemed, were completely unprepared for such a serious reshuffle.

The increase in the number of defenders should have added reliability, but only confused them.

Dynamo did not immediately play and felt how to act.

Spartak, on the contrary, started the match powerfully and constantly pumped up pressure on the flanks.

Victor Mozes and Promes were especially active on the left.

Sobolev also moved here, creating an overload.

And already in the tenth minute, the red-whites opened the scoring.

And again, the opponent failed in defense.

Ignatov, with a magnificent cutting pass between Fabio Balbuena and Roman Evgeniev, sent Sobolev to a rendezvous with Leshchuk, and he did not miss his moment.

However, Fomin in the support zone did not play the best way in this episode, allowing Prutsev to give a vertical pass to Ignatov, and the goalkeeper, who missed the near corner.

The author of the goal dedicated it to his mother, who passed away in 2020.

In the arms of his partners, he could hardly hold back his tears.

Dynamo football also evoked sadness, since the team did not succeed in attack either.

In particular, it did not include the trademark high pressure and allowed the opponents to calmly block the free zones.

The delivery of the ball forward did not work either.

As a result, Tyukavin and Smolov were completely cut off from their partners, and in order to receive a pass, they had to drop almost to their own half.

It is not surprising that the blue and white in the first half did not create a single moment at the gates of Maksimenko.

I remember only a dangerous cross from Shimansky from the front, which the goalkeeper coped with, and the fall of Tyukavin in someone else's penalty area after a duel with Litvinov, to which the chief referee Kirill Levnikov did not pay attention.

But "Spartak" could well increase the advantage in the long run.

So, on the 21st minute, Vanoli's team again found a gap in the defense on the left half-flank.

Balbuena was unable to intercept Moses' penetrating pass to Promes, who ran almost one-on-one with Leshchuk.

From a rather acute angle, he chose not to hit, but performed a cross into the goalkeeper's room, where Evgeniev alone was.

The ball bounced from him to Ignatov, but he sent a projectile into the sky from a lethal position.

A little later, Zhigot, after drawing the standard from ten meters, also missed the target.

Happy ending for Spartak

The blue-and-whites went to the break in a gloomy mood.

It was obvious that they urgently needed to change something.

It seemed that Schwartz would admit mistakes and return to the proven scheme.

However, the German did not do this and gave the wards a second chance.

It is also likely that he spoke as harshly as possible with the players in the locker room, since they returned to the field with a completely different attitude.

Dynamo fought furiously for every ball and flew into hard tackles.

In this segment, they finally reminded themselves of the former.

The pressure began to pass, which in the first half of the meeting was not at all.

And it immediately paid off.

"Spartak" was pressed to his own penalty area and practically could not cross the center of the field.

Especially active in Dynamo was Skopintsev, who scored a good long-range shot and earned a free kick on the left flank.

In addition, Jikia received damage from the red-and-whites.

Doctors took time to help him.

Looking ahead: soon the captain had to be changed.

And in the 55th minute, the opponent turned the pressure into a goal, and it turned out to be the most offensive for the nominal owners.

Zhigot in a tackle knocked the ball out from under the feet of Tyukavina, who burst into the penalty area, and Zakharyan was the first on the rebound, who struck a touch.

The Frenchman, lying on the lawn, tried to interrupt him, but only disoriented Maksimenko.

It seemed that Dynamo would try to build on the success with courage, but the team did not have enough strength to continue acting at such speeds.

Yes, and Spartak competently calmed the game and even carried out several promising counterattacks.

And Vanoli made a double substitution, which was decisive.

Jikia's place in the top three central defenders was taken by Kofrie, and the tired Ignatov gave way to Nicholson.

And in the 72nd minute they all took part in the winning goal.

The red-and-whites organized an exemplary counterattack from their own goal.

Began it with a long pass from his own free kick Belgian.

The Jamaican overtook Balbuena in the central circle and made a discount on Sobolev.

And Alexander sent Promes into the gap with a magnificent cutting pass.

The Dutchman easily ran away from two opponents, beat Leshchuk and hit the target - 2:1.

Having conceded the second goal, the blue and white looked doomed.

Too much did not work out for them at the end of the season.

Schwartz tried to save the game with substitutions, throwing Daniil Lesovoy, Vyacheslav Grulev, Denis Makarov and Nikolo Moro into battle, but the permutations had no effect.

However, in extra time, fate still gave the blue and white a chance in the form of a violation of the rules by Litvinov.

The defender in his own penalty area, leading the riding martial arts with Tyukavin, hit the forward with his elbow in the face.

Levnikov did not record the foul at first, but his colleagues at VAR urged him to watch the replay.

And after that the referee confidently pointed to the point.

Fomin went to take the penalty in the 99th minute, who had never missed a spot in his career before, except for one episode in FNL-2.

It was evident from Daniel's face that he was very worried.

As a result, the midfielder struck above the crossbar.

Almost immediately, Levnikov blew the final whistle, and real madness began in the stands of Luzhniki, because Spartak won the first Cup of the country in 19 years.

And for Vanoli this trophy became a debut in Russia.

But Dynamo extended its unsuccessful streak, having been defeated in the fourth final of the tournament in a row.

In addition, at a press conference, Schwartz nevertheless announced his resignation.

The German will take home only the bronze medal of the RPL.

And the team will begin preparations for the new season under the guidance of another coach.