Different levels: how Zenit scored four goals against Spartak and won the Russian Super Cup

Losses of Spartak and Semak's conservatism

The favorite of the confrontation for the Russian Football Super Cup was clear long before it began.

Zenit approached the match in the status of not only the reigning champion and the strongest team in the country, but also one of the most uncomfortable opponents for Spartak.

Muscovites could not get the better of an irreconcilable rival for nine meetings in a row, and their last visit to the Gazprom Arena ended in total humiliation.

In October 2021, the wards of Rui Vitoria were defeated with a score of 1: 7, having suffered the biggest defeat in the history of the national championship.

It would seem that a lot of events have happened since that moment: Zenit was left without its long-term leader Artyom Dziuba, and Spartak was without coach Paolo Vanoli, who immediately took the Cup of the country with the team.

But even the departure of one of the best scorers in the history of Russian football had no effect on the balance of power.

While the blue-white-blues conducted a powerful transfer campaign and found players for almost all positions that needed to be strengthened, their opponents in the reporting match not only did not manage to compensate for the loss of a number of legionnaires, but also could not count on several players belonging to them.

Christopher Martins Pereira, Victor Moses and Oston Urunov, who did not have time to get in shape, remained outside the application.

As a result, Guillermo Abascal made practically no changes to the composition, which played in friendly matches.

In his first official meeting, he opted for a 4-3-1-2 formation with Quincy Promes and Alexander Sobolev as forwards.

Under them is Mikhail Ignatov, who received the role of playmaker, and the trio of midfielders were Nail Umyarov, Roman Zobnin and 19-year-old Daniil Denisov.

Last season, he played mainly for the double of Spartak, and played only 212 minutes in total for the main team.

As for Zenit, the main intrigue was whether any of the star newcomers would have the opportunity to enter the field from the first minutes.

Semak made a bet on proven fighters, and the ex-hubvek of Spartak Zelimkhan Bakaev and Mateo Cassierra and Rodrigao, who moved from Sochi, remained on the bench.

The absence of Dejan Lovren at the start, who gave way to Nuraly Alip, was truly unexpected.

The young goalkeeper Daniil Odoevsky also got a chance to prove himself, having ousted the experienced Mikhail Kerzhakov from the base.

Roll "Zenith" on the left flank and the "dampness" of Denisov

The first half clearly demonstrated that Abaskal's experiment with the appearance of young Denisov at the start was unsuccessful.

Yes, in the 11th minute, he joined the attack great and almost hit the far corner, but later looked like a weak link in the constructions of the Spanish specialist.

Zenit quickly realized that it would be problematic to break through Maciej Rybus and Roman Zobnin, who closed the left edge, so they quickly shifted the focus to the opposite edge.

And he regularly began to create problems for the same Denisov and his namesake Khlusevich.

Douglas Santos and Malcolm individually looked much stronger, and the displacement of Daler Kuzyaev or Wendel into this zone created enormous problems for the red-whites.

As a result, all this was reflected in Nail Umyarov, who in the Abascal system received the most important role of a point guard defensive midfielder.

But if in the organization of attacks he was not bad, then in defense he made a lot of mistakes.

Largely due to the regular failures of Khlusevich and Denisov.

He was forced to regularly go to the aid of his partners, but did not keep up with his opponents, only exposing the zone in front of the central defenders.

Gradually, the football player “floated”, and in the 29th minute he received a heavy psychological blow when he brought a goal into his own net.

A quick counter-attack by the Petersburgers was not successful, but the unsuccessful handling of the midfielder led to a loss.

Kuzyaev, on the verge of a foul, scored an interception, and Sergeyev, who picked up the ball, struck phenomenally into the far top corner.

And after five minutes, Zenit doubled the advantage, and the attack was born again on the left flank.

This time, Nikita Chernov rushed to help Khlusevich and Denisov, which only provoked the appearance of a hole in the defense.

Petersburg Brazilians effortlessly dealt with Georgiy Jikia, who was left alone, and Alexander Selikhov's reckless exit from the gate only simplified their task.

Malcolm overtook the goalkeeper and rolled into an empty target.

It is curious that during the break the Spanish coach did not make a single change in the defensive and defensive lines, for which he was very quickly punished.

Denisov and Khlusevich pulled ahead too far, while Chernov and Umyarov could not do anything with stellar rivals.

As a result, Wendel found himself completely alone in a killer position and shot irresistibly into the far corner.

And although this happened in the 46th minute, there were practically no chances for a comeback.

The free role of Promes and the bet on long passes

In terms of counterplay, Spartak also looked ambiguous.

Pre-season meetings confirmed the hypothesis that Abascal would try to instill in his team a more dominant style with an emphasis on ball control.

But if in the games with Yenisei and Baltika the Red-Whites managed to have a territorial advantage and actively use the flanks, this time they strayed into long-range shots on Sobolev.

Yes, he fought great on the “second floor” and over and over again coped with Nuraly Alip, but it was hard to create dangerous moments.

A couple of times, Alexander still managed to get into position for a strike, but he missed the target twice.

At first there was not enough accuracy, and the defender blocked the second attempt.

The nominal "ten" Ignatov was absolutely invisible, Roman Zobnin did not feel very comfortable on the left side.

Only Promes stood out against the general background, having become the cornerstone in Spartak's attack under the new coach.

Although he started the match as a second striker, he moved around the field, taking part in all phases of the attack.

Often, he first fell to the same line with Umyarov and helped in drawing the ball, and then he rushed to someone else's penalty area.

And in this regard, there were parallels with Lionel Messi, who performed similar functions while playing for Barcelona under the leadership of Josep Guardiola.

As a result, it was the Dutchman who was the closest to “soaking the score”.

Promes received a pass from the flank in the center of the penalty area and could deal with Odoevsky, but was not too quick.

Wilmar Barrios took advantage of this, preventing him from inflicting a smashing blow.

Superactive Zinkovsky and faded Bakaev

But if Promes was the most prominent player of Spartak in the first half, then Anton Zinkovsky deserved this title in the second game segment.

During the break, he replaced Ignatov and thus completed the team's transition to the 4-3-3 scheme.

Formally, the Muscovites rebuilt it in the first half, but it actively earned only after the release of the former Wings of the Soviets winger.

The range of Zinkovsky's actions was impressive.

He moved from one flank to another, threatened both with breaks along the curb and with shifts to the center, and also actively created space for defenders to connect.

After his passes, Rybus and Ruslan Litvinov served in the penalty area, replacing Khlusevich as a right-back.

Yes, and Anton himself was not averse to hanging on the overall striker.

But neither Sobolev nor Shamar Nicholson, who replaced him, could take advantage of their chances.

In addition, it was Zinkovsky who became the hero of one of the most controversial episodes of the match.

In the 59th minute, he "robbed" the hesitant Dmitry Chistyakov and broke free one on one with Odoevsky, but fell after contact with the goalkeeper.

On the replay, you can see that the goalkeeper touched the winger, but the chief referee Vladimir Moskalev did not point to the point.

In the second half, two star newcomers of Zenit also appeared on the field.

But if Cassierra coped with his task and scored after a blunder by the opponent, then Bakaev was not so good.

In the 21 minutes allotted to him, he only touched the ball six times, performed two accurate passes and was not marked by a single successful beat.

However, Bakaev's inexpressive game did not prevent Zenit from defeating Spartak with a score of 4: 0 and extending the unbeaten streak in the confrontation with the red-whites to ten meetings.

Wards Semak for the seventh time won the Super Cup of Russia and caught up in this indicator with the record holder - CSKA.