The first round of the Russian Football Championship ended with the match "Krasnodar" - "Zenith".
And the head coaches of the teams did not try to surprise each other with unexpected tactical decisions.
Rearrangements in the compositions were explained only by the presence of injuries in some performers.
Thus, the guests were forced to do without Dejan Lovren and Mateo Cassierra, who are experiencing health problems, whose places were taken by Nuraly Alip and Ivan Sergeev, respectively.
The hosts could not count on Alexander Chernikov, Joao Bashiez and Olakunle Olusegun.
The Nigerian was replaced during the break of the meeting with Pari NN and, although the damage was initially called frivolous, in reality everything turned out to be much worse.
According to Oleksandr Storozhuk, the striker was diagnosed with a fibula fracture, due to which he will be forced to miss the rest of the autumn part of the championship.
Thus, Alexei Ionov presented himself with a chance to start, and Kevin Lenini was called upon to compensate for the absence of Chernikov in the center of the field.
The midfielder from Cape Verde spent only 329 minutes in the Russian championship, but has already managed to become the leader of the "bulls" in terms of the number of successful tackles on average per game (2.3).
And this is with just one yellow card.
True, he achieved these indicators mainly in matches with weaker opponents.
In the Rostov game, he did not look so good.
And although Lenini spent the first 45 minutes of the meeting with Zenit at a fairly high level, he did not do without mistakes.
It was his inaccurate pass that led to one of the most dangerous moments at the gates of Matvey Safonov in the first half of the meeting.
With the help of several short passes, the Petersburgers brought Claudinho to the ball, but he missed the far corner.
In general, Sergei Semak was hardly satisfied with the performance of the wards in the first half.
The guests started it overactively and at first almost undivided possession of the ball, but the pressure quickly subsided.
In the remaining 30 minutes, they were only twice close to a goal, but if Claudinho failed to take advantage of his chance, Safonov prevented Vendel.
With a difference of a few seconds, the strenuous Brazilian first stopped the fast break of Christian Ramirez, and then joined the attack and powerfully shot.
And only a desperate shot by the goalkeeper allowed Krasnodar not to go on a break, losing in the score.
Do not shine on someone else's half and "bulls".
Yes, they put a lot of pressure on and repeatedly took the Petersburgers by surprise, but they practically failed to bring things to blows.
Only the same Ramirez, who rolled the ball into the near corner, managed to disturb Mikhail Kerzhakov.
John Cordoba was active.
True, the partners did not always support him, and the Colombian himself was unable to cope alone with the massive defense of blue-white-blue.
True, at the end of the half, the ex-forward of Hertha nevertheless earned a free kick in the immediate vicinity of the Kerzhakov gate and provided an excellent opportunity for Eduard Spertsyan.
The top scorer of the black-and-greens did not take advantage of it, launching the ball much higher.
The second half began with the replacement of Zenit, but with its help, Semak rather wanted to protect the team from potential removal than to refresh the game.
Instead of Alip, who received a yellow card, Dmitry Chistyakov came out.
And the starting segment was really not much different from what the audience watched before the break.
The hosts tried in vain to create problems for Kerzhakov, and the guests, although they managed to deal with the enemy's defense, experienced difficulties in the final stage.
Another supermoment ruined Claudinho, this time unable to get on target from outside the penalty area.
In general, although the Brazilian was traditionally good at creating, in terms of implementation he was not like himself.
The mentor watched his torment for a long time, but 14 minutes before the end of regular time, he nevertheless sat him on the bench.
True, before that, Zenit managed to carry out several more promising attacks.
And they all happened after Storozhuk made two substitutions.
Instead of Sergey Volkov and Ilzat Akhmetov, who was also punished with a mustard plaster, Sergey Petrov and Mikhailo Banyats appeared, respectively, but if the Russian immediately began to help teammates, then the Serb looked extremely faded.
Initially, he took the position of the right winger, but acted there so unsuccessfully that he subsequently dropped to the middle line.
But even there it was unproductive.
The reshuffle obviously did not benefit Krasnodar and allowed Zenit to tightly seize the initiative.
Attacks on the gates of black and green began to roll one after another, and in the course of their organization, Sergeyev suddenly began to play one of the leading roles.
The striker came to his senses after an unsuccessful first half and was useful both in the fight and playing along.
In the 65th minute, he responded to Rodrigao's throw and went one on one with the goalkeeper, and a little later he brought Malcolm to the lethal position.
But neither the partners in the attack nor Wendel could surprise Safonov.
The siege of the bulls' goal continued even after Andrey Mostovoy and Gustavy Mantua appeared on the field, and the goal of the guests was brewing.
But they failed to beat him from the game.
"Helped" all the same Ramirez.
After hitting Daler Kuzyaev, the ball ricocheted exactly into the Ecuadorian's set aside hand, which gave grounds to the chief referee Vladimir Moskalev to appoint an 11-meter penalty.
The Russian himself approached the point and calmly converted the penalty.
Safonov could well help out the team, but he lacked a couple of centimeters.
"Krasnodar" found itself in the role of catching up in the 87th minute and in the remaining time was unable to create at least a semblance of bulk.
Zenit confidently brought the matter to victory and strengthened its leading position in the RPL, completing the first round without a single defeat.
Wards of Storozhuk also lost in the third of the last four meetings and remained in sixth place in the table.