A fight in St. Petersburg, Makarov's goal and a rout from Rostov: how did the group stage of the RPL Way of the Russian Cup end

Rumors of increased bonuses and victory in the penalty shootout

The matches of the last round of the group stage of the RPL Path undeservedly remained in the shadow of the World Cup in Qatar, although they kept intrigue until the end.

But the most attention, of course, attracted the Derby of the two capitals "Zenith" - "Spartak".

The red-and-whites were confidently leading in quartet A, but an unexpected defeat by Krylya Sovetov aggravated the struggle.

All three teams had the opportunity both to take the first line and fly out to the Path of Regions.

In case of victory of St. Petersburg and Samarans, they scored an identical number of points.

And the first additional indicator in the tournament are personal meetings, which would also be completely equal.

But in terms of goal difference, the Muscovites were ahead of their opponents, and Sergei Semak's wards, in order to get around them, needed to score four unanswered ones.

According to media reports, the management even decided to additionally motivate the team.

Allegedly, if she had won by three or more goals, she would have received triple bonuses.

In fact, the game turned out to be not the brightest.

In the first half, the teams did not threaten each other's goal at all, and only Roman Zobnin's inaccurate shot from a long distance was remembered.

After the break, the hosts increased the pressure and finally began to create chances, but they lacked accuracy.

After a beautiful dribble hit by Malcolm, the ball went close to the post.

In a couple of other episodes of red and white rescued by Alexander Maksimenko.

But the fans still did not lose out, because already at the end of regular time, a mass brawl began on the field.

The first conflicts began to flare up even before the whistle, when Rodrigao and Shamar Nicholson grappled in the center circle.

Following on the yellow got Zobnin and Daler Kuzyaev.

Finally, the players stopped holding back their emotions when Wilmar Barrios staged a brawl with Quincy Promes.

The wounded Rodrigao and Nicholson came to the aid of the partners.

The Brazilian kicked the Jamaican several times with his foot, and he in response struck him with a powerful punch in the jaw.

Immediately, Nail Umyarov and Alexander Sobolev came running from the bench.

But if the first only funny slipped on the wet lawn, then the second became one of the main characters, participating in the beating of Barrios.

Meanwhile, on another part of the field, Rodrigao and Nicholson again met.

The players managed to calm down with great difficulty, and Vladimir Moskalev was eventually forced to remove six people: Nicholson, Rodrigao, Sobolev, Barrios, Malcolm and Alexander Selikhov.

After such a penalty shoot-out seemed to be a mere formality for the teams.

However, the hosts still managed to bring the case to victory.

Ivan parried the blows of Anton Zinkovsky and Daniil Denisov, and the decisive penalty was converted by ex-Muscovite midfielder Zelimkhan Bakaev.

This did not help Zenit to rise above third place, as Wings of the Soviets won a difficult victory over Fakel in a parallel match thanks to a goal by Dmitry Tsypchenko.

But Spartak still remained on the first line.

Bikfalvi's historical balls and Yurganov's curious own goal

Under the leadership of Viktor Goncharenko, Ural not only significantly improved its position in the RPL, but also performed well at the group stage of the Russian Cup.

In six matches, he won five victories and was ahead of CSKA.

The decisive factor was the home success in the confrontation with the army team in the penalty shootout.

After that, the Yekaterinburg team beat them by a point and in the last round match with the outsider Torpedo they had the opportunity to play no worse than the pursuer in order to keep their place at the top.

The team easily completed the task and turned out to be stronger than the opponent on the road — 2:1.

And the main character in its composition was Eric Bikfalvi, who had recently recovered from the tram.

The veteran scored a double and came close to setting a landmark record.

With 53 goals, the Romanian is now only two behind the top scorer in the history of the club, Mikhail Mysin.

And Ural ended the year on a positive note, having achieved nine wins at the finish line with two draws.

In turn, CSKA beat Vladimir Fedotov's former team Sochi with a similar score.

Surprisingly, after the appointment of a Russian coach, Muscovites left the southerners out of work for the third time in a row: two in the Cup and one in the RPL.

19-year-old Nikita Ermakov opened the account already in the third minute.

And Igor Yurganov scored the decisive goal.

After an hour of the meeting, he tried to pass to goalkeeper Denis Adamov, but did not see that he came out to meet him, and threw him over.

But the hosts before the start of the game decided on a new mentor.

The owner of the club, Boris Rotenberg, confirmed that Kurban Berdyev, with whom the contract was signed for 2.5 years, will become it.

Successful replacement of Jokanovic and defeat from Karpin's wards

But the most confusing situation was in quartet C, where all the teams could both complete the performance and take first place.

Orenburg was in the lead, one point ahead of Dynamo and two points ahead of Rostov and Akhmat.

Moreover, in personal meetings, the wards of Marcel Lichka had absolute equality with both teams from the South of Russia (two wins with a score of 4:2 and defeats - 1:3).

In turn, the team of Valery Karpin lost in the first round in Grozny (1:3).

In the return confrontation, she needed to achieve a better difference in order to bypass her opponent in case of equality.

The hosts practically solved the problem in the first half, when Andrei Langovich and Nikolai Komlichenko hit the gates of the guests.

Muscovites, who could not upset Orenburg, dropped to the last line in the online table.

The blue-and-whites had an overwhelming advantage, but Evgeny Goshev worked miracles at the gate.

And the refereeing team canceled the goal of Daniil Fomin due to a controversial offside.

Once again, they were saved by the ability of Slavisa Jokanovic to make substitutions in a timely manner.

The Serb threw Denis Makarov into battle, and he scored four minutes later.

The midfielder handled the ball with his chest in the penalty area and with a second touch, not allowing him to fall on the lawn, just hit the far one.

Immediately, the players did not hold back their emotions, and a brawl broke out on the edge with the participation of players and members of the coaching staff.

As a result, four athletes received yellow, and Adesoye Oyevole, Lichka's assistant, red.

And in Rostov-on-Don, nothing was clear until the last moment, because if the meeting ended with a score of 2:0, the opponents would have absolutely equal performance, and lots would have to be cast.

But the arbitrators got rid of this need by Giorgi Shelia.

After a long-range strike, he made a gross mistake, releasing the ball from his hands, and Egor Golenkov finished him off into the net.

Thus, Dynamo finished first, Rostov finished second, and Akhmat went to the playoffs of the Path of Regions.

"Orenburg" flew out in the most offensive way. 

Three assists by Maradishvili and Cordoba's brace

A bright struggle unfolded in group A, where Krasnodar and Pari Nizhny Novgorod shared the lead, having ten points each, and Lokomotiv was two behind them.

At the same time, the railway workers were to meet with his former team.

And they had no choice but to beat Nizhny Novgorod in regular time.

Muscovites completed the task with ease.

As is often the case, after the change of coach, the team started up and achieved results in the first half.

Within four minutes, Nair Tiknizyan and Francois Camano managed to upset Nikita Goylo twice, and Konstantin Maradishvili gave them assists, who did not often appear at the base under previous mentors.

In the end, he did help to distinguish Wilson Isidor, who came on as a substitute, and scored an assistant hat-trick.

The ball from Timur Suleymanov, a trainee of the railway workers, did not save the situation in stoppage time - NN went to the Way of the Regions, and Loko moved up to second place at the last moment.

Krasnodar, however, gladly took advantage of the misfire of a direct competitor and defeated the outsider Khimki - 4:1.

In the middle of the first half, the sides exchanged goals, and at that moment the southerners shared the lead with the Muscovites, ahead of them in personal meetings.

But all questions were soon removed by John Cordoba, who scored a double.

And the young Alexander Koksharov, who replaced him, put an end to it.