Canceled goal and mass brawl: Spartak defeated Lokomotiv, and Rostov tied with Ural in the Russian Cup

Dziuba's debut and Magkeev's canceled goal

The derby between Lokomotiv and Spartak was without a doubt the central event not only in the first day of the playoffs of the Russian Cup, but throughout the quarter-final stage as a whole.

And as such a status confrontation is supposed to be, it was surrounded by many intrigues.

And the main thing was whether it will take place on the appointed day.

According to the regulations, if at the time of the match the air temperature in the arena drops below 15 ° C, then the teams may demand to reschedule it to a later date.

However, the weather, though a little, but had mercy on the players.

During the final measurement, the thermometer showed -11 ° C.

Thus, purely sports moments came to the fore.

And there were more than enough of them.

Take a look at least at the base of Spartak, in which there was not a single legionnaire.

Not only the recognized leaders of the red and whites were at the start, but also the nominal reservist Pavel Melyoshin, who played only 216 minutes in total for the adult team.

True, in this case, Guillermo Abascal was more likely to have to turn to the services of a young forward, because due to disqualification, neither Alexander Sobolev nor Shamar Nicholson could enter the field.

At the same time, Quincy Promes remained on the bench with Christopher Martins and Keita Balde, as well as Alexis Duarte and Tomas Tavares acquired in the winter transfer window.

The line-up of Lokomotiv looked no less curious.

And the presence of six recruits in it at once attracted special attention, and four of them immediately hit the start.

Ilya Lantratov took a place in the "frame", Igor Smolnikov was on the right flank of the defense, Sergey Pinyaev was on the left side of the attack, and Artyom Dzyuba came out on the edge of the attack.

And it was on the ex-captain of the Russian national team that the main attention of both fans and the press was focused.

After all, the striker not only returned to Russian football after a six-month absence, but also did it in a game with his native team.

In the first 45 minutes, Dzyuba was practically not remembered for his bright actions, with the exception of a good discount on Dmitry Barinov.

True, it was impossible to reproach him for the lack of dedication.

He worked a lot without the ball, constantly looking for free zones on the flank, but did not receive support from his partners.

There was a lack of mutual understanding, which was quite natural, because Artyom joined the new team already during the winter training camp.

This was especially noticeable in one of the episodes in the middle of the half.

Pinyaev was waiting for the attacker to shift to the half-flank, while he was counting on an aimed serve to the center.

And it was not possible to find a consensus.

In general, Spartak looked like a much more well-played team.

Yes, in the actions of both opponents there was more than enough marriage and shotguns, but at the same time, the red-whites pressed more smoothly and combined great near the penalty opposing team.

And one of these multi-moves led to a goal by Danil Prutsev.

Ruslan Litvinov, who found himself in the opponent's penalty area, wittily otpasoval with his heel to a partner, and he laid the ball exactly in the far bottom corner.

And this was far from the only sharp episode at the gates of Lokomotiv.

Melyoshin could score for the third time in the Cup, but failed to deal with Lantratov in close combat, Georgy Jikia hit his head in the fall, and Daniil Denisov dangerously shot after a cruising pass along the flank.

But all this was in the first half of the half.

In the second, Galaktionov's wards managed to more or less equalize the game and inspire restrained optimism in the fans gathered at the RZD Arena.

Indeed, after the break, Lokomotiv began to look even more confident.

The hosts not only began to regularly visit a third of the opponent's field, but also earn corners.

And it was after the set pieces that they almost caught Alexander Maksimenko by surprise.

At first, Barinov managed to adjust to Pinyaev's not the most convenient cross and hit the net from the outside, and then Dzyuba hit the post.

The goalkeeper of the red and white was powerless, but the ball bounced off the frame straight into his hands.

It was the transformation of Dzyuba that became one of the main events of the second half.

He not only began to take the upper hand in the power struggle much more often, but also to interact better with partners.

It was his elegant heel-off that helped Kamano break into the penalty area and execute a cross on Pinyaev.

But Artyom's condition was still far from ideal.

How else to explain his miss on an almost empty target in the 76th minute?

Abascal realized that his wards had missed the initiative and began to release one leader after another on the field.

With a difference of a quarter of an hour, Promes, Martins and Balde appeared on the field, but this did not bring dividends.

And 12 minutes before the end of regular time, Spartak also missed.

Stanislav Magkeev closed the serve of Maxim Glushenkov, but the numbers on the scoreboard did not change.

At the time of the transfer, Kamano was offside and prevented the opponent from playing at the interception.

Perhaps the cancellation of the goal broke the railroad workers a little.

In the end, they looked worse and almost missed the second time.

Tavares broke through well on the right side and shot into the center, but Promes could not hit the target from a couple of meters.

Nevertheless, "Spartak" still kept the winning score and secured a slight advantage before the second leg.

Supersubstitution Komlichenko and a brawl on the field

A few hours earlier, the players of Rostov and Ural entered the field.

And right off the bat it was extremely difficult to say which of the teams is rightly considered the favorite of the confrontation.

On the one hand, the wards of Valery Karpin spent the current season very powerfully and at the end of the first part they were on the third line in the RPL table, second only to Spartak and Zenit.

On the other hand, Yekaterinburg were good in the Cup - they overtook CSKA in the group, thanks to which they made it to the playoffs from the first place.

And in head-to-head meetings, they did not lose to the yellow-blue in the last four matches, while taking the upper hand three times.

And although it was Rostov that played at its home stadium, in the first half it was Ural that was in charge, and their first massive attack ended in a goal.

Oleksandr Selyava extremely inaccurately put out his hand and provoked a penalty, which was confidently converted by the best scorer of the "bumblebees" Alexei Kashtanov.

For the seventh time, Rodina's ex-striker scored in all tournaments and with 15 (7 + 8) points strengthened his status as the leader of the team in the "goal + pass" system.

And in the first half, "Rostov" could not seize the initiative and at least create a series of dangerous moments at the gates of Ilya Pomazun.

Yes, Yevgeny Chernov's cross could have brought success, but the top scorer of the championship, Yegor Golenkov, was late with a tackle and could not close it at the far post.

In terms of the total number of shots, Ural twice surpassed the opponent (6: 3) and was generally closer to the goal.

Lazar Randzhelovich made a good shot, and in the 26th minute Fanil Sungatullin could put his name on the scoreboard.

He hit from outside the penalty area, but landed in Alexander Silyanov, who was sprawled on the lawn.

The referees even suspected a 11-meter kick, but it was clearly visible on the replay: the ball was stopped without the use of hands.

Karpin could not be satisfied with the actions of his players and made his first change during the break.

The guilty Selyava was replaced by Nikolay Komlichenko, as a result of which the hosts switched to a scheme with two overall forwards.

And the bet on "two towers" immediately began to give results.

The pressure on the defense of Ural increased noticeably, and in the 67th minute one of the most productive RPL connections of the season worked.

Daniil Utkin made a throw with an uncomfortable right foot, and the striker who appeared from the bench irresistibly shot into the far corner.

However, Rostov was unable to develop this success.

Already four minutes later, Golenkov left the field, and Andrey Langovich, who replaced him, more often showed emotions than participated in organizing attacks.

In the remaining time, he argued with the judges several times, and in one of the episodes he almost became the instigator of a mass brawl.

The midfielder of the hosts prevented the guests from quickly playing a free-kick after a foul on Eric Bikfalvi and first he received a push in the back from Andrey Egorychev, and then grappled with Mingyan Beveev.

As a result, almost all the players of the teams were involved in the brawl, and not only the judges, but also the coaches had to separate them.

It is possible that this outburst of emotions forced the bands to increase their activity and strike the ending with a bang.

At first, the most dangerous episode arose at the gates of Sergei Pesyakov, but still the same Kashtanov could not close Alexander Yushin’s cross, and Kirill Shchetinin could bring victory to the owners in stoppage time.

All the same Langovich otpasoval him with his heel, and the midfielder struck aimingly from outside the penalty area.

From the hands of Pomazun, the ball bounced into the post, after which it was still fixed by the goalkeeper.

Rostov and Ural played a draw and retained their chances of reaching the semi-finals of the Russian Cup.