Dzyuba's benefit performance as an assistant, three penalties in a half and two penalties for coaches: what the 23rd round of the RPL was remembered for

The long-awaited victory of "Spartak"

The match between Spartak and Torpedo attracted attention with the confrontation between foreign coaches. The red-and-whites under the leadership of Guillermo Abascal did not show the best results after the resumption of the season, and the opponent led by Pep Klotet, on the contrary, won the most important victory over the direct competitor Fakel and intended to take points from one of the contenders for medals.

However, the judge came to the fore in Luzhniki. Pavel Shadykhanov managed to award three penalties in the first half. This is the third such case in the current RPL draw. Previously, a similar number of shots from the "point" was performed by CSKA in a meeting with Krasnodar and Sochi in a game with Khimki. However, only in the gate of black and white appointed three penalty kicks in the half. Moreover, the opponents did not realize two of them. Keita Balde hit the crossbar, and Ruslan Litvinov's shot was parried by Yegor Baburin. Further, the initiative had to be taken into his own hands by Captain Roman Zobnin, who turned out to be accurate. By the way, his goal was also the thousandth anniversary for Spartak in the RPL in history.

And Balde opened the scoring in the 18th minute. Abascal entrusted the Senegalese with a place in the starting line-up for the third time in a row, and he scored again. Moreover, in terms of the number of shots (seven) and shots on target (three), the striker was the best on the field. In addition, he earned two penalties.

But even after the break, Shadykhanov regularly reminded of himself. This time, he unwittingly supported the outsider by removing two away players at once. However, all the cards to Litvinov and Christopher Martins did not raise questions. In the majority in added time, substitute Ilya Stefanovich still reduced the gap to a minimum, but the hosts did not have time to escape. Moreover, in the first half, they were left without Klotet, who received a straight red for arguing with the referee.

It is curious that in the next round, fans will face a confrontation between outsiders without head coaches on the benches. The new coach of Khimki, Andrei Talalaev, was sent off at the end of the meeting with Krylia Sovetov for throwing a bottle on the lawn. Judge Rafael Shafeev immediately showed him the red one.

Competent substitutions of Dynamo

Another foreign specialist, Slavisa Jokanovic, was on the verge of dismissal in the spring. Dynamo, headed by him, flew out of the Russian Cup, and in the national championship in confrontations with Sochi and Spartak scored only one point and dropped to fifth place. In this regard, the Muscovites urgently needed a home victory over Nizhny Novgorod.

But the first half of the game was more likely for the wards of Sergei Yuran, who had the advantage and created several promising chances, while the opponents had almost no chance. Therefore, Denis Glushakov's penalty kick, awarded in the middle of the second half for playing with Dmitry Skopintsev, looked absolutely logical.

Finding themselves in a difficult situation, the blue and white not only managed to escape, but also snatched victory. In part, they were helped by competent castling. So, the first goal was created by the players who came on as a substitute: Vyacheslav Grulev made a pass from the flank, and Yaroslav Gladyshev struck an accurate shot, taking advantage of Konstantin Tyukavin's discount. By the way, Gladyshev scored the fourth goal in the current RPL season and all from the bench. In the 85th minute, Daniil Fomin brought the Muscovites three points with a long-range shot, and another reserve player, Luka Gagnidze, gave a pre-goal pass. Finally, in injury time, Fedor Smolov converted a penalty kick and scored his first goal since October last year. In turn, Yekaterinburg suffered the sixth defeat in a row, two of which were under the leadership of Yuran, and gave out the worst series in the RPL in history.

Lokomotiv's unstoppable assistant

Meanwhile, Lokomotiv continues to show excellent results, led by Mikhail Galaktionov. The defeat of Zenit did not affect the team in any way. A week later, she won another, fifth victory in the RPL after the resumption of the season. Success in Orenburg is especially valuable, because before that only Krylia Sovetov won there in the first round. And in terms of the number of points scored at home, the wards of Marcel Lichka (26) are on a par with CSKA and are second only to Zenit (30).

Maxim Glushenkov, who scored twice, helped to interrupt the opponent's successful series. Moreover, the newcomer could well have scored a hat-trick. At the beginning of the second half, Vasily Kazartsev confidently pointed to the "point" after Nikolay Sysuev brought down Francois Camano in the penalty area. With the first blow, the player sent the ball into the left corner, but the referee asked to interrupt. Glushenkov did not change his decision and this time hit the post.

But in the first half, Maxim scored a handsome goal. After Artem Dzyuba's save, he spun the ball from outside the penalty area into the near nine without a chance for Sysuev. In total, the striker now has four goals in the RPL as part of the red-greens. No less spectacular was the only goal of the hosts shortly before the break - Dmitry Vorobyov from a free kick perfectly shot into the far nine.

Glushenkov is obliged to share the laurels of the protagonist with Dzyuba. During the week, there were rumors that he might not go to Orenburg because of contraindications for playing synthetics. As a result, he, unlike Sergei Pinyaev, arrived and played almost the entire match. And even though the striker did not score, he scored an assistant hat-trick. In the first half, he gave a pass to Nair Tiknizyan, and also made a discount for Glushenkov, and in the second he cut an excellent pass to the far corner of the goalkeeper Kamano. He also took part in the first effective combination. Trying to interrupt his cross on the wing, the opponent only tweaked the ball to Camano, who subsequently made an excellent cross to Glushenkov. Thus, Dzyuba scored ten points in eight games for Loko in the "goal + pass" system (6 + 4). And how strong he is in playing along is demonstrated by the following statistics: over the past ten seasons of the Premier League, it is Artem who is the best assistant with 63 assists.

CSKA's controversial penalty

Already in the next round, Lokomotiv will have to meet with CSKA in the framework of the capital derby, which also gained excellent momentum in the spring. The CSKA team not only made it to the final of the RPL Path of the Russian Cup, where they will meet with Ural, but also, as railway workers, won five victories in the national championship. The latter was mined just in Yekaterinburg.

The Muscovites scored twice after an hour of confrontation and almost killed the intrigue. But if Anton Zabolotny's goal did not raise questions, then the penalty, from which Fedor Chalov doubled the advantage of the guests, turned out to be controversial. Vladislav Bezborodov watched the replay of the episode for several minutes with his colleagues and eventually pointed to the "point". And the fans did not understand on whom Fanil Sungatulin violated the rules, on Baktiyor Zainutdinov or Chalov, and whether there was a touch at all. However, the latter converted a penalty kick and scored the 14th goal in the championship.

Immediately, the hosts earned an indisputable penalty, and it was converted by Rai Vlut. They had plenty of time left to escape, but CSKA could have scored more. So "Ural" confirmed the status of a convenient opponent for the red-blue, because they have not beaten them since 1995 or for 23 matches (six draws and 17 defeats). This is the third longest such series in the RPL. And Yekaterinburg, who had not lost in the championship since September, lost the last four meetings.

Unsuccessful derby for Sochi

Last week turned out to be extremely difficult for Sochi fans. To begin with, the contract with Kurban Berdyev was terminated. It seemed that he would work with the team for a long time, but an experienced specialist left his post just a few months after his appointment. And on Saturday, the team under the leadership of acting coach Dmitry Khokhlov in the Southern derby lost to Krasnodar - 0: 2.

And the defeat turned out to be in the case. The hosts had less possession of the ball and had only four shots on target against the opponent's nine. At the same time, they created only one dangerous moment - even in the first half, Matvey Safonov rescued his partners after an unexpected shot by Christian Noboa from outside the penalty area.

But the guests converted a couple of their chances. First, Joao Batchi, having made an interception in the opposite half, moved forward and from the penalty area shot into the opposite direction to Denis Adamov from under the defender. Not without an accurate shot by Mykyta Kryvtsov, who demonstrates incredible performance in the spring. So this time he did not leave the field without a goal and immediately after the break doubled the advantage of Vladimir Ivic's wards, taking advantage of John Cordoba's excellent discount. Now the midfielder has seven goals in eight games in all competitions since the resumption of the season, whereas before that he scored only once.