The retro match in Volgograd was a great gift for football fans for the May holidays. Its holding was important for two reasons at once. Firstly, it was timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad and was based on a memorable meeting between Dynamo Stalingrad and Spartak. On May 2, 1943, it was organized literally "on the ruins of the city" to show that even months of heavy destructive battles did not break people's craving for life. Like 80 years ago, the confrontation aroused great interest among the townspeople, and almost all the seats at the Volgograd Arena were occupied. Secondly, the RFU continued the practice of retro meetings. Last year, Zenit and Spartak met each other twice, and both games made a splash.
This time, the organizers did everything to ensure that the audience plunged into the atmosphere of that time. For the opponents, the old uniform was specially sewn: white T-shirts with blue stripes and shorts for the hosts and red T-shirts with white stripes and black shorts for the guests. They also made special red balls with lacing characteristic of the 40s of the last century and the inscription "Victory". Attention was paid even to trifles. So, the players arrived at the arena in retro buses, and before the start of the meeting, according to the Soviet tradition, they exchanged bouquets of flowers.
No less interesting than the entourage, the game itself promised to turn out. The favorites looked red and white. Oleg Romantsev, who led them to the championship nine times, gathered not only the stars of his "golden team" (Yegor Titov, Dmitry Alenichev, Alexander Mostovoy and others), but also younger performers who helped beat Zenit in September last year: Andrey Yeshchenko, Dmitry Kombarov, Alexander Samedov and Roman Pavlyuchenko.
Dynamo, on the other hand, was formed mainly from the main characters of Rotor, which in the 90s repeatedly took medals of the Russian championship and reached the final of the Cup of the country, and the capital team of the same name. He was represented not only by the players (Igor Semshov, Igor Simutenkov, Alexander Tochilin), but also by the head coach Valery Gazzaev.
At the same time, both mentors immediately refuted the assumption that opponents could play a friendly draw and would not give 100%. So, Romantsev promised that the red and white will demonstrate beautiful football.
"Any score will go, but not 0-0. I have a positive attitude towards such matches. I really like it. I see the players both here and Dynamo, who finished early. Even now they could give pleasure to the fans and the result to the teams. Therefore, I go to such meetings with pleasure, "Sport-Express quotes the specialist.
In turn, Gazzaev stressed that no one would want to concede in such a confrontation. The leaders of the teams also spoke about the most serious attitude.
"There will be no such thing that we will agree to play a draw. It will turn out to be a serious duel. Let the opposing team prepare. I think the fans will be happy to come to the stadium. For our part, we will show beautiful football," Pavlyuchenko promised.
It is important that the participants of the meeting not only prepared to demonstrate their skills on the field, but also paid tribute to the memory of the soldiers who defended their homeland in the Great Patriotic War. On the day of the game, they visited the memorial complex on Mamayev Kurgan in full force and laid flowers at the Eternal Flame. And for some, this visit had a special meaning, for example, for the former Spartak midfielder Denis Boyarintsev.
"My grandfather, Valentin Fedorovich Boyarintsev, was from Stalingrad, and here he took his first battle. He was just 18 years old ... Then he walked from Stalingrad to Prague. I came to the mound with my grandmother, one of her acquaintances of the front-line soldiers said: "And here we went into hand-to-hand combat ..." I didn't remember my grandfather - I was only four months old when he died, "RB-Sport quotes Boyarintsev as saying.
Then the players took part in the "Garden of Memory" campaign, the purpose of which is to plant 27 million trees in memory of everyone who died in the Great Patriotic War. They planted 45 maples and plums, which will now bloom in the Central Park of Culture and Recreation.
"We all need to remember and preserve the memory of the feat of our ancestors in every possible way. I hope that both this action and today's retro victory match will remind the residents of Volgograd and Russia of the heroism of the people who selflessly defended this city," Mostovoy said.
The participants paid tribute to the memory of the defenders of the Fatherland just before the starting whistle. The children brought a huge St. George ribbon to the field. And on the screens, meanwhile, they turned on a video of how the players of both teams read the immortal poem by Konstantin Simonov "Wait for me".
It is symbolic that the honor of striking the first blow was awarded to the main veteran of domestic football Nikita Simonyan. The 96-year-old Olympic champion first made a pass to one captain Oleg Veretennikov, and then to the other, Alenichev, and warmly hugged both. The stands rewarded the legend with applause.
As for the starting lineups, before the match, Romantsev promised to release the same players who in 1997 in the last round of the national championship on the road got a "golden" victory over Rotor. Full compliance did not work out, but almost all the participants of that meeting really got into the application. And only Andrei Tikhonov could not enter the field due to injury, but helped the coach on the sidelines. Dynamo also had enough players who played in that memorable meeting.
As expected, the Muscovites seized the initiative from the first minutes. To the delight of the audience, in the attack they demonstrated the signature Spartak football with a large number of walls and runs. The blue and white acted as the second number. At the same time, in the center of the field, the whole game was played by Evgeny Aldonin and Igor Semshov, who had recently finished their careers, who did not even go on as a substitute. And Valery Esipov was responsible for the creativity in front, as he handed out filigree long passes 20 years ago.
But more often I had to enter the game defenders and Platon Zakharchuk. The latter regularly helped out partners. It became especially difficult for the hosts when young Pavlyuchenko, Kombarov, Yeshchenko and Oleksandr Pavlenko appeared on the field. At speed, they easily ran away from older rivals, but they took their toll at the expense of dedication. What is Zakharchuk's amazing save, when Pavlenko was with him face to face and tried to throw it, but Platon turned the ball over for a corner with his fingertips. But his counterpart Alexander Filimonov was left practically without work. It is also worth noting the appearance of Mostovoy as a guest. Alexander complained that he was not invited to retro matches with Zenit, and in Volgograd he took to the field for a few minutes, although he had recently been discharged from the hospital.
In the second half, the course of the game did not change. The guests continued to attack, and the hosts locked themselves in defense. However, the Muscovites each time lacked blows. They tried to play the ball to the delight of the audience, but could not score. Volgograd residents under the leadership of Gazzaev acted reliably and selflessly. By the way, the coach behaved as if the match was not a friendly, but an official one. He regularly went to the edge and prompted the wards, although they could hardly hear him behind the roar of the stands.
And yet, in the end, when the penalty shootout was getting closer, Spartak opened the scoring. And it was done by the pupil of "Rotor" Pavlyuchenko. The guests scored not at all in the corporate style, but rather in the British manner - Pavlenko made a serve, and the partner closed it with his head. On replays, it seemed that the forward was offside, but VAR 80 years ago did not exist to check the episode.
"I didn't want to score, to be honest. When I sent the ball into the goal, such a rumble rose in the stadium ... I didn't want to, but what to do. I apologized. The task was to put on a show. I think the fans were satisfied. It doesn't matter who won, the main thing is friendship and atmosphere. I think it turned out to be a good match," Pavlyuchenko said after the final whistle.
Dynamo did not have the strength to finish the pile. Moreover, in the last minute they conceded more. A perfect shot from deep by Alenichev was converted into a goal by Samedov. As Veretennikov complained, Romantsev's wards simply turned out to be much younger and, due to this, snatched victory.
However, the main thing is that both teams arranged a holiday for the audience and honored the memory of the soldiers who defended their homeland in the Great Patriotic War.