The appearance of Dzhikiya and Agkatsev
The match between Krasnodar and Spartak promised to be the decoration of the opening round of the Russian Football Cup. In the national championship, both started right off the bat and won important victories, upsetting the rivals who simultaneously changed the head coaches three times. But if the wards of Vladimir Ivich easily dealt with Dynamo, then the Muscovites almost lost points in the game with Orenburg. Thus, a few days later he conceded six goals from CSKA.
Perhaps that is why it was the "bulls" who were considered favorites in the confrontation with opponents, whom they lost in the last two matches with a total score of 4: 8. True, that was even before the arrival of Ivic on the coaching bridge. Under the leadership of Alexander Storozhuk, the Krasnodar team was first humiliated in their field (1:4), and then beaten away (3:4). Then one of the main creators of success was Alexander Sobolev, who scored a double and an assist. However, it was impossible to count on his participation in this game, because the Russian continued to serve a disqualification for a brawl in the derby of the two capitals with Zenit.
As a result, Abascal followed the example of most of his colleagues and went on experiments with the composition. Keita Balde, Nail Umyarov and Mikhail Ignatov came out from the first minutes, and Nikita Chernov and Georgy Dzhikiya, who missed the meeting with Orenburg due to suspension, formed a pair in the center of defense. Ivich was not without surprises, immediately throwing into battle Alexander Ektov, acquired in the offseason, as well as a young pupil of Georgy Harutyunyan. Moses Kobnan, who, unlike most partners, did not take part in the execution of Dynamo, also got a chance to prove himself. And Stanislav Agkatsev took his place in goal.
Krasnodar's slow start
For Ivic's wards, excessive calmness at the start of the match becomes a kind of tradition. This almost let them down in the confrontation with Dynamo and could well come back to haunt them in the meeting with Spartak. The hosts warmed up for a very long time and in the first 15 minutes not only did not organize anything dangerous, but in general failed to create any problems for the defense of the guests. The pressure of the red-and-whites forced them to hurry up and move the ball forward too adventurously, and Olakunle Olusegun and Moses Kobnan rarely clung to it.
Spartak, on the other hand, focused on the flanks, which were defended by Sergei Volkov and Alexander Ektov at Krasnodar. At the same time, they gravitated rather to the left, where the trio in the person of Quincy Promes, Roman Zobnin and Daniil Khlusevich looked very cool. The author of the double against Orenburg regularly joined the attacks and participated in multi-moves with partners, and in the second half helped to leave Agkatsev out of work.
It was Khlusevich's pass that helped Zobnin break into the penalty area and subsequently catch the goalkeeper of the Bulls by surprise with an irresistible "shot" into the far corner. But still, the main merit in this episode belongs to Roman. First, he left Ilzat Akhmetov on a snatch, and then put his body well and thereby deprived him of the opportunity to cover the blow. In theory, this could have been done by Banyats and Harutyunyan, but both did not have time for safety.
Spertsyan's unjustified rudeness
Only after that, Krasnodar tried to seize the initiative and slightly increase the pace, but failed to correct the statistics on strikes. During the first period, the black-and-greens only bothered Maksimenko twice and once forced him to enter the game. In the 19th minute, Olusegun shot from distance, but Maksimenko coped. The most striking moment was created after a free kick. To the surprise of many, Eduard Spertsyan conceded the right to execute the serve to Banyatsu and misled the defenders of the red-and-whites. As a result, they only watched as Junior Alonso, Kevin Lenini and the same Kobnan alternately tried to close the Serb's canopy. But none of them managed to succeed in this.
But if Krasnodar had serious problems with shots on goal, then they hit the opponents' legs much more often. First, the same Moses stepped on the ankle of Nail Umyarov, who rushed into the tackle, and almost sent the midfielder, who had just recovered from a fracture of the metatarsal bone, to the infirmary again. And then something similar was performed by Spertsyan. And this time the chief referee did not find an excuse for such rudeness, presenting the captain of the "bulls" with a direct red card for a foul on Anton Zinkovsky. He did not argue with the verdict and in tears went to the room under the stands, realizing how much he had let his partners down.
Tense ending
Perhaps Spertsyan's emotions were due to the realization that in the minority, Krasnodar would not be able to make Spartak and a semblance of competition. And the first half of the second half confirmed this. The red-and-whites gave their opponents a uniform beating and only during this segment they inflicted 12 blows, seven of which reached the target. And a third was chalked up by Theo Bongonda, who came on at half-time. He was unstoppable and not only interacted well with Daniil Denisov, but also tirelessly shot both from outside the penalty area and from inside. And although his initiative was subsequently supported by both Promes and Chernov, it was the Congolese who became the author of the second goal of the Muscovites, completing a magnificent multi-move. And he opened the scoring for his goals for the ten-time champions of Russia.
Nevertheless, the guests were not without adventures. In the end, they first lost Hlusevic, who left the field due to health problems, and already in injury time allowed substitute Cadi Borges to reduce the gap to a minimum. And if John Cordoba, who also appeared during the meeting, had been a little more accurate, the hosts could have transferred it to a penalty shootout. However, the Colombian shot just over the crossbar.
As a result, Spartak defeated Krasnodar for the third time in a row and interrupted the opponent's 14-match unbeaten streak in his field. And with three points he topped the table of group D of the Russian Cup. Paris NN dropped to the second position, Dynamo to the third.