Gayich's removal, Miranchuk's goals and Karpin's replacement: what was memorable about the friendly match between Russia and Serbia

The friendly match with Serbia caused a real stir in Russia. The fact that absolutely all tickets were sold out is enough. And this was largely due to the fact that the domestic team met the European team for the first time in the last 858 days.

The last such meeting took place back in November 2021 as part of the qualifying tournament for the 2022 World Cup. Then Valery Karpin’s team suffered a disappointing defeat from Croatia, conceding in the last minutes, and failed to directly qualify for the World Cup. Since then, opponents from the Old World have not played against the Russians. For example, in 2022 a team from Bosnia and Herzegovina was supposed to come to St. Petersburg, but canceled at the last moment.

In addition, in the Serbs, the hosts received a very strong opponent, in a game with whom it was really interesting to test themselves. They are ranked 32nd in the FIFA rankings and have reached the final stage of Euro 2024. The domestic team also had additional motivation - to take revenge for the humiliating defeat in 2020. Then, at the group stage of the League of Nations, Stanislav Cherchesov's squad conceded five unanswered goals and failed to advance to the next stage.

As for the starting lineup, Karpin left some of the leaders in reserve, apparently keeping in mind the upcoming confrontation with Paraguay. Three foreign players were also in reserve: Daler Kuzyaev, Alexey Miranchuk and Arsen Zakharyan. But Alexander Golovin entered the field from the first minutes with the captain's armband.

But the goalkeeper's position remained unchanged: Matvey Safonov, as usual, took the place at the last line. In defense were Daniil Khlusevich, Maxim Osipenko, Alexander Silyanov and Sergei Volkov. The three midfielders were formed by Dmitry Barinov, Daniil Glebov and Anton Miranchuk. Konstantin Tyukavin unexpectedly positioned himself at the forefront of the attack, and was supported on the flanks by Golovin and Ivan Oblyakov.

In turn, Dragan Stojkovic chose a mixed roster. Not only did a number of stars not make it to Russia, but Sergei Milinkovic-Savic, Filip Kostic and Aleksandar Mitrovic did not make it to the base. But three representatives of the RPL were at the start - Milan Gajić, Sasha Zdelar and Strahinja Erakovic. But Srdjan Babic from Spartak remained in reserve.

Despite all the concerns, the first half turned out to be almost perfect for the hosts, and Karpin’s plan worked 100%. His players took control of the ball with the referee's starting whistle. They carried out a large number of passes in their own half in an attempt to draw the opponents towards them and find free areas. The calculation was made that the fast and light Tyukavin, Oblyakov and Golovin would run away from powerful defenders.

However, at first this did not work out; the Dynamo forward, for example, did not receive passes at all. Moreover, the Serbs, taking advantage of Volkov's loss, carried out a dangerous counterattack, which ended with Andrija Zivkovic's slightly inaccurate shot from the penalty line.

But almost the first good penetrating forward pass ended in a penalty and sending off. Clever Golovin threw Khlusevich into the breakthrough, and he was frankly overwhelmed by Gayich. First, the referee ruled it offside. However, VAR colleagues carefully checked the episode and found out that there was no offside situation. Accordingly, the offender received a red card. And Miranchuk confidently converted the 11-meter shot. Djordje Petrovic even touched the ball in the right corner, but was unable to save it.

Having scored, the Russians played more confidently. They weaved combinations in the other half, taking advantage of the numerical majority. It was very cool to regularly connect forward on the flanks with Khlusevich and Volkov, creating a situational overload. And after half an hour, this activity helped increase the advantage. Oblyakov forced his opponent to break the rules on himself. Golovin delivered an excellent set-piece serve. Tyukavin won the fight against the tall guard and made an excellent allowance for the shot of Maxim Osipenko, who could not miss from the goal line. By the way, this goal was his debut for the national team.

To the credit of the Serbs, even after conceding twice, they did not give up and took the initiative shortly before the break. They chose the left edge as a problem area, where Volkov did not always keep up with Filip Mladenovic. One of the set pieces even led to Pavlovich hitting higher. And in the 40th minute Safonov really came to the rescue, parrying Luka Jovic's shot from the center of the penalty area.

The second half turned out to be no less high-quality for the hosts. It felt like they were literally enjoying what was happening. The players in the attack group acted boldly and uninhibitedly, Golovin especially stood out. He constantly appeared in one or another part of the field and found interesting options to continue the attack. His tricky passes baffled defenders more than once. So, he made an excellent pass on the substitute Yuri Gorshkov, but he shot higher. Others did too. For example, another reservist, Alexey Miranchuk, almost missed Tyukavin’s heel pass. Having seen enough of this, Mladenovic almost sent the ball into his own goal. Moreover, the serve again turned out to be Golovin’s asset. It's even a shame that he didn't score any points.

And in the 55th minute, the Russians brought the matter to a rout during an aesthetic combination. And again, one cannot help but highlight the subtle continuation from Golovin into the penalty area for Gorshkov’s move. Yuri himself also figured it out perfectly, placing the projectile under attack for Alexey Miranchuk. And the Atalanta winger accurately shot straight into touch.

The Serbs looked frankly lost. Even the substitution of Mitrovic, who was remembered only for an inaccurate shot from outside the penalty area, did not help. And only in the end Safonov made a second miracle save. He somehow dealt with Milinkovic-Savic's point-blank header that bounced off the turf.

However, this cannot be compared with the activity of Karpin’s charges. Timely replacements also helped to maintain it. Gorshkov’s brilliant performance has already been written about. Zakharyan had only 25 minutes at his disposal and reminded domestic fans of himself. And if luck had smiled on the midfielder, he could have scored a hat-trick. Petrovich coped with his first long-range shot. Then Arsene shot from a distance along an outgoing trajectory, and the ball hit the crossbar.

Finally, shortly before the final whistle, Zakharyan still scored with a long-range shot, but the referees canceled the goal because another reservist, Ivan Sergeev, was offside. In injury time, the duo still entered their names into the protocol. Zakharyan executed a perfect cross, and his partner missed the empty goal from several meters away.

Thus, the Russian team proved itself more than worthy against the backdrop of a strong opponent, although it played most of the confrontation in the majority. We also managed to take convincing revenge for the defeat in 2020.