Unexpected draw "Zenith"
The reporting round of the Russian Premier League turned out to be difficult for the championship contenders. On March 29, Dynamo unexpectedly suffered a crushing defeat at home from Rostov. And the next day, Zenit sensationally lost points in an away match with Krylia Sovetov.
Moreover, in both matches there were gross and almost identical mistakes by goalkeepers. In Moscow, Igor Leshchuk gave the ball to Kirill Shchetinin in the episode with the first goal. In Samara, Denis Adamov made a similar mistake, and he did it in the very opening of the meeting. The goalkeeper, in a harmless situation, decided to kick the ball into touch through the center and passed the ball directly to Amar Rakhmanovich. He burst into the penalty area and shot. Adamov coped with the shot, but could not do anything about finishing off Vladislav Shitov.
The response from St. Petersburg residents turned out to be quite prompt. In the middle of the half, Arthur scored his debut goal for the club. The Brazilian volleyed the ball into the near corner after Mateo Cassierra fought on the second floor with Alexander Soldatenkov. Subsequently, the favorite completely seized the initiative, and the Volga team even repeated their anti-record for the percentage of ball possession in an RPL home match - 29% (since 2009). But dangerous moments were not created so often.
In the second half, Ivan Lomaev still helped out his teammates a couple of times. First, he dealt with Wendel's shot into the far corner from outside the penalty area (Gustavo Mantuan missed the target during his finishing), and then managed to turn around and deflect the ball after Pedro's shot from the area of the 11-meter mark.
Thus, Zenit again failed to take over the national championship. So far in 2024, he has only one victory in three rounds. Moreover, the team, having scored 41 points in 21 meetings, is having the most unsuccessful season in the era of Sergei Semak. The last time it was worse in this period was under Roberto Mancini during the 2017/18 national championship (38).
18 lost points for CSKA since the beginning of the season
Other giants also encountered problems. For example, CSKA on the road failed to beat Sochi, which occupies the last line in the table. Moreover, nothing foreshadowed trouble for the army men. Already in the 16th minute, Dmitry Chistyakov involuntarily cut the ball into his own goal after Victor Davila's cross. Before the players had time to return from the locker rooms, Anton Zabolotny completed Kelven's pass. By the way, Fedor Chalov, who continues negotiations with the club about extending his contract, did not make it into the starting lineup and came on as a substitute only at the end.
Hope was given to the outsider by a quick return goal from newcomer Saul Guarirapa. The Venezuelan broke through on the right flank in a counterattack, mockingly beat Willian Rocha and shot into the far corner with a rebound off the post.
Having reduced the gap, the southerners, who had already acted quite boldly, rushed forward. Muscovites, on the contrary, pressed against the gate. If it weren’t for Igor Akinfeev, everything could have ended much worse for them. I especially remember the club veteran’s incredible save after Martin Kramaric’s point-blank header. He also dealt with Kirill Kravtsov's long-range shot under the crossbar. But in the 73rd minute, the goalkeeper was powerless when Kramaric was allowed to receive the ball almost in the goalkeeper's area and send it into the net with a ricochet off the lawn.
CSKA once again managed to lose points, winning during the match. This “disease” actually deprived the club of the opportunity to fight for the championship. Surprisingly, the red-blues missed victory in eight of the 16 matches of the current RPL season, in which they were in the lead, and did not get 18 points. Even if they took half of them, they would now be in the lead. But Sochi, under new coach Robert Moreno, has neither defeats nor victories in the national championship: three draws in three matches. But the Spaniard’s team were eliminated from the National Cup, losing to SKA-Khabarovsk in a penalty shootout.
Unawarded penalty on Zinkovsky
Meanwhile, Spartak at the Lukoil Arena failed to deal with another team from the basement of the standings. Muscovites may not be happy with this result, because they created many chances at the Ural goal. But Ilya Pomazun, who, according to rumors, was interested in the red-whites in winter, performed above all praise. The goalkeeper himself confirmed that his current agreement with CSKA does not contain a clause prohibiting him from moving to the camp of his principal rival.
In the first half, Anton Zinkovsky had a couple of good chances. And in one of the episodes, when Pomazun was powerless, Italo cleared the ball off the line after a shot from Theo Bongonda. In the second half, Alexander Sobolev, taking advantage of Yegor Filipenko’s mistake, almost threw the ball over the goalkeeper’s collar, but he pulled it out with his hand in a basketball jump.
And the episode with the unassigned penalty against the Yekaterinburg team caused the most controversy. Shortly before the final whistle, Denis Kulakov seemed to step on Zinkovsky’s ankle on the penalty line. Vladimir Moskalev showed the Ukrainian a yellow card, but did not point to the spot, deciding that the foul took place outside the penalty area. The VAR assistants did not dare to intervene. The victim himself admitted at the end of the meeting that there was probably no 11-meter shot. But Guillermo Abascal categorically disagreed with him.
However, the Spaniard’s words before the game were more memorable. In a conversation with a correspondent, he said that God was telling him the starting line-up. “As he decides, we do the same,” the specialist said.
At the press conference, journalists tried to find out what the mentor meant, but received a rather florid explanation.
“This is a personal moment. I am not a Catholic, not a Christian. I believe in another god. Do you know what makes me different? I am not a liar like others. I’m not lying, this is the difference,” Sports.ru quotes him.
The long-awaited success of Baltika
Another team fighting for survival, Baltika, in the confrontation with Nizhny Novgorod, broke two unsuccessful streaks at once: a nine-game streak without victories and an eight-game streak without scoring goals. Sergei Ignashevich's charges have not been able to take over the national championship since October 7 or 175 days.
The players loaned from Rubin in the winter helped achieve the long-awaited success. Shortly before the break, they scored almost a double. First, Joel Fameye blocked Yuri Kovalev's cross at the far post, and then Vitaly Lisakovich immediately shot into the corner from the semicircle of the penalty area.
The Belarusian was assisted by 19-year-old midfielder Danila Kozlov, who moved from Zenit in January. His talent was noted by Andrei Arshavin himself, but the club from the Northern capital released the player for the sake of practice. In his new place, the young athlete immediately began to make a difference. He already upset Lokomotiv in the Russian Cup, and now he scored his first point in the Premier League.
The Nizhny Novgorod team created practically nothing at Evgeniy Latyshonok’s goal and allowed him to score a goal. To top off all the troubles at the end of the game, visiting captain Kirill Gotsuk injured Fameya in a dirty tackle and received a red card. It is not surprising that the annoyed Sergei Yuran, upon hearing the final whistle, took his anger out on the camera, which he pushed away from him with his hand in anger.
Akhmat's dissatisfaction with refereeing
Meanwhile, Rubin took over Akhmat. The match turned out to be special for Kazan coach Rashid Rakhimov, because he worked in Grozny for many years, moreover, he led the squad twice. Under his leadership, the club held more than 150 meetings in all competitions. There were ups and downs. For example, in 2017 the team took sixth place in the Russian Championship, and also reached the quarterfinals of the National Cup several times.
In the reporting meeting, much became clear in the first half. The home team had the advantage and carried out one sharp attack after another. The powerful Mirlind Daku was especially active, clinging to balls near the opponent's penalty area. The Kosovar was deservedly involved in both of his team's goals. In his debut, he completed a successful pass to Lazar Randjelovic, and then completed Valentin Vada's cross. Moreover, the forward first hit the crossbar, but was the first to hit the rebound and scored his fifth goal in the current RPL draw.
The guests have the right to complain about two canceled goals. Even before the break, Vladimir Ilyin scored after Miroslav Bogosavac's throw from deep, but was ruled offside. And in the end, he unwittingly prevented Lechi Sadulaev from reducing the gap. The midfielder was first on the rebound and shot accurately. Vitaly Meshkov went to watch the replay and, after consulting with his colleagues, decided: Ilyin, who was in an offside position, was blocking Yuri Dupin’s view. In stoppage time, Lucas Lovat still scored a beautiful goal according to all the rules, but it was too late.
Not all Grozny players were satisfied with the work of Vitaly Meshkov. Giorgi Shelia spoke out loudest of all, declaring that the referee committed a “technical murder” by his actions. In his opinion, Sadulaev’s ball should have been counted, since Dupin saw the moment of impact.