Spartak Moscow in the match of the fifth round of the Russian Championship in football lost to the St. Petersburg «Zenith».
The match took place on Sunday in Moscow and ended with the victory of the guests with a score of 3:1. As part of Zenit, midfielder Wendel (32nd, 73rd minutes) and forward Mateo Cassierra (90+4) scored goals. The Red-Whites responded with a goal from striker Alexander Sobolev, who converted a penalty (81).
Rain is not a hindrance to fun «Spartak», as it often happens, famously started the championship, confidently gaining a foothold at the top of the standings of the Russian Premier League (RPL). By tradition, the team's productive and bright game returned the excitement of the audience. Plus, the match with Zenit is a separate issue, almost a personal story for Spartak and its fans, so the preview of the main match of the tour was marked by interesting news: the club opened additional sectors of the stadium for ticket sales, spectators got access to all sectors of the upper tier of tribune B, which was previously occupied by fans of the «red-whites», boycotting matches due to the introduction of the fan card.
The decision of the Spartak management caused a mixed reaction in the near-football environment, but the fact remains that on Sunday evening that very magical atmosphere of the big game returned to Tushino, which not only the fans, but the team itself miss so much. For those who came to watch the central meeting of the tour, the club and sponsors organized a large-scale festival with the main attributes of a summer holiday: food and drinks for every taste, a music show, themed photo zones, lecture halls and, of course, various competitions. For this, many spectators arrived in the north-west of the capital three hours before the starting whistle. But a significant part of the fans, who did not want to get caught in the heavy rain in Moscow, preferred to arrive at the stadium an hour and a half before the start of the game, which is why they faced huge queues in front of the entrance groups. Obviously, the security services and the equipment installed for the operation of the fan card system simply could not cope with the flow of people wishing to visit the Spartak arena.
Abascal was too smart? For the first time in a long time, in the forecasts of many experts, the favorite of the confrontation was Spartak, and not Zenit. The defending champions endured a difficult summer, topped by the departure of top scorer Malcolm, which was reflected in the game of the team of Sergei Semak. The Red-Whites, on the contrary, pleased with their attacking, even a little crazy game, which immediately raised the expectations of fans of the capital's team from the start of the season to the limit. The recent defeat against Yekaterinburg «Ural» (2:3) did not dampen optimism, because at the start of the season among the fans of «Spartak» the opinion became stronger: you will score as much as you can, and we — as much as we want.
“Zenith” is engaged in the search for internal reserves and found them in the face of Wendel. The Brazilian midfielder spent half of the summer actually sitting on his suitcases with a clear desire to leave St. Petersburg, but he never found himself a new club. In “Zenith” did not begin to chop off the shoulder, minimally punishing the midfielder who was on a spree and returning him to work with the team. As the evening in Tushino showed, not in vain.
The choice of the starting lineup by Guillermo Abascal surprised many. The Spaniard again relied on goalkeeper Ilya Svinov, despite his not entirely confident game in Yekaterinburg, in the support zone, the attacking abilities of Victor Moses were preferred over the tenacity of Roman Zobnin, and in front the coach decided to do without the regularly scoring newcomer Theo Bongonda, replacing him with Jesus Medina. And already in the first half, Abascal's plan fell apart — Mozes was injured, he had to be changed to Zobnin. After that, the game of the hosts, before that quite sharp and daring, completely went wrong. Stupid loss of the ball in front of his own penalty area, lack of movement between zones, slow decision-making — all this led to a logical goal against the «red-white». Wendel took advantage of a comfortable rebound and slightly, but accurately, hit the leg of Spartak's captain Georgiy Jikia, from which the ball flew quietly into the bottom corner – 0:1. All that the hosts could offer was attacks on emotions, but this did not help to solve the problem of delivering the ball to forwards Alexander Sobolev and Quincy Promes.
During the break, Abaskal, as if recognizing his own mistake, made a double substitution, releasing Bongonda and Nail Umyarov on the field. This helped the team to transform, and «Spartacus» began to bombard the opponent with sharp combinations and dangerous shots from outside the penalty area. However, the attacking fuse was not enough for a long time, thanks to which “Zenith” got excellent opportunities for counterattacks. One of these coolly implemented all the same Wendel, already without anyone's help sent the ball into the far bottom corner of the bar — 0:2. After that, Spartak again fell into an emotional bulk, which led to a number of moments and even a penalty kick against Mikhail Kerzhakov, who Sobolev converted — 1:2. Muscovites didn't have enough for more, moreover, the last word was left for the St. Petersburg team — Cassierra calmly disposed of his moment, being right in someone else's goalkeeper's area, — 1:3.
A tough victory over a principal rival returns the reigning champions to the gold race. And Spartak continues its sad losing streak in matches against Zenit, which has been going on since 2017.