Activated Ugalde: striker's strike helped Spartak to improve things
Four goals from Spartak forward Manfred Ugalde allowed the Red and Whites to defeat Lokomotiv Moscow in a derby on Matchday 16 of the Russian Football Championship and return to the medal race. With their fourth consecutive victory in the RPL, Dejan Stankovic's charges were just three points away from third place, which is still occupied by the Railwaymen. Meanwhile, Zenit St. Petersburg regained the lead with a 1-0 win over outsider Orenburg in the final seconds. The Blues and Whites took advantage of Krasnodar's misfire, who lost a 2-2 away win over Khimki. CSKA Moscow's crisis continues, having lost at home to Rostov (1:2).
"Spartak vs. Lokomotiv
The fact that Loko was starting to fall apart became clear in the 10th minute, when Spartak opened the scoring thanks to a nightmarish mistake by Ilya Lantratov. The goalkeeper took a back pass from his teammate and tried to take the ball away from his own penalty area, but hit Manfred Ugalde, from whom it bounced into the goal.
The Costa Rican striker scored two more goals before the break. The score could have been even bigger, but Christopher Martins hit the crossbar and Marquinhos shot past the goal when going one-on-one with Lantratov. Only in the middle of the first half Lokomotiv woke up. And before the break could score the first goal, but the ball after a shot by Dmitry Vorobyov hit the bar.
In the first 20 minutes of the second half, the Railwaymen revived the intrigue. Thanks to goals from Sergei Pinyaev and Jerzino Nyamsi, the gap in the score was reduced to a minimum. But instead of building on their success, Mikhail Galaktionov's charges allowed Ugalde to score a fourth goal in the 73rd minute. It was the first goal scored by a Spartak player in the Russian league since the fall of 1998, when Alexander Shirko scored a similar goal in a 7-0 win over Tyumen.
And in the 80th minute, Esekiel Barco scored his fifth goal for Loko. Now Spartak has cut the gap from Lokomotiv to three points. "Railroaders" continue to go third, behind the leading "Zenit" on five points.
- Lokomotiv's young squad and young head coach lacked experience," Nikolai Naumov, former president of the Railwaymen, told Izvestia. - There was complete recklessness on the pitch, which worsened after Spartak's first goals. "Zheleznodorozhniki" ran headlong to get back, were caught on the counterattack and conceded more. And in the second half, when they managed to reduce the gap in the score to 2:3, instead of bending the line further and playing calmly, they went forward again on emotion, wanting to equalize quickly. As a result, they conceded, negating everything they had done in the first 20 minutes of the second half. The result was a failure, but I wouldn't make a tragedy out of it if I were Lokomotiv. For Galaktionov and the players, it's a useful experience, from which we need to draw the right conclusions. Then the team will continue to progress and fight for medals.
"Khimki" - "Krasnodar"
Before the break for the national team games, Krasnodar drew away with Rubin Kazan (1-1), snapping their 11-match winning streak. Now it had to travel to Khimki. The local club has already taken points from the leaders twice at home this season. In August, it was in the Moscow Region that Zenit lost their first points in the league (1-1), having previously thrashed everyone.
Moreover, Khimki were closer to victory then. And they didn't win only because they realized only one scoring chance, and in the end of the game allowed Zenit to equalize in the only successful attack. And in October, Frank Artiga's wards were able to win on their field "Lokomotiv" (2:0).
With other opponents they manage to pick up points much more difficult, but Krasnodar also gave them a fight. And managed to keep the score at zero at the end of the first half. Immediately after the break, the visitors took the lead thanks to a goal by Joao Batchi. Everything was going for the Bulls' victory, but in the end they were doubly disappointed. In the 84th minute Alexander Rudenko equalized the score. Two minutes later, Yuri Gazinsky put Krasnodar ahead again.
But already in the penalty shootout the hosts were awarded a penalty, converted by Lucas Vera. "Krasnodar are now one point behind Zenit. "Khimki are still in 13th place in the transition zone.
- The game opened up a bit at the end of the match. The substitutes added a little freshness to our team," Khimki midfielder Butta Magomedov explained to Izvestia. - Rudenko realized a great moment. And after that we felt better. We believed in our strength. I think the result of the match is logical. In the first half we stood firm, managed not to concede. Why do we take points away from the three leaders? Probably, it is easier for us to play with teams that attack more. We have more opportunities to play on the counterattack. With the teams from the bottom of the table we have to play more in the first place, it's harder to create something, and they catch us on the counterattack.
"Orenburg" - "Zenit".
Few expected that the outsider of the championship will give a fight to the potential leader. "Orenburg" began the tournament with a home victory over "Spartak" in the first round (2:0), but since then has not won once. Even the October change of head coach has no effect - Vladimir Slishkovich, who replaced David Deograsia, got a home draw with Samara's Krylia Sovetov (2-2) in his debut match, having come back from 0-2 down to level the score in the final seconds of the game.
But this point remains the only one for Orenburg under the Bosnian specialist. Further the team began to lose in the end - so it happened in the home match with Rubin (1:2) and away with Dinamo Makhachkala (1:2), where the opponents scored in the final minutes. The away game against Krasnodar ended in a hopeless rout (0:4).
Against Zenit, Orenburg were close to getting a draw even though they had been playing in the minority since the 38th minute after Alexander Kovalenko was sent off. But head coach Sergei Semak made a successful substitution in the 79th minute, releasing Aleksandr Erokhin. The 35-year-old midfielder has repeatedly demonstrated his ability to score crucial goals.
In the sixth minute of the second half, Nuraly Alip successfully crossed to the goalkeeper's box, and Erokhin fired a header into the hosts' goal. This allowed Zenit to move into first place. "Orenburg" lost the fourth match in a row. It has not won for 15 consecutive rounds. And occupies the last 16th place in the table, four points behind the 14th, which gives the right to fight for a place in the RPL through transition matches.
CSKA vs. Rostov
The second half of the fall has been a failure for CSKA so far. First there was a home draw with Voronezh's Fakel (0-0), where the Army Men were no better than one of the league outsiders. Then came a derby loss to Spartak (0:2), in which the Red-Blues created almost nothing in attack.
Next came a tough away win over Krylia Sovetov (2-1). CSKA scored the decisive goal at the end of the game, but shortly before that, a double save by goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev allowed them to avoid defeat. The Samara side, who were in a severe crisis, looked much better.
"Rostov have only recently recovered from the crisis. Before the pause for national team games, Valeri Karpin's wards won at home against Khimki (3:1), breaking a seven-match winless streak in the league. Interestingly, the entire Don club coaching staff was out of the team for two weeks, as Karpin, his assistant Viktor Onopko and goalkeepers coach Vitaly Kafanov worked with the national team, preparing it for friendlies against Brunei (11-0) and Syria (4-0).
Nevertheless, that didn't stop Rostov from preparing well for the trip to Moscow. CSKA scored a quick goal, with Tamerlan Musayev scoring off a pass from Kellwen. But closer to the end, the visitors began to take the initiative more and more. As a result, Egor Golenkov's double in the 77th and 89th minutes allowed them to win the game, securing eighth place. The Army Men remain sixth and are already 12 points behind third.
- I think we played the second half much better than our opponents," Vitaly Kafanov told Izvestia. - We conceded a quick goal in the first half, and then the Army men had several chances, two of them 100% chances to score, but Rustam Yatimov (Rostov's goalkeeper. - Ed.) saved the day and didn't let the opponent increase the lead. Thus, he gave us hope for a good result, and then we achieved it.
"Fakel vs. Dynamo (Moscow)
Since mid-October, Fakel had a five-game unbeaten streak that allowed them to get out of the relegation zone. But the abundance of draws does not allow them to leave the zone of transition matches yet. In addition, before the pause for national team games, the series was interrupted by an upset away defeat to Lokomotiv, when the decisive goal was conceded in the very end (1:2).
The home game against Dynamo Moscow was also a quality game for Voronezh. They had the advantage throughout the first half, but either failed to realize chances or didn't take a shot. The visitors scored almost at the first approach to the penalty area - on 26 minutes Daniil Fomin hit the far corner of Fakel's goal with a long-range shot.
After the break, Dynamo had a great moment when Roberto Fernandez found himself all alone in another team's goalkeeper's box, but shot over the goal from a dangerous position. In the rest of the game, Fakel were close to equalizing, but several brilliant saves by the Bilo-Syni goalkeeper Igor Leshchuk allowed his team to keep the winning score for a long time. However, before the final whistle Nikolay Giorgobiani was able to block Andrei Ivlev's cross and save the hosts from defeat. Dynamo remain three points away from third place. "Fakel" increased the gap from the departure zone to four points. Two points separate it from the 12th line, which saves it from the transition matches.
There were also three more matches in the last round. Rubin Kazan defeated Akron Togliatti (3-0). Samara "Wings of Soviets" won a willful victory over Grozny "Akhmat" (2:1). Pari Nizhny Novgorod drew at home with Dinamo Makhachkala (0:0).
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
