Vorobyov fired: the striker's beautiful goal decided the outcome of the leaders' derby

Lokomotiv's players took the lead from CSKA in the Russian championship, defeating it in the Moscow derby in the last 12th round. The game ended 3-0 in favor of the Railwaymen, and the second goal by their striker Dmitry Vorobyov was one of the most beautiful in recent years. In addition, it is worth highlighting the away draw of Akhmat Grozny with Dynamo Moscow (2:2) and Rostov with Spartak Moscow (1:1).

Lokomotiv – CSKA

For a two-week break related to the national team games, both teams left, occupying high positions in the standings. CSKA prevailed over Spartak (3:2) and retained the lead. And Loko won against Dynamo (5:3) and was second, one point behind the Army team. Next to these teams is also the reigning champion Krasnodar, who scored as much as the Railwaymen.

On Saturday evening, he played in Makhachkala with the local Dynamo and won 2:0. In the event of a draw in the subsequent Loko –CSKA derby, the southern club would have finished the round as the leader. But Lokomotiv had other plans in this regard. However, at the beginning of the match, everything could not have gone according to his scenario, if goalkeeper Anton Mitryushkin had not fended off Danil Krugovoy's dangerous shot, and Dmitry Barinov had not prevented Enrique Carmo from finishing off.

But in the 17th minute, Alexey Batrakov hit the Army's goal with an excellent shot from outside the penalty area, which was defended by the team's captain Igor Akinfeev, who was not injured, and his talented young understudy Vladislav Torop. It is not known whether this affected the end of the first half or whether the situation did not depend on the personality and experience of the goalkeeper. But before the break, perhaps the most beautiful goal of the season was scored, and not only in Russia.

However, shortly before that, CSKA could have equalized when, after a series of rebounds, Kirill Glebov passed Alerrandro, who directed the ball into an empty net, but Artem Karpukas pulled him out. And then there was an episode that many football fans in our country and beyond will review more than once.

In the second compensated minute, Dmitry Vorobyov successfully pressed Torop, who knocked the ball straight into the Loko striker. After that, the ball bounced to the corner flag. Vorobyov caught up with him, handled him and hung him in the goalkeeper's box. But the ball flew into the goal from almost zero angle. Hasp did not calculate such an unpredictable trajectory and did not even move. As a result, under the surprised gaze of the other players and the stands, the score became 2-0.

In the second half, Loko was already confidently in control of the match, and towards the end Nikolay Komlichenko scored again and put an end to the match. Mikhail Galaktionov's team came out on top, two points ahead of CSKA and Krasnodar in additional indicators (victory in a personal meeting).

"An unexpected defeat, just a great game for the Railwaymen," Nikolai Naumov, former president of Lokomotiv, told Izvestia. — I expected an equal game with a draw or a minimal victory for one of the teams. And in principle, the first half was exactly like that. Lokomotiv scored a good goal, CSKA could have equalized, and then Vorobyov scored a fantastic goal before the break. And in the second half, Loko just trampled the opponent into the turf — I haven't seen a team so organized and courageous for a long time. Maybe CSKA was affected by the absence of Akinfeev and the disqualified Moises, who holds a lot in defense. But it should be noted that the "railwaymen" have played one of the best games in recent years. The farmhand was good again. And Vorobyov should be noted not only for this goal, but in general for his stable performance. How would I rate Loko's chances of winning the championship? It's too early to tell. His main problem is not playing with competitors, whom he consistently beats. And with matches against teams from the bottom of the table like Dynamo Makhachkala and Krylia Sovetov. With them, the team often fails.

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Spartak – Rostov

During the break for the national team games, part of the senior staff was replaced in both teams. So, Sergey Nekrasov, former vice president of Gazprombank, joined Spartak as CEO instead of Oleg Malyshev. And in Rostov, Artashes Harutyunyants, the president who had been in charge of the club since 2017, left the post.

It is unlikely that this will affect the fate of the head coach of the Donskoy club, Jonathan Alba, in the foreseeable future, since the team does not lose in the championship in the fall. But rumors about the resignation of Spartak coach Deyan Stankovich have been circulating for at least a month. But he is still at the head of the team, despite the failure in the form of an interim sixth place. The match with Rostov was the last one that the Serb watched not from the coaching bench due to a one-month suspension received from the RFU KDK for obscene remarks about the referee of the match with Dynamo Moscow (1:1).

Rostov was closer to victory. In the middle of the first half, he gained a numerical advantage after the removal of Spartak player Alexander Dzhiku. And he realized it nine minutes after the break, when Timur Suleymanov opened the scoring. In the future, the guests had other great chances to score more. But they didn't do it and paid the price with the loss of points — in the 85th minute, Ezequiel Barco equalized and saved Spartak from defeat.

His team remains sixth, seven points from first place. Rostov retained the 10th place.

—Rostov missed the victory in an insulting way and may bite its elbows due to the loss of points," Andrei Chervichenko, the former owner of Spartak, told Izvestia. — I said before the match that Rostov might have problems with the referee if he whistles towards the red and white. As a result, he judged with an open mind, and Spartak had a lot of problems. In the end, he just bounced back, using one of the few moments ahead at the end. But even this should not have hindered Rostov if it had implemented everything that it had created itself.

"CSKA's strong point is its center"

Football player of Lokomotiv and the Russian national team Alexander Silyanov — about the upcoming derby with the RPL leader and the past matches of the national team

Dynamo — Akhmat

The confrontation between the teams of Valery Karpin and Stanislav Cherchesov always has a special imprint, given the coaching careers of both. In 2021, Valery Georgievich replaced Stanislav Salamovich as head coach of the Russian national team, which he still heads, combining this job with a similar position at Dynamo Moscow since the summer.

In addition, in August 2008, it was Karpin who, after becoming the general director of Spartak Moscow, fired Cherchesov, then the head coach of the red and white. Six months later, he set himself up to coach the team. And he held this position for many years, although his best result, silver at the Russian Championship, was similar to what Cherchesov showed.

Interestingly, they confronted each other as coaches only twice — in 2013, when Karpin was in charge of Spartak, and Cherchesov was first in charge of Terek Grozny, then Amkar Perm. As a result, they have one victory each in face—to-face meetings - the Chechen club lost to the red and white 1:3 away, and the Ural team won 2:1 at home.

They had no more intersections, since Cherchesov had not worked in the RPL for 10 years (first he led the national team, and then foreign clubs). In the summer, he took charge of Akhmat Grozny, which by that time had lost three out of three matches at the season championships. As a result, over the next nine rounds under Cherchesov, the team has only one defeat.

She rose to ninth place and equaled Dynamo Karpin in points, for which, given the level of the squad and investment in transfers, this interim result can be called a failure.

In Sunday's match, Dynamo took the lead in the 19th minute when Ivan Sergeev scored. But Georgy Melkadze equalized pretty quickly. And then the referee awarded a very controversial penalty to the home team. But the scandal over the result was avoided, as Lechi Sadulaev shot above the gate.

Towards the end of the game, Egash Kasintura scored against Dynamo. But Akhmat missed the victory — Konstantin Tyukavin saved the blue and white hosts in the last minutes. This goal was his first after returning to action — recall that from March to mid-September, the striker did not play due to a serious injury. Both teams remained in the middle of the table, nine points behind Loko.

"I think we played a decent match and could have won,— Akhmat goalkeeper Georgi Shelia told Izvestia. — Unfortunately, we did something wrong in the end and conceded, although I think we deserved to win. But I am glad that we played a high-quality match away from a strong opponent. And once again we proved that we can play on equal terms with everyone.

There were also five more matches in the last round. Samara "Wings of the Soviets" drew with Orenburg on their own field (1:1). Krasnodar won away from Dynamo Makhachkala (2:0). Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Sochi 3-0 on the road. Rubin Kazan lost at home to Baltika Kaliningrad (0:3). Pari Nizhny Novgorod lost at home to Tolyatti Akron (0:1).