Rostov – Zenit on May 17: team uniforms, analytics and forecast
The 2025/2026 season of the Russian Premier League (RPL) has reached the finish line. The teams will have to play their last games in the current championship, but the intrigue is running high — the winner of the gold medals has not yet been identified. Zenit St. Petersburg football club (FC) leads the round by two points before the end, but in order to win the championship title, Sergey Semak's team needs to score three points in the match with Rostov on the road, which will be extremely difficult to do. All the details are in the Izvestia article.
Form of commands
The Blue-white-Blues are approaching the final match of the season in the most optimal conditions: the St. Petersburg team scored 13 points out of a possible 15 and occupies the first place in the table. In the last five rounds, they scored four victories, including the most important one over CSKA in Moscow with a final result of 3:1. The only loss of points for Semak's wards was the meeting with the capital's Lokomotiv, which ended with a score of 0.:0. In other matches Zenit managed to defeat Sochi (2:1), Akhmat (2:0) and Dynamo Makhachkala (1:0).
At the same time, the match with the Sochi club turned out to be the most nervous for the Petersburgers: the team was able to snatch victory only at the end of the meeting thanks to a goal by midfielder Alexander Erokhin.
Rostov's performances in the spring season cannot be called successful and confident. The team regularly lost points, but by the end of the championship they were able to score a saving six points and protect themselves from direct relegation to the First League. Jonathan Alba's team scored important victories over their direct competitors in away matches: 2:1 in the game with Dynamo from Makhachkala and 3:1 in the match with Tolyatti Akron. Thus, the club scored 33 points and is in 10th place. In addition, Rostov played a draw with CSKA on the road, leading the score during the meeting. However, despite such results, the club lost to the last-place Sochi and Orenburg at its home stadium.
Match scenario, game forecasts
The game in Rostov is not just important, but crucial for Zenit. Depending on the result of the game, the champion's cup can either go to Krasnodar for the second year in a row, or return to St. Petersburg after a one-year break. Rostov, in turn, has completed the main task for the season and will not be able to rise above ninth place or drop to 11th. The match is expected to be full of emotions and scoring chances. Zenit will strive to attack positionally, put pressure on the opponent and force him to make mistakes in the defensive line and midfield. Rostov residents will probably bet on counterattacks and will catch the opponent on mistakes. At the same time, the last time Rostov defeated Zenit was back in 2019. Semak, commenting on the upcoming match, noted that the team is in a working mood and stressed that Zenit needs a victory.
Rostov is a very unyielding team, well prepared functionally, puts a lot of pressure, uses a lot of long passes, standards. This is probably what we need to be ready for," the coach said.
Opta supercomputer considers St. Petersburg residents to be clear contenders for the championship — 84%. Krasnodar residents have 16% chances, adds Sport-Express.
Zenit and Rostov will meet on May 17 at 18:00 Moscow time at Rostov Arena.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
