A draw win: Spartak and Dynamo make it difficult to fight for the medals
A 2-2 draw in the Moscow derby between Spartak and Dynamo in the ninth round of the Russian Football Championship resulted in these teams falling behind the top three. The situation is the same with CSKA Moscow, who drew away with Rubin Kazan (1:1). These misfires were taken advantage of by Zenit St. Petersburg, which won a home win over Fakel Voronezh (3:1), Krasnodar, which defeated Akron Togliatti (5:2), and Lokomotiv Moscow, which won away against Pari Nizhny Novgorod (3:1).
The ninth round of the RPL ended on Monday with a match between Grozny's Akhmat and Krylia Sovetov, who played to a draw (1:1). On the most interesting and significant events of the past round - in the material "Izvestia".
"Spartak" - "Dynamo".
For either of these teams, a victory in the derby would mean that the club will continue to follow on the heels of the top three of the RPL. But the final draw was in the hands of Zenit, Krasnodar and Lokomotiv. "Dynamo" started the game with a quick goal by Konstantin Tyukavin and generally had an advantage in the first minutes, but by the middle of the first half they were already losing after Manfred Ugalde's goal and Esekiel Barco's penalty.
With 20 minutes to go, the Blues were left in the minority when El-Mehdi Mauhub was sent off for two yellow cards received within six minutes of being substituted. Strangely enough, Spartak did not take advantage of the numerical advantage and went back on defense. The same Tyukavin took advantage in the final minutes to level the score. And Yaroslav Gladyshev almost snatched the victory for Dynamo.
As a result of this round the Bilo-Syni are four points behind Krasnodar and Lokomotiv. "Spartak is separated from them by five points. Leading Zenit are seven and six points behind the two capital clubs, respectively.
- The teams showed a bright derby with plenty of fight, moments and intrigue," former Dynamo head coach Sergei Silkin shared his opinion with Izvestia. - The game was equal, but the suspension had a serious impact. We should give credit to Dynamo that they improved in the minority, added aggression, which helped to equalize the score, and in one of the episodes they could even win. But we do not know how the game would have turned out without that red card. Perhaps, Dynamo could have achieved a victory in the equalizer. Or, perhaps, they could not get angry in the right way and would have lost. Either way, the match was entertaining, but from a tournament standpoint, both clubs should be unhappy, as they fell behind their rivals.
"Rubin" - CSKA
The Army men are closer to the leading group, but any misfire on their part creates a risk of falling into the middle of the table, where Rubin are already stuck. Under Marko Nikolic, CSKA has consistently beaten bottom-of-the-table opponents like Pari NN (3-0), Orenburg (5-1), Akron (4-0), and Khimki (2-0), but have lost to top clubs like Zenit (0-1), Lokomotiv (0-1), and Krasnodar (1-2).
"Rubin" does not belong to either the first or the second category. And it's not surprising that CSKA ended up with a result intermediate between victory and defeat - a draw. The situation was the same in the first round, when the Red-Blues visited another club from the middle of the table, Rostov, and drew with them (0-0).
CSKA took the lead in Kazan on 15 minutes thanks to a goal by Rifat Zhemaletdinov. But Egor Teslenko equalized early in the second half. Rubin created a couple more chances, but the visitors were saved by goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. The final draw left the Army team in sixth place, seven points behind the top three and nine points behind the leaders. "Rubin" remains eighth - he is three points behind CSKA.
- There were two different halves," former CSKA defender Vladimir Ponomarev told Izvestia. - In the first half the Army Men dominated, they had the advantage, they deservedly scored a goal and could have scored more. But after the break it was a complete failure, and Rubin had every chance not only to draw, but to win. The draw is generally logical, but both teams have big problems with the game in attack. And it's still unclear, at the expense of what they can gain and rise higher in the table.
"Akron" - "Krasnodar"
The Togliatti club signed Artem Dzyuba a week ago, who immediately scored a goal in his debut match and helped them beat direct rival Khimki 3-0 at home. Last weekend, Akron and its star newcomer were tested by stronger opponents.
Dzyuba did not fail again - Stefan Lonchar and Vladimir Khubulov scored with assists from the 36-year-old striker. But that didn't save the club from the Samara region from a home defeat. Krasnodar's class showed, as Jon Cordoba and Eduard Spertsyan's strikes and Nikita Krivtsov's goal allowed the Bulls to win their sixth consecutive victory (5-2) and retain second place. Murad Musayev's wards continue to go undefeated in the league. "Akron" remains in 11th place, with a gap of one point from the zone of transition matches.
- "Akron tried to impose a struggle on the opponent, to play from a position of strength, as he likes and knows how to do," former Krasnodar midfielder Maxim Demenko told Izvestia. - But since Krasnodar play in this style, and the level of players there is much higher, the class of the guests was reflected. You have to give credit to how quickly Artem Dzyuba is integrating into Akron's game. But it's not enough to play on equal footing with top teams.
"Pari Nizhny Novgorod vs. Lokomotiv Nizhny Novgorod
Nizhny Novgorod are still in distress. Rumors about the possible resignation of head coach Sasha Ilic have been circulating for weeks. The trail of endless defeats has been going on since April, since the final stage of last season, when Pari NN struggled to retain a place in the RPL following the transitional matches with Arsenal Tula (1:2; 2:0).
Interestingly, now the team still goes even above the zone of junctions, but few doubt that with the current state of affairs it will go down there. "Lokomotiv" was the clear favorite of the meeting, but after the first half achieved only a draw. Nizhny Novgorod responded to Dmitry Vorobyov's goal with a Juan Bosella goal.
Nevertheless, a double by young Alexey Batrakov after the break brought the "railroaders" victory. The 19-year-old midfielder himself continues to justify his status as the main discovery of the season. Now he has seven goals in the championship. By this indicator he is equal to Maxim Glushenkov.
- Batrakov's play is a joy to watch - I hope he continues to perform so consistently," former Lokomotiv president Nikolai Naumov told Izvestia. - The match itself was no surprise - it's clear that Pari NN now looks very bad, the players are acting extremely disjointed. And here Loko's class definitely had an impact. We can only marvel at how the railroaders now trust the youth, how they play and give results. But young players are unstable, so I'm sure they will have slumps until they gain experience. So I do not believe in the possibility of fighting with Zenit for the championship, but the current Lokomotiv is capable of winning medals.
"Zenit vs. Fakel
In the previous two seasons, the matches between the richest and poorest clubs in the RPL were always tense, despite the financial stratification. "Fakel" even twice at home took points away from "Zenit" - both times the teams played a 1:1 draw. But even in those days it was always losing away, and in its current state Voronezh did not make an impression of a team capable of giving a fight to the reigning champion.
Nevertheless, they were able to delight the crowd with intrigue in the last round. A quick goal from a penalty kick by Evgeny Markov allowed Fakel to go into the break in St. Petersburg leading 1-0. Zenit's problems over the last few rounds may have had an impact - after an injury to their top scorer Maxim Glushenkov, they have struggled to pick up points and lost them even against bottom-of-the-table Khimki (1-1).
Nevertheless, in the second half Sergey Semak's wards pulled themselves together. Mateo Casierra equalized the score, and newly arrived Luciano Gondu put Zenit ahead, scoring his fourth goal in three league games. Largely due to the Argentine striker, Zenit's game problems did not lead to regular losses and allowed them to maintain their lead in the tournament.
Toward the end of the game Alexander Erokhin killed the intrigue in the match. "Zenit" continues to go first with a gap of two points from "Krasnodar" and "Loko". "Fakel" is the same amount behind the zone of transition matches and is in last place in the departure zone from the RPL.
Also in the last round there were three more matches. Two of them ended in zero draws: Khimki shared points at home with Orenburg, and Rostov failed to beat Dinamo Makhachkala on their field. In the final game of the round, Grozny Akhmat lost at home in the final minutes to Samara Krylia Sovetov (1:1) and remained the only team without a win in the current championship.
