Bullfight: RPL leaders closed the first part of the season with a brawl
The Russian Football Championship went on a winter break with the bright matches of the 18th round. According to its results, the winner of last year's RPL Krasnodar goes on vacation in the first place. On Sunday, he won 3-2 at home against his closest competitor, CSKA Moscow, and the match itself was remembered for a scuffle during halftime with accusations of racism from a Bulls player. A day earlier, the Spartak—Dynamo Moscow derby ended in a draw (1-1), exacerbating the already difficult situation of both teams. In addition to Krasnodar, three more clubs from the top five won — the capital's Lokomotiv confidently beat the championship outsider Sochi (4:2), Zenit St. Petersburg won at home against Akron Togliatti (2:0), and the main sensation of the season, Baltika Kaliningrad, She confidently dealt with the Samara Wings of the Soviets on her own field (2:0).
Krasnodar — CSKA
The meeting of the two RPL leaders concluded the program of the 18th round and the entire first part of the season. She lived up to expectations in terms of intensity, but mainly because of a number of scandalous episodes. Already during the first half, the indignation of the CSKA players was caused by moments with Krasnodar's key striker John Cordoba, who fell onto the lawn three times very dramatically, which, according to many, was worthy of punishment.
But the referee awarded the Colombian a yellow card only once. By this time, the guests were already in the lead — Danil Krugovoy scored from the corner, and Moises sent the ball into Krasnodar's goal. But closer to the break, Cordoba was able to equalize. And during the break, the most interesting thing happened. When they were walking from the field to their locker rooms, Cordoba started shouting at Army player Rodrigo Villagru, and in the stands Moises stood up for his teammate, who began a heated argument with John.
The tension intensified even more after Krasnodar defender Lukas Olasa, explaining the incident in the podium, stated racism against one of his teammates in a flash interview and said that football was left out. Perhaps this week all the episodes will be reviewed by the RFU KDK.
And in the second half, Krasnodar put the squeeze on the opponent. In the 51st minute, Viktor Saa put the Bulls ahead. On the 68th, Moises was removed. Two minutes later, Joao Batchi scored the hosts' third goal. In the last minute of regular time, Mateus Alves narrowed the gap in the score, but CSKA did not have enough for more. Krasnodar won and remains the leader, one point ahead of Zenit, which is second. The Army team is fourth and four points behind the first place.
— It turned out to be a very bright match in terms of the quality of football and fighting intensity, which adequately closed the first part of the season, — Andrey Chervichenko, the former owner of Spartak, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — Of course, the players' scuffles slightly spoiled the impression, but emotions are normal for football. Except that racist shouts are completely out of place, and if they were, then they should be severely punished, but I would like only 100 percent proof of what Olasa says. Otherwise, it will all be inappropriate. Krasnodar deserved to win, they were better in terms of speed, fighting and ball control. Did the defense score two simple goals, giving CSKA a chance to succeed? It feels like the defense went on vacation before the match. But otherwise, our champion is very good, deservedly leading and has a good chance of winning a second gold in a row.
Spartak — Dynamo
Before the game, Nikita Simonyan, the greatest striker and successful coach in the history of Spartak, was colorfully honored at the Lukoil Arena. On November 23, the 1956 Olympic champion in Melbourne, as part of the USSR national team, died at the age of 99. He won the USSR championship four times as a team player and twice as a coach.
The match itself was considered crucial for the acting head coaches of both teams. During the November break for the national team games, Spartak dismissed coach Deyan Stankovich and put Vadim Romanov, who helped him, in his place, and Valery Karpin left Dynamo at his own request, who was replaced by his assistant Rolan Gusev.
Both new specialists started working at the head of the teams at the same time, having the prefix "I.O.". They started with victories in the championship: Spartak Romanov prevailed in the principle derby over CSKA (1:0), and Gusev's Dynamo Moscow defeated Dynamo Makhachkala (3:0) at home.
The success in the match with the army led to the fact that many people started talking about the need to leave Romanov in charge on a permanent basis and let him prepare the team for the spring part of the season. And before the game against Makhachkala, Gusev was promised approval by the head coach if he won all four matches before the break. This was stated by Sergey Stepashin, a member of the Dynamo Board of Directors.
After the first victories, both coaches were waiting for the Russian Cup test, where the second quarter-final matches of the "RPL Path" were coming up. The first games in early November were for Spartak and Dynamo. The red and white defeated Lokomotiv at home (3:1), and the blue and white defeated Zenit on the road (3:1) — this was one of the few positive legacies of Stankovich and Karpin.
As a result, Spartak confidently won the second leg (3:2). And Dynamo fought off Zenit with great difficulty, losing 0:1, but going further in the "RPL Path". After that, Sergei Stepashin, in an interview with Komsomolskaya Pravda, did not rule out that he would correct Gusev's task, and the passage of the St. Petersburg club would be credited to him, even despite the formal defeat in the second leg.
However, a few days later, there was a defeat in the championship, which in no way equates to victory. Dynamo lost to Akhmat Grozny (1:2). Spartak did not fare any better, losing on the road to Kaliningrad Baltic (0:1). However, the two coaches had scant chances to remain at the head of the teams following the results of the face-to-face derby, which ended this year for both rivals.
Dynamo scored first, but the referee did not count Konstantin Tyukavin's goal, fixing a controversial offside. Before the break, Spartak took the lead when the opponent's defender Maxim Osipenko cut the ball into his own goal. And in the second half, Ivan Sergeev equalized the score. At the end of the match, El-Mehdi Mauhub seemed to score a goal that could have been a victory for Dynamo. But the referee again fixed the offside.
The final draw worsened the situation of the opponents and their coaches. Spartak is sixth with an 11-point gap from Krasnodar. Dynamo is doing even worse — 10th place with a 19-point gap from the leader and only six points away from the transition zone.
"I wasn't satisfied with the quality of the game in the first half, but I was in the second half," Dynamo Moscow midfielder Daniil Fomin said in a conversation with Izvestia. — I think we looked better after the break. We equalized, we could have scored, we scored, but the ball was not counted. We have shown ourselves that we can and can play. We need to leave this behind and move forward with this after the winter break.
Sochi — Lokomotiv
In recent months, rumors have been constantly circulating around Lokomotiv about the possible departure of its captain Dmitry Barinov. The trainee of the Railwaymen, the leader of the team and its symbol of recent years, is the last remaining member of the 2018 squad, when the club became the champion of Russia.
But disagreements within the club have led to the fact that Barinov may leave soon. His current agreement with Loko ends in the summer, but starting on January 1, six months before its expiration, according to the regulations, the player can start negotiations with another club and sign a contract with it, which will enter into force after the termination of employment with the previous employer.
A number of media outlets claim that CSKA is the main contender for Barinov, and the chances of extending the contract with Loko are close to zero. If so, then the match with Sochi could be Dmitry's last for his hometown club. Many expected him to make a statement after the match in Sochi, where, as usual, he joined the starting line-up.
Loko fans chanted several times during the game.: "Barinov! Barinov!" And their team easily beat their opponent, who is last in the championship. After Alexey Batrakov's quick goal, Sochi won back thanks to Martin Kramarich's ball, but immediately Alexander Rudenko's double against the hosts killed the intrigue in the match. After the break, Dmitry Vorobyov brought the matter to a rout with a penalty, and at the very end Francois Camano narrowed the gap in the score.
In the 86th minute, Barinov was substituted and handed the captain's armband to Artyom Karpukas. And after the final whistle, I went with the team to the podium with the Loko fans and applauded them for a long time. I was tempted to interpret this gesture as a farewell to the fans of my hometown club.
— It's good that we were able to finish the first part of the season with a victory and now we are going to take a break among the leaders with a slight gap from the first place, — Artem Karpukas told Izvestia. — Now we need to rest, gain strength and prepare as seriously as possible for the resumption of the championship in the winter, where we hope to perform as well as possible.
Sochi is stuck in last place and risks being directly eliminated from the RPL. The team is five points behind the transition zone.
"I believe that we can rise from the relegation zone and stay in the RPL," Sochi goalkeeper Alexander Degtev told Izvestia. — After the change of the head coach, we scored eight points — not enough, but at least something. We will work on the winter training camp, let's see what happens.
There were also five more matches in the last round. Zenit St. Petersburg won at home against Akron Togliatti (2:0), Baltika Kaliningrad prevailed over Krylia Sovetov Samara (2:0). Pari Nizhny Novgorod defeated Dynamo Makhachkala (0:1), whose head coach Hasanbi Bijiyev resigned. Akhmat Grozny was stronger than Orenburg at home (1-0). Rostov won at home against Rubin Kazan, and a new contract was signed with the head coach of the Don club, Jonathan Alba.
The teams are going on vacation. They will start packing in January, and the season will resume at the junction of February and March.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
