Zenit has been the most uncomfortable opponent for Spartak for several years now. The last time Muscovites defeated the Blue-White-Blues was in 2017. And often the “red-whites” lose devastatingly to the Petersburgers: now 1:5, then 1:7 … The recent match for the Super Cup, in which the team of Guillermo Abascal lost 0:4, escalated the situation.

However, all these defeats happened in St. Petersburg – in Moscow, Spartak still looks better. And the victory of the “red-whites” in the Friday Match of Legends should have energized the younger generation to fight.

However, this was still not enough to win. “Spartak” is defeated and lets the Petersburgers into first place in the RPL.

Paradoxical first half

Nerves, nerves and once again nerves – this is how you can describe the beginning of the meeting between Spartak and Zenit. Sergey Semak constantly bites his lips, Alexander Maksimenko makes a pass to his opponent, and Andrey Mostovoy, who received this pass, seems to be forgetting how to hit on goal.

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By the way, he is not alone. Zenit had a lot of chances in the first half, but all the shots went to milk. Neither Mostovoy, nor Malcolm, nor Cassierra could hit the target from lethal positions. Apparently, the ex-goalkeeper of Spartak Artem Rebrov, who appeared in the Match of Legends, again talked to the posts, as in the good old days, and spoke to them. 13 shots on goal from the guests, and only three aimed ones. Well, zero goals.

The first half developed in a paradoxical way, because Zenit exerted pressure, and the Spartak team opened the score. Followed by a long transfer to Alexander Sobolev, and the striker threw the ball to the right flank, which was Martins Pereira. The midfielder broke into the penalty area and sent the ball back to Sobolev. Sasha worked beautifully and powerfully shot the gates of Mikhail Kerzhakov from a reversal. As in the home match last season, Spartak opened the scoring, while Zenit conceded first in this championship for the first time.

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Zenit was visibly nervous, and confirmation of this is the clash between Wendel and Promes, into which both benches almost got involved. Even Sergey Semak had to separate the players! The heroes of the episode received a “yellow card” each and talked about something for a long time. It’s good that the referee blew the whistle for a break – the players could have brought the case to deletions.

The advantage of “Zenith” was embodied in victory

In the second half, Abascal had to rotate the squad. Firstly, Keita Balde, a pupil of Barcelona, ​​made his debut for the Red-Whites. After entering the field, he immediately talked a little with Malcolm, who also has a past in the Catalan team. True, looking ahead, the ex-star of Lazio was not impressed in the match – he looked a little heavy. Secondly, Ruslan Litvinov and Martins were injured: the midfielders were not even able to leave the field on their own.

To keep Zenit, however, these permutations did not help. In the second half of the meeting, the guests finally scored. Moreover, it was not one of the attacking players who scored, but the defender Dejan Lovren. The Croatian showed miracles of coordination, got his bearings in time and sent the ball between Maksimenko’s legs from the goalkeeper’s area. And in the 60th minute, the guests took the lead – Mostovoy got a lot of freedom in front of the penalty area and struck smartly along the outgoing trajectory into the far corner. In 15 minutes, Zenit turned the course of the meeting.

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Both teams calmed down after the goal, even the Spartak stands passively watched the precious time slip away. “Zenith” calmly parted and brought the matter to victory. The match of legends did not charge Spartak with a positive result, the Red-Whites fell back to fifth place in the RPL table. And Petersburgers have created a backlog of three points from the closest pursuers.