On account of one defender – three effective errors.
Matches “Rostov” and “Spartak” are often very bright and tense. Especially since the club from the south of Russia was headed by Valery Karpin, a man who has a rich history with the Red-Whites. Karpin generally loves his former club: in matches with Spartak, he won 5 times, and lost only three times.
The last meeting helped the coach of the Russian national team to further improve personal statistics. His team won a strong-willed victory and did it very confidently. “Spartak” was clearly not ready for the level of struggle and the emotional degree of the match.
At some point, the “red-white” looked just pathetic.
Rostov aesthetes
After the match “Zenith” – “Orenburg”, where the Petersburgers scored 8 unanswered goals, it was pleasant and a little unusual to watch the meeting of equal opponents. The teams did not concede to each other in the struggle and sharpness of the moments. It is not surprising that already three goals were scored by the break. There is also justice in the fact that two of them belonged to “Rostov”, which, as it seemed, was somehow more emotional. However, the owners are supposed to play like that.
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However, it all started with a chic Quincy Promes ball. The Dutchman took a flank pass from Maciej Rybus on his chest and, without even letting the ball hit the lawn, flashed Sergei Pesyakov. During the performance of this trick, Promes, it seems, even pulled his back, but everything worked out. This is the 8th goal of the Dutchman this season. And they said he was coming from the fair!
Alas, the goal of Promes somehow did not inspire the Spartacists too much. They played normally, but without a twinkle. “Rostov” just cheered up after a missed ball – and after 4 minutes Dmitry Poloz sent the ball into the bottom corner from the penalty area with a billiard kick. The anti-hero of the episode was Rybus. The left-back, who had just assisted Promes, allowed himself to be beaten too easily. Bill Poloz right from under the Pole.
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And after another 6 minutes, beauty was created by Daniil Utkin. Moreover, the Rostov midfielder scored his goal from about the same position as Poloz. But Utkin did even better: he shot from his left foot, almost from the spot – and landed in the top nine. Alexander Selikhov could do nothing. It was clear that Karpin’s gang had caught their trademark courage.
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Rybus is back in business
The second half “Spartak” started quite actively and made several sharp approaches. But no one doubted the attack of the “red-whites”. The front line of Muscovites were and remains their strongest. But with the defense, everything is not so rosy at all.
Even if the injured Ruslan Litvinov had been in the squad, mistakes would still hardly have been avoided. They could only be leveled with the help of goals into other people’s gates. But no goals happened, and then Spartak conceded again. In the 53rd minute, the Red-Whites got carried away with a rally in their own half of the field and did not notice how they were under pressure. Rybus was confused and did what all children’s coaches forbid – he played through the center. The ball was intercepted by Utkin, who instantly passed to his favorite partner, Nikolai Komlichenko. Comley went one on one and calmly dealt with the keeper. “Spartak” brought himself a third ball.
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At the same time, not only Rybus is to blame, but also Nail Umyarov. It was he who did not cover Utkin in time and allowed him to make an assist without resistance. In fact, Umyarov simply lost his position and did not know what to do. Is it all karma for the Cup final?
“Spartacus” was blown away?
20 minutes before the end of the meeting, the Spartacists were really just right to look for answers in all sorts of esoteric motives. The fact is that Rybus did not stop there and brought it back again. This time the mistake turned out to be the most obvious – the Pole simply flunked Khoren Bayramyan in his own penalty area. Sergey Karasev pointed to the point without hesitation, and Poloz scored a double.
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However, it should not be said that Spartak lost solely because of Rybus’ mistakes. He lost because he was worse, because he lost in terms of emotions and composure. As a result, the cool motivator Karpin simply destroyed his former club, which, apparently, never survived the defeat in St. Petersburg.
Spartak seemed to be blown away – and even Alexander Sobolev’s goal, which allowed them not to lose a crushing blow, will not change this impression. The players looked depressed – not only mentally, but also physically. In Rostov, they ran and combined not at all as provocatively as in previous meetings.
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In the end, the Red-Whites seem to have managed to establish pressure, but one must understand that Rostov was also tired. Yes, and it was too late. Sobolev could run into Utkin as much as he wanted, but the attacker would have to admit: Spartak himself was to blame for this defeat.
