The ex-captain of the Russian national team Artyom Dzyuba is now actively looking for a new club. Amid many rumors that the age striker may now retire, the player is already receiving offers from other disciplines. Recently, for example, the odious fighter Alexander Emelianenko announced his desire to fight with a star football player according to the rules of MMA.

Artyom is in no hurry to agree to the challenge, but his former teammate from Zenit will not let him lie – the forward is quite capable of participating in a fight. Once Dzyuba could not restrain his emotions – and attacked a famous partner right in the locker room.

The player himself, however, denies participation in the fight. But there is evidence!

dramatic ending

On November 26, 2016, as part of the 15th round of the RPL, Krasnodar hosted Zenit. According to the results of the first 85 minutes, the teams did not score a single goal, however, they prepared a gift for the fans in the end. The first hero of the episode was Artyom Dziuba, who turned out to be quicker than everyone else in finishing. Fans of the “blue-white-blue” triumphed, sincerely believing that they saw the winning goal.

But the Krasnodar players had their own view of the situation. In the second minute added to the match, the “bulls” equalized the score. Marat Izmailov took advantage of Domenico Criscito’s mistake at the gate, who only had to shoot accurately from an ideal position for a goal. Yuri Lodygin had little chance of helping out in this situation.

Two minutes later, however, the goalkeeper of “Zenith” still made a serious miscalculation, hitting the ball on Tornik Okriashvili, who scored a miracle goal with a kick in the fall over himself. Lodygin’s mistake does not justify the rest of the team players who allowed this episode to happen. In addition, the chance of hitting after such a blow was small – in 99 cases out of 100, the Georgian striker would have missed for sure. Nevertheless, in the eyes of some players of the guests, it was Yuri who became the main culprit in the defeat.

Krasnodar – Zenit. 2:1. Fiction! Okriashvili scores over himself in the 94th minute!

“The atmosphere in Zenith is complicated”

When the players were still on the field, the camera snatched out an annoyed Dziuba, who showed with an unambiguous gesture what he was going to do with someone. What exactly happened in the Zenit locker room was hidden from prying eyes. However, the hints that appeared in the press and social networks suggested an extremely emotional debriefing.

“I must say that the atmosphere at Zenit is… difficult,” TV commentator Konstantin Genich wrote on social networks at the time.

Later, some details were leaked to the press: Dziuba allegedly had a fight with Lodygin. Then, however, the information was corrected: the matter did not seem to come to a fight – the peacemaker Alexander Kokorin did not allow the assault to happen. The Belgian midfielder of the “blue-white-blue” Axel Witsel said that the striker and the goalkeeper just spoke in a raised voice. TV commentator Gennady Orlov admitted that the players could “cock”, but this is not a fight. And the press service of Zenit called the rumors about the fight rumors without any basis.

We didn’t have a fight guys. Do you see anything on the face? There was nothing at all, guys, what are you doing? There is no need to invent, ”Dziuba personally told a Life 78 correspondent.

Years later, Lodygin, who at that time was defending the colors of the Tula Arsenal, admitted that the fight still took place, lasted 20 seconds, and separated the conflicting parties not only Kokorin, but the whole team. True, a full-fledged battle between the players did not work out: the goalkeeper said that it almost came to cuffs, but the fight ended in almost half a minute. So if Artyom suddenly decides to fight Alexander Emelianenko in the octagon, he will have to count on a slightly more serious level of rivalry. Experience with Lodygin is unlikely to help here.