“Spartak” and “Torch” gave a great game, which included a penalty, a canceled goal, an amazing comeback, the winning goal in the end, a referee scandal and the anger of the head coach of the “red-whites”. Guillermo Abascal immediately after the final whistle, apparently, was ready to break the chief referee Vladislav Bezborodov.

Outstanding Promes Show

Spring has not yet come to Moscow, so Spartak and Fakel had to take to the field in the snow. Usually, difficult weather conditions play into the hands of a less technically strong team, which theoretically could help the Voronezh club, which is objectively weaker than Spartak in terms of recruiting players. Another thing is that the Abascal team could not lose points if they wanted to continue chasing Zenit in the fight for the championship.

In the last round, the Muscovites played a draw at home with the Urals, and the backlog from the St. Petersburg team grew to 8 points. Abaskal for the game with Fakel chose almost entirely Russian squad. Of the legionnaires at the start, only Quincy Promes came out, who, by the way, is also not averse to getting a passport of our country. The Dutchman aimed to score his 100th goal for Spartak. Of course, it would be especially nice to do this at our own stadium, although Moscow spectators have been very reluctant to go to the Otkritie Arena for the second match in a row.

The first 10-15 minutes of the game were predictable. Spartak tried to control the ball, while Fakel defended with the whole team and occasionally ran out into fast counterattacks. The players of Dmitry Pyatibratov have already taken points from the favorites more than once this season and have earned the nickname “insolent people from Voronezh”. Muscovites understood this very well and were in no hurry to go anywhere. In fact, the first dangerous moment at the Fakel goal came in the 18th minute and ended immediately with a goal.

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Zinkovsky shot from outside the penalty area, Gorodovoy unsuccessfully hit the ball in front of him, and Quincy was the first to finish, scoring the 100th goal in Spartak. An outstanding achievement by the Dutchman, who scored the first goal for the “red-whites” back in 2014. Promes decided not to stop there and scored again at the end of the half. And he did it very beautifully, mockingly beating Fakel defender Morozov and breaking past the Voronezh goalkeeper – 2:0.

The canceled goal of Spartak and the crazy ending from Torch

It seemed that the intrigue was over. Moreover, a minute before the second goal of Promes, Alexander Sobolev scored, but the referee saw a violation of the rules in that episode and canceled the goal, which made Abaskal very angry, who tore and threw on the edge. It seems that Spartak again fell into the epicenter of a judicial scandal. Ironically, Sobolev’s goal was canceled for the second match in a row. It could have been 3:0 by the break, but it became 2:2. How is this possible, you ask. After all, Quincy scored his second goal a couple of minutes before the end of the first half.

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“Torch” began to respond already in the 43rd minute. Cherov ran down the flank and famously shot Appaev into the penalty area, who in the fall shot past Selikhov.

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A few more minutes passed, and Voronezh got the right to a penalty. A canopy from a corner led to a fight between Prutsev and Kvekveskiri, in which the Spartak player hit the Torch player in the face. The chief referee of the match, Vladislav Bezborodov, went to watch the replay and considered that Prutsev had fouled.

A newcomer from the Voronezh club, Reda Rabei, approached the ball and accurately shot it in the center – 2:2. The mad ending of the first half, the beginning of which did not foreshadow anything like that. But even with this, the teams could not calmly go to the break. Sobolev had a great opportunity to put Spartak ahead again, but Gorodovoy pulled out his header, and Prutsev, who had time to finish off, shot past the goal from several meters.

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The pursuit of Zenit will continue

Abascal’s team immediately after the break ran to score the third goal, clearly not wanting to lose points. Partners twice perfectly shot into the penalty area for Sobolev, but to no avail. Nevertheless, the pressure on Fakel was growing, three players of the Voronezh club received yellow cards with a difference of several minutes. At the same time, it cannot be said that Spartak dominated and created one moment after another. “Torch” held confidently and responded with quick attacks.

Abaskal was obviously nervous and released Klassen and Martins on the field instead of Prutsev and Khlusevich. Pyatibratov removed two Frenchmen – Brahimi and Rabei. They were replaced by Akbashev and Gongadze. Meanwhile, 20 minutes remained before the end of the meeting. At this moment, Zobnin took the initiative and earned a dangerous free kick near the gates of Voronezh. Promes approached the ball hoping to score a hat-trick, but his shot slid over the crossbar.

Sobolev had a fantastic chance in the 82nd minute, who found himself completely alone in front of the opponent’s goal after Quincy’s pass, but failed to hit the ball. And yet, Spartak snatched the victory. Three minutes before the end, Zinkovsky hung on the same Sobolev, he threw the ball on Martins, and Christopher drove him under the crossbar – 3:2.

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The “Red-Whites” scored the most important three points and kept the intrigue in the fight for the champion title. Despite this, Abaskal immediately after the final whistle ran to deal with the chief referee Bezborodov. The case could have ended very badly, but the Spanish coach was stopped in time by his staff colleagues and Spartak players.

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