The game turned out to be “swinging”: it cannot be said that one or another team had an advantage. Both of them tried to play on the attack, but these attacks were mostly positional.

However, I counted six truly scoring chances for Zenit. Curiously, of all these six times, when the players threatened the opponent’s goal, they only hit the target once. Rostov, for the whole match, had only an episode with a free kick, when Kerzhakov hit the ball in Osipenko, and Terentyev’s header in the end.

Of course, Rostov was lucky in many ways. How did Claudinho miss the ball two meters from the goal? How did Wendel miss from the penalty mark? How did Malcolm hit wide when he went one on one? And Semak still spoke after the game, they say, his team did not have so many chances. How many chances do you need to score?! With such and such performers!

There was also a little unpleasant aftertaste from refereeing. Yes, VAR corrected Karasev’s mistake from the penalty spot (that’s what he is for!), but the referee was weird in other moments. Why, for example, didn’t Melekhin get a yellow card, who planted Vendela with his hands and feet so that he flew up? And for some reason, Karasev regarded some outright fouls as a struggle … It’s strange, like an experienced referee and often took the right position.

Of course, a draw plays into the hands of Spartak. But I must say that Rostov has a very big potential. Along with Lokomotiv, this team has the best prospects for the next seasons thanks to a large number of talented youth. I don’t think that Karpin’s team is in danger of what happened with Sochi.

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