Perhaps, for the first time in recent years, Zenit approached the match with Spartak not in the status of a favorite. At the start of the season, the champion was not distinguished by a stable game and had already managed to be defeated by another Moscow club – Dynamo.

The statistics of Spartak against Zenit Sergei Semak in the championship before Sunday’s game was monstrous. Muscovites, with 12 attempts, managed to win only once, while St. Petersburg won seven matches in the same period.

Abascal was carried away by experiments

Guillermo Abascal at the beginning of the season has repeatedly surprised the choice of the starting lineup. This time, the Spaniard did not change himself, putting up an unexpected combination. For the first time in the season, Spartak lined up in the center of the field with a classic rhombus. Ilya Svinov reappeared at the gate, having conceded seven goals in the previous two matches. At the same time, Maksimenko and Selikhov were included in the application.

Ruslan Litvinov, who made a goal error in the game against Ural, remained on the bench, and his place in the center of defense was taken by Alexis Duarte, who is also not very reliable. Roman Zobnin and one of the most productive players of the entire championship at the start of the season, Theo Bongonda, started the game on the bench. In attack, in addition to Promes and Sobolev, the head coach relied on Ignatov and Medina.

In the spring, Abascal’s experiments with composition and tactics turned out to be a failure, but the Spaniard’s previous experience seems to have taught him nothing. In the main match at the start of the season, he again decided to take the risk in full.

In the starting combination of “Zenith” there were surprises. Semak left the team’s top scorer Cassierra in reserve, betting ahead on Sergeev. In addition, for the first time in the season, the head coach launched Nuraly Alip, who, together with Karavaev and Erakovic, made up a trio in the center of defense.

Spartak did not enter the first half

The hosts at the beginning of the game relied on high pressure, but such activity did not become a problem for the Zenit team. Semak’s team got out of pressure without much difficulty and developed attacks. The main sign of the first minutes was the abundance of fouls from Spartak: in the first 20 minutes, the red-whites managed to break the rules eight times, while the opponent did not foul even once.

Abascal’s problems in the middle of the half were added by the injury of a key player in the middle of the field – Victor Moses. Roman Zobnin had to be lifted off the bench, after which Zenit began to feel even more confident in the middle of the field.

The guests at the Otkritie Bank Arena behaved in a businesslike manner, which cannot be said about the Spartak team. Having stumbled upon powerful resistance, Promes, Medina and Sobolev very quickly drooped and began to make mistakes even in simple situations. Spartak also made mistakes in its own half. Zenit showed the opponent what real pressure means and almost opened the scoring. Sergeev shot past Svinov from a lethal position, but hit the crossbar.

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After that, the guests only increased the pressure. Outwardly, they easily succeeded in one-touch combinations and drawing in someone else’s penalty area. Goal in this scenario was a matter of time. Wendel quickly orientated himself after the unsuccessful removal of the Spartacists and tried to “cheek” the ball into the corner. The shot went wide of the goal, but Jikia’s foot intervened to the misfortune of the “red-whites”, which left no chance for Svinov.

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Even the conceded goal didn’t wake up the Spartak players, who didn’t seem to take the field. The hosts went forward more by inertia, but there was no smell of any specifics at the Zenit gates. For the Abascal team, this half was the worst at the start of the season. The reverse characterization is also true for Zenit, which did not demonstrate such a solid game in previous rounds.

Master class from Zenith

During the break, Abascal tried to freshen up the game with substitutions. With the release of Bongonda and Umyarov, Spartak really increased in activity, but the effect turned out to be temporary. The first 15 minutes of the second half saw sharpness near the Zenit goal arose regularly, but then the guests managed to regain control of the ball and calm the game.

The real heat began closer to the end. In the 73rd minute, it seemed that Wendel removed all the questions, skillfully completing the counterattack. In this episode, once again, the defenders of Spartak showed themselves not in the best way, leaving Svinov to be torn to pieces by the Brazilian. It is curious that only one shot on target was enough for Zenit to score two goals.

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A chance came to the rescue of the owners. Barrios’ careless hand movement in his own penalty area returned to the game “Spartak”. The main arbiter of the meeting, Sergey Karasev, did not react to this episode at first, but VAR intervened in the matter. After watching the replay, the judge nevertheless appointed a penalty, which Sobolev confidently converted.

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Abascal’s team, taking into account stoppage time, had 17 minutes to save. There was no question of any meaningful combinational play in this situation. “Spartak” tried to snatch a draw with a classic bulk with an abundance of throws into someone else’s penalty area.

Zenit was not going to sit at their gates and ended the game from a position of strength. Substitute Cassierra set the final score and caught up with the top scorers of the season Fedor Chalov in a dispute.

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Spartak, after a bright start, suffers a second defeat in a row and lets Zenit forward in the standings. The champion at the Otkritie Bank Arena gave a master class to the applicant, proving to everyone that talk of a crisis was too premature. According to the results of the fifth round, Zenit players are only three points behind the first line.

MIR RPL. 5th round

Spartak (Moscow) – Zenit (St. Petersburg) – 1:3 (0:1)

Goals: Sobolev, 81 (from the penalty spot) (VIDEO). – Jikia, 32 (VIDEO). Wendel, 73 (VIDEO). Cassierra, 90 (VIDEO).