For Zenit, games against CSKA Fedotov are never easy. Last season, the teams exchanged home wins, but this time they ended in a draw, which cannot be called a peaceful outcome. On Sunday evening at the VEB Arena there was no smell of peace.

“Warm” welcome for Mario

For CSKA and Zenit, this meeting was the second of the season. A month and a half ago, in the game for the Super Cup, Vladimir Fedotov again confirmed his status as the chief specialist in playing with the best team in the country. In that match, the favorite was never able to hit the target, and the army team had several opportunities not to bring things to a penalty shootout. The Sunday match at the VEB Arena was also expected to be difficult for Zenit, where Fedotov’s team managed to upset the champion last spring.

Semak, as expected, chose to return to the 3-4-3 formation, which he chose in the winning game with Spartak. This time, Ivan Sergeev remained in the reserve, and the only forward Cassierra was supposed to be assisted by Mantua and Claudinho, who were located on the flanks of the attack.

For CSKA, the same scheme became the main one with the arrival of Fedotov. The coach did not change himself this time, but in terms of personnel he made a number of reshuffles. Akinfeev, who had recovered from his injury, returned to the goal, Oblyakov took Mukhin’s place in the attack group, and the entire right flank was left to the rookie Douglas Kellven. The Brazilian chose his second game number, which for a long time belonged to Mario Fernandez, whose transfer to Zenit made a lot of noise. Ironically, Kellven’s debut came in Fernandez’s first match against CSKA Moscow.

The stands expectedly met the former favorite with a whistle and an unhappy rumble that accompanied every touch of Fernandez throughout the meeting. Even the guys serving the balls did not hide their attitude towards the defender. In one of the episodes, the ball-boy did not want to give the ball to Fernandez for a long time, but in the end he did it with an undisguised grimace of contempt on his face. The army club reacted to the choice of Mario in its own way, removing the image of the player from the room under the stands. At the same time, a large graffiti on the walls of the stadium, which the fans demanded to be painted over, has not gone away yet.

Master class on pressing

Spartak’s head coach Guillermo Abascal relied on high pressure two weeks ago in a game against Zenit, but then the Spaniard’s idea failed. How to put pressure on the Semak team was demonstrated by CSKA in the first minutes. Oblyakov, Chalov and Zabolotny were able to provide pressure on someone else’s defense, which eventually turned into a goal. Alip passed back to Kerzhakov, who was covered by Zabolotny and literally from the goal line in a sliding tackle drove the ball into the net.

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After such a start, the subsequent scenario of the game was extremely clear: Zenit had undivided possession of the ball, and the hosts dug in at their own goal. The army team was ready for such a turn of events: Fedotov’s team had never been so charged this season. The main danger for the army gates in the first half came after the flanking sheds. Several times in such episodes it was really hot. Fernandez had the most real moment, but the former partner in the club and the national team dragged a difficult blow with his foot.

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CSKA tried to keep the formation, leaving a minimum of free zones for the opponent, but even in such an environment, the guests managed to find chances. Just before the break, Akinfeev showed himself again, reacting to Cassierra’s blow from close range.

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All statistical indicators of the first half were in favor of Zenit, which is worth at least the number of corners taken (10-0), but all this was not reflected on the scoreboard.

Zenit hit the wall

In the first half Zenit gave too much strength to put pressure on the army defense. The favorite after the break was supposed to turn on additional speeds, but nothing like that happened. On the contrary, in the positional attack of “Zenith” the movement disappeared, and with it the danger at the gates of Akinfeev.

CSKA calmly coped with the opponent’s sluggish attacks and did not forget to compose their own. Akinfeev’s classic take-out to someone else’s penalty area almost ended with Chalov’s goal, which simply missed the target from a lethal position.

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Looking at such football, Semak tried to refresh the game with the help of substitutions, removing Karavaev and Mantuan from the field, instead of which Krugovoi and Sergeyev appeared. Zenit switched to a game with two strikers, and Douglas Santos moved to the center of defense. The rearrangements did not produce the expected effect, CSKA still controlled the situation and generally did not allow anything to be done at their gates.

Separate words deserve the actions of the support zone and the trio of central defenders. Zdelar and Mendez in the middle grabbed the main creatives of Zenit in the center of the field, and if they managed to move the ball forward, then Rocha, Moses and Nababkin took over, who did not make any mistakes in 87 minutes.

hot ending

The meeting was already rolling towards a logical victory for CSKA, but the last word still remained with Zenit. Guests found their chance after another corner. Douglas Santos took advantage of a good rebound right on the head and put the ball into the goal.

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After that, football on the field ended, and the teams began to sort things out. It took the chief referee Pavel Kukuyan several minutes to calm the players, including with the help of yellow cards. A few seconds later, a new brawl began after Gayich’s fall in someone else’s penalty area: Rosha grabbed Erokhin by the throat, Kerzhakov hugged and reassured Zabolotny, but, fortunately, it did not come to a real fight.

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In a tense struggle, Zenit managed to get the most important point in Moscow and return to second place in the table. For CSKA, the ending turned out to be the most offensive: Fedotov’s team was again left without a victory, and its gap from the first line after this round increased to six points.