The program for the eighth round of the MIR RPL closed on Sunday in Cherkizovo, where Lokomotiv hosted Orenburg. The hosts clearly expected to win the home game, but the most striking episode for the railway workers was the episode with Artem Dzyuba’s torn jersey. In terms of gameplay, the attacker did not show himself in any way. As a result, his team was left without goals or points.

“Dont touch him! He doesn’t have a second jersey!”

Lokomotiv approached the game against Orenburg as a clear favorite. After a sluggish start to the season, Mikhail Galaktionov’s team managed to score maximum points in the previous two matches and hoped to continue their successful streak. One of the main co-authors of the victories in the matches with Sochi and Baltika was Artem Dzyuba, who returned to action after a minor injury.

At the start of the season, the striker had to face well-deserved criticism. In attack, he really didn’t look as bright as last spring. Artyom’s nerves began to fail, as evidenced by an ugly altercation with a journalist in the parking lot of the home stadium after the game with Krylia Sovetov. With this, Dzyuba only inflamed his many haters.

Such pressure on the controversial forward has a positive effect. This happened this time too. Having recovered from the injury, he scored three goals, and in total, after five matches, his account was 2+2 – quite decent statistics. “Orenburg” seemed to be the optimal opponent to replenish the goal tally.

But from the first minutes of Sunday’s game it became clear that Loko was not going to have an easy ride. The guests were in no way inferior to the favorite, and were even more sharp in front. Dziuba was frankly lost in such a game. The 35-year-old striker did not pose any danger to anyone else’s goal, which clearly irritated Artem.

The peak of discontent came after overly tight guarding by the visiting defender Mikhail Sivakov. In one of the episodes, he tried to stop Dziuba by grabbing his shirt. The fabric could not stand it, so the ammunition immediately became unusable.

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An angry Dzyuba rushed to the judge in a torn T-shirt, demanding punishment for the offender in the form of a yellow card, but he did not find understanding from Artur Fedorov. In a rage, Artem, in the style of an enraged Hulk, tore his shirt to the end and rushed to the bench for a spare set.

Referee Fedorov later still showed concern for Dziuba when, in the next single combat, he turned to the Orenburg player: “Don’t touch him! He doesn’t have a second jersey!” – this phrase was broadcast live. During the break, one of the commentators of the meeting asked Dmitry Loskov what would happen if Dzyuba’s another jersey was torn: “We’re playing at home, we’ll print it quickly,” the Loko coach reassured.

Disappearance of Dziuba

It seemed that the episode with the torn T-shirt was supposed to turn on Dzyuba, but the image of the Hulk quickly disappeared. In attack, he certainly didn’t resemble a superhero. Artem showed himself weakly in the play-by-play and did not threaten anyone else’s goal in any way. An indicative moment was in the second half, when Glushenkov tried to get Dzyuba one on one with a subtle pass, but he didn’t even move towards the ball.

The rest of the railway workers looked little better, who again faced great problems in creation. Only at the very end did the hosts manage to pin Orenburg against their goal. This happened without the participation of Dziuba, who never got into the game. If in the first half he played the Hulk, then in the second he finally turned into an invisible man.

The hosts not only failed to put pressure on David Deograssia’s team, but also managed to concede twice themselves. Orenburg came up with two excellent counterattacks, which were completed with perfect shots by Ivan Basic and Dmitry Vorobiev.

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After the departure of Jiri Jarosik, the Orenburg team was clearly on a roll: a draw with CSKA (1:1) and the defeat of Sochi (3:0) was followed by a beautiful victory in Moscow. For the first time this season, Loko failed to score a single goal in 90 minutes. Not least because of the lackluster play of Dzyuba, who after the final whistle parted with his second T-shirt, exchanging it with Sivakov.