In recent years, matches at the Gazprom Arena have usually ended in nightmare for the railroad workers. A minor defeat could already be considered a success, because there were completely uncontested defeats at the Gazprom Arena with a score of 5:0 and 6:1. Taking into account previous meetings and the current form of the teams, the favorite for the game was obvious.

But 90 minutes showed that the pre-start layouts had little in common with reality.

Meeting with exes

The main intrigue of Sunday’s game lay on the surface: the forwards of both clubs met with their former ones, whose partings with Zenit and Lokomotiv could not be called smooth. Wilson Isidore showed with all his appearance that he did not want to stay at Loko and at the end of the transfer window he quickly found a job in St. Petersburg.

Last year, Dzyuba said a lame goodbye to Zenit: there was simply no place for him in Semak’s updated system. Judging by Artem’s statements and reluctance to shake hands with the coach of his former team after the spring game in Cherkizovo, he has accumulated a decent amount of resentment towards the St. Petersburg club.

Strakhinya Erakovic and Artem Dzyuba / Photo: © Vyacheslav Evdokimov / FC Zenit

Both players, with increased motivation, found themselves in the starting lineups of their teams. The focus of attention before the game, for obvious reasons, was directed to Izidor and Dzyuba, but other details in the initial combinations deserve special mention.

Semak continued to juggle formations and, unlike the game a week ago in Kazan, chose a 5-3-2 formation. This was due to the return of Mario Fernandez. After the disastrous match with Orenburg, Mikhail Galaktionov made only one change: he returned Tiknizyan to the starting lineup and seated Glushenkov on the bench. As a result, it was this couple that was destined to become the main characters.

Lokomotiv’s game plan was clear even before the starting whistle: the guests relied on maximum density in their penalty area, concentration and discipline. In the absence of space, Zenit’s main creatives Claudinho and Wendel did not feel too comfortable at first. At the same time, Galaktionov’s team tried to strain the opponent in the first minutes with high pressure and counterattacks. In one of them, Dzyuba had a good chance, but his potential scoring shot was blocked by Alip at the last moment.

Closer to the middle of the half, Zenit still managed to establish ball control. The pressure on Lantratov’s goal gradually increased, so a goal in such a situation was only a matter of time. As a result, the hosts did without the Brazilian laces when scoring the goal, but scored in the classic British style: Karavaev delivered the ball from the flank directly to Cassierra’s head. For the Colombian, this is already the eighth goal in the championship – four times more than last season.

Open video

The missed goal significantly cheered up Lokomotiv, which even managed to pin the hosts to the goal at the end of the half. The most notable characters in the attacks of the “railroad workers” were Dzyuba and Miranchuk. This pair almost came up with a return goal: Artem earned a dangerous free kick, and Anton was just a little short of hitting the target. Barinov missed an even clearer chance just before the break: the Loko captain shot twice in a row from a lethal position, but both of his shots hit defenders Alip and Erakovic.

Open video

As a result, in the first half, the guests surpassed the favorite in many respects, including shots on goal (6-4) and corners (4-2), but this was still not reflected on the scoreboard.

Glushenkov and Tiknizyan turned the game around

The guests’ energy did not disappear after the break. It was hard to believe that the same team a week ago could not do anything against Orenburg. On the champion’s field, the “railroad workers” acted as boldly and confidently as possible. The mobility of the attack was added by the entry of Glushenkov onto the field, replacing Miranchuk. Just three minutes later, the joker announced itself: after Tiknizyan’s subtle pass, the visiting winger drove the ball into the net.

Open video

After Lokomotiv’s goal, the game went into three stages: Zenit turned on the extra speed, but the guests, who smelled the champion’s blood, tried to build on their success. The game turned out to be a disaster for Izidor, who disappeared on the field, so replacing him with Sergeev looked like the most logical decision from Semak. The striker could well have repeated Glushenkov’s success, but after Cassierra’s cross he fell just short of the ball.

Dzyuba, like Izidor, did not finish the match against his former team. The former Zenit star Galaktionov was replaced in the 78th minute. Unlike the Frenchman, Artem was much more noticeable in his team’s attacks, although he still couldn’t score any effective actions.

In the end, Lokomotiv did not even think of pressing against the goal. The guests tried to respond to every Zenit attack with their own dangerous attack. As a result, the couple who scored the return goal came up with another deadly combination in stoppage time. The fatal throw for Zenit turned out to be an ordinary throw-out, after which Glushenkov ran away from the defender and rolled Tiknizyan into an empty net.

Open video

In just a couple of minutes, the scorer of the winning goal earned a red card: first for tearing off his T-shirt in celebration, and a little later for actively participating in the brawl. This still did not stop Lokomotiv from bringing the matter to victory.

Open video

The passions on and around the field did not subside even after the final whistle. The players jostled with each other a little more, but it still didn’t come to the point of real assault. The happiest person after the game was Artem Dzyuba, who kissed his former partners in joy and left to celebrate the victory with his current team.