On the one hand, this is a friendly match, and the motivation was not at an exorbitant level, on the other hand, in international games there is always a desire to confirm the prestige of Russian football.

For Kairat this meeting is not so important in terms of preparation for future matches. The Kazakh club has only two games left before the end of the season. Zenit has more than half of the championship ahead, and this is an excellent opportunity to test the nearest reserve in action.

In the first half, the St. Petersburg team played mainly with rotation players who were unable to seize the initiative. The Kairat players sometimes looked better than their opponents. They controlled the ball well.

The Zenit team was let down by a quickly conceded goal. Renan once again made a gross positional mistake, and Chistyakov did not have time to provide insurance. And Joao Paulo took full advantage of the opportunity. The St. Petersburg team also made great use of their own chance. Mostovoy made an excellent pass to Erokhin.

In the second half, Zenit head coach Sergei Semak could well have let the rotation players play out to the end, but for him now even the result in a friendly match matters. Defeat would have hit the guests’ reputation hard. The fans would probably have serious questions for the team. Therefore, Sergei Bogdanovich released everyone who was at his disposal.

The substitutions gave impetus to Zenit’s game. The guests took the initiative and could well have won. But, to their misfortune, Kairat scored after a free kick. There can be no complaints about goalkeeper Denis Adamov in this episode; the pass turned out to be very accurate. It’s good that the Russian team managed to equalize. Douglas Santos made a cool pass to Mantuan after a grandmaster pause.

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Izidor could have given Zenit victory, but he ruined a 100% scoring chance. While he is not doing well in St. Petersburg, he needs to get into better shape.

For the Kairat players this result can be considered successful. They tied with the current champions of Russia, although they themselves are only in fourth place in their championship. But the Zenit coaching staff has more questions about the players’ performance, especially in light of the upcoming match with Krylia Sovetov.

Watch the live broadcast of the WORLD RPL match “Zenit” – “Wings of the Soviets” on October 22 on the MATCH PREMIER channel, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru. Starts at 16:00 Moscow time.