Guillermo Abascal / Photo: © Mikhail Zimin / Match TV
Former Spartak defender Roman Shishkin explained with emotion the behavior of Spartak head coach Guillermo Abascal in the episode with Akhmat midfielder Bernard Berisha in the match of the 17th round of the RPL.
In Sunday’s match, Akhmat beat Spartak at home with a score of 2:1. After Hamid Agalarov’s goal against the Muscovites in the first half, Abascal received a red card when he pushed Berisha. Before this, the player jumped with both feet into the Spartak technical area next to the coach. Berisha received a yellow card.
– I don’t like this expression – an inconvenient opponent. Teams play each other twice every season – you can calmly prepare for the game and study each opponent, and approach the game efficiently. And it seems to me that Spartak lacked just this in the match with Akhmat. It is clear that it is not easy for everyone in Grozny. But Spartak has always been a particular irritant for the local team. This charge was visible – at least in the same Berisha, whose emotions were off the charts.
– By the way, what was that?
– Of course, this was a provocation on the part of the football player – and Abascal, of course, should not have succumbed to it. The whole situation does not look good on either one, especially Berisha. It’s an ugly act. Although, it would seem, nothing happened – you can celebrate goals and victories on any part of the field, no one forbids you from doing so. But we are all people, we are footballers, we understand what happened – and it was probably hard for Abascal to restrain himself too. And he fell for the provocation – his “male” component played out. I think many men would do the same in his place.
— Did Spartak seem to lack such emotions?
— Yes, there was no, let’s say, spirit, maybe a champion’s spirit, when the team calmly arrives, does its job and takes points. When difficulties arise, when the team has to win back, it was not possible to put pressure on the opponent and turn the tide of the match. But here the credit goes to Akhmat – Miroslav Romashchenko prepared the team perfectly, he knew perfectly well how Spartak played. You can look for many reasons for the defeat, but you need to remember the main thing – Spartak plays in waves, there is not enough stability, but even with such vague football it was possible to play a draw and earn a point. But they failed, lost, and immediately fell back to seventh place. Or they could be in the top three or four. But there is one more round – the team needs to work on the fact that its game is sometimes broken, and even in this case points must be earned. But this is a task for the coach,” Shishkin told RB Sport.
Watch live broadcasts of RPL matches on the Match TV and MATCH PREMIER channels, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.
