St. Petersburg Zenit approaches its next match for the Russian Super Cup in the status of an absolute favorite. Opponents of the Moscow “Spartak” – so what? In all respects, the team of Sergei Semak surpasses the competitor.

But 15 years ago, things were completely different. Then Zenit was just gaining momentum, won the first league title in Russia and was preparing to play with Lokomotiv for the Super Cup. The result was one of the most unforgettable matches in the history of our football.

Levenets was a candidate for the national team

It was in the spring of 2008 at Luzhniki. Almost 50,000 fans gathered in the stands – a record audience of matches for the Russian Super Cup at that time. Zenit was just beginning to dominate our football, and the ambitious Lokomotiv of Rashid Rakhimov had to resist it.

Loko had a difficult previous season, the team was led by the great Anatoly Byshovets, he was remembered for his sometimes bright game and absolutely unpredictable results. After the defeat from Kuban in the 30th round, the coach held a legendary press conference, which he ended with the following words: “there is a limit to human positive qualities, but there is no limit to human abomination.”

It was the end of the reign of Byshovets in Lokomotiv, the team was headed by Rashid Rakhimov, who showed himself great in Perm Amkar. It was from there that he dragged goalkeeper Ivan Levents, who then played really well and was a candidate for the national team. But instead of a cool career in the capital club, Levenets was remembered by everyone for a crazy blunder in the first half of the match for the Super Cup.

The most curious goal in history. Genius Arshavin?

It all started with a protracted attack by Zenit. Andrei Arshavin ran to the goal, but Levenets in a beautiful jump managed to knock the ball away from the forward of the Russian national team. St. Petersburg continued to attack, but Loko still fought back. As a result, the ball ended up in the hands of the Muscovite goalkeeper. What happened next is history. Ivan threw the ball under his feet, preparing to make a long throw forward, but categorically forgot that Arshavin was hiding behind him, who was finalizing the previous episode and ended up almost at the Lokomotiv goal.

Andrei ambushed the episode and effortlessly circled Levenets, calmly hitting the empty Loko goal. The fans at the TV screens did not even immediately understand what had happened. The operators were replaying the previous moment and could not even think that something unpredictable could happen at the moment when Levenets was holding the ball in his hands. Then the picture changed dramatically, and the audience saw that the ball was already dangling at the Lokomotiv goal. It was only after the repetition that everyone realized what had really happened.

“I haven’t slept for two nights”

Arshavin, after scoring a traditional goal, put his finger to his mouth, it was his signature celebration. Nothing unusual. But not for Levenets, who was so depressed that the picture of a rejoicing Zenit football player stuck in his memory for a long time.

“I didn’t sleep for two nights after that game, and if I suddenly fell asleep, I immediately dreamed of Arshavin with that stupid finger to my mouth,” FCLMnews.ru quotes Levenets.

Although later, in an interview with Match TV, Ivan refused these words and assured that that goal did not break him psychologically. And the main reason was that he could not immediately adapt to the new team and to a busy life in Moscow.

– Only journalists reminded me of that goal. And, even at our home matches, a fan appeared who constantly sent me. I tried to figure it out from the crowd, but I never found it. He’s a swindler, that’s all I can say about him. The rest of the fans didn’t behave like that. Maybe they were afraid to talk face to face? With my complexion, this is dangerous. I ended up playing in 2008. I won’t say that the goal from Arshavin broke my career,” Ivan said.

Loko almost saved that match

You really can’t get into a person’s soul. It is not known how that episode with Arshavin actually affected the Lokomotiv goalkeeper. But the fact is that a year after the Super Bowl, Leventz’s career ended. Partly due to injuries and a failed operation in Germany. He continued to play at the amateur level in the district championship in Anapa. For myself and for the soul.

By the way, that goal did not break Lokomotiv in the Super Bowl. In the second half, Rakhimov released Dmitry Torbinsky on the field, which gave the team activity in the center of the field. For the midfielder, this was his debut in a Loko T-shirt (in the same game, a young football player Denis Glushakov first appeared in the application of the railway workers). Muscovites eventually leveled the score thanks to Rodolfo’s goal, but then the worst qualities of Torbinsky appeared. In just four minutes, he received two yellow cards and was sent off. He also had a fight on the edge with Vladislav Radimov, who also got a red card later.

And it all ended with a goal by Pavel Pogrebnyak, who brought victory to Zenit. In a couple of months, St. Petersburg will win the UEFA Cup, and a little later they will take the European Super Cup, beating Manchester United there. The leaders of Zenit will shine at Euro 2008, led by Arshavin, and it will be the best year in the history of Russian football.