The match for the Russian Super Cup became the main event of the first half of the summer in our sport. Zenit and Spartak staged a show long before the start of the meeting. The “Red-Whites” came up with the idea of ​​boycotting the game due to the fact that St. Petersburg was appointed as the meeting place. Fortunately, Muscovites still abandoned this crazy idea. Added spice to the match and the transition of Zelimkhan Bakaev from Spartak to Zenit, as well as endless jokes from both sides in social networks.

I wanted the teams to take the field as soon as possible and prove everything right there… But the audience did not see an equal fight at the Gazprom Arena.

The new coach of the “red-whites” obviously has a serious job to do!

The long-awaited debut of Abascal

For the new head coach of Spartak, Guillermo Abascal, this was the first serious test of strength. The Spaniard chose an interesting starting line-up, in which there was a place for the Pole Maciej Rybus, who moved from Lokomotiv in the summer, and 19-year-old Daniil Denisov. Zenit’s mentor Sergei Semak sent Daniil Odoevsky to the gates of St. Petersburg, Nuraly Alip to the defense, Ivan Sergeyev to the attack. Otherwise, the defending champion’s starting roster was fairly predictable.

The atmosphere before the start of the meeting was very cool. The traditional MakSim song “Do You Know”, the Russian anthem, the performance of the fans – all this looked like the Champions League final. Oh, yes, it was supposed to take place here in May 2022, so the organizers applied their skills not on the international, but on the domestic Russian arena. In general, it was so good that fears began to creep in whether the players would justify all this pre-match surroundings.

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Spartak was supposed to lead 2-0 by the 10th minute

Zenit started more actively, tried to control the ball, and Douglas Santos tried to finish one of the first ones with an aimed shot, who, by the way, came out with the captain’s armband. However, Spartak responded to Zenit’s pressure with the most dangerous moment from Georgiy Jikia, who calmly took the ball in the penalty area after a corner and shot at Odoevsky’s goal. Everything should have ended in a goal if one of the Zenit players had not selflessly stood in the way of the ball.

Wards Semak immediately ran to improve and even created one good moment. Selikhov did not play too confidently on the interception, but then he corrected himself, repelling Sutormin’s blow. However, Spartak was much sharper. Sobolev pushed the defenders aside in a quick counterattack and gave it to Promes, who rolled the ball to Denisov. The young talent of the “red-whites” shot into the far corner and missed quite a bit! By the 10th minute of the meeting, Abascal’s gang could well lead with a score of 2:0. And who’s to say it wouldn’t be in the game?

And scored “Zenith”. And how beautiful!

Zenit did its best to slow down the pace of the match, realizing that its opponent had an advantage in high-speed football. In confirmation of this, Sobolev and Promes almost ran away together to someone else’s goal, but Alexander played along with his hand, and the game was stopped. Petersburgers worked beautifully with the ball, Claudinho tried especially hard, but Semak’s team categorically lacked sharpness.

By the middle of the first half it seemed that the game finally calmed down. However, it only seemed to. Silence was blown by Zenit forward Ivan Sergeev, who performed such beauty, which he hardly ever performed in his career. The man, who until recently played in the FNL, struck a chic sweeping blow into the top corner of Selikhov’s goal – 1:0. This performance was applauded by Claudinho, Malcolm and the entire Zenith foreign legion.

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Muscovites tried to challenge the goal, referring to the fact that in the previous episode Daler Kuzyaev committed a foul, but on the replay it was clearly visible that the Zenit midfielder played cleanly. While “Spartak” was coming to his senses, St. Petersburg scored the second goal. Malcom jumped out one on one with Selikhov, gracefully beat the Muscovite goalkeeper and calmly sent the ball into an empty net. That’s how it happens. Abaskal’s wards could lead by two goals by the 10th minute of the game, and in the end settled down at 0:2 by the 34th. At the end of the half, Zenit could have scored the third goal, but the Brazilian legionnaires played too impressively several times and kept the intrigue for the second 45 minutes.

Brazilian destruction

True, this intrigue lasted exactly one minute after the break. Everything was decided again by the Brazilians of Zenit. Malcolm, Claudinho and Wendel broke the Spartak defense together. Wendel was taken to a cool position, and he didn’t leave a single chance to Selikhov – 3:0. Abascal, who in the first half actively gesticulated and was extremely emotional, now just sat and was sad. Acquaintance with Russian football for the Spaniard turned out to be difficult. Well, it’s better to do it now than in the Russian championship starting in a week.

Spartak had a chance to revive the fight a little in this Super Bowl. Substitute Anton Zinkovsky took advantage of the strange dances around the ball performed by Chistyakov and Odoevsky and pushed the ball past the Zenit goalkeeper. Penalty? It looked exactly like this on the replay, but the chief arbiter Vladimir Moskalev did not see a violation of the rules in this episode.

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Bakaev’s modest debut and another Zenit title

Perhaps the most interesting moment of the last 20 minutes was Zelimkhan Bakaev’s appearance on the field. The tribune of Spartak, of course, booed him, there were no surprises here. It was clear how the former Spartak player wanted to prove himself, but the score on the scoreboard played against him. “Zenith” clearly did not try to run forward with all its might. Another newcomer from St. Petersburg, Matteo Cassierra, caught the ball several times, but again became a victim of the fact that his team attacked, to put it mildly, not too willingly.

The ending was chaotic due to the large number of substitutions for both teams. Spartak tried to get away from a devastating defeat, Jikia and Promes had chances to score, but all that the Red-Whites could do was to arrange a brawl, led by Promes and Shamar Nicholson. Zenit looked at it all and scored the fourth goal. Cassierra took advantage of Litvinov’s blunder and drove the ball into the net.

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Well, Abascal and Spartak pleased in the first 15-20 minutes of the meeting. And then the team was more disgraced than played. Obviously, Zenit is currently an order of magnitude stronger than the Red-Whites. The team of Sergei Semak took another title and is entering the new season as the main favorite. Muscovites, on the other hand, spent too much energy talking about the boycott of the Super Bowl. Maybe it would be better to boycott?

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OLIMPBET Russian Super Cup

Zenit (St. Petersburg) – Spartak (Moscow) – 4: 0 (2:0)

Goals: Sergeev, 29 (VIDEO). Malcom, 34 (VIDEO). Wendel, 46 (VIDEO). Cassierra, 90 (VIDEO).