A small miracle at the start of the new RPL season! The current champion could not defeat a clear outsider

More pleasant than the start of a new RPL tour can only be the beginning of a new RPL season! Finally, the summer training camp is over, the pre-season tournaments have been played and the players are again ready to please the audience with a bright and interesting game in the national championship. In the first meeting of the 2022/23 season, Khimki near Moscow and the current champion and Super Cup winner Zenit met.

A small miracle happened – the more well-played and powerful Petersburgers could not get the better of the team of Sergei Yuran, which was much weaker on paper. For several years in a row, Zenit took three points in the first match of the season, but here they unexpectedly stumbled.

Juran showed again that he knows how to play against the favorites. Bravo, Sergey Nikolaevich!

Photo: © Vasily Ponomarev / Match TV

Wendel is the author of the first goal of the new championship

Zenit is the favorite not only in the first round, but also in all subsequent ones. This is no secret to anyone. The Petersburgers showed themselves brilliantly at the PARI Premier Cup, and then defeated Spartak at the home arena in the battle for the Super Bowl. With them, everything is more or less clear.

But Khimki is very interesting to watch, because in the off-season they led a more hidden lifestyle. Sergey Yuran put four debutants in the start against Zenit at once – Alexander Lomovitsky (loan from Rubin), Alexei Nikitin (moved from Ufa), Artur Cherny (moved from Lokomotiv) and Ivorian Roman Gbane (loan from Croatian “Bijelo Brdo”). A few more newcomers remained on the bench. We saw the Russians earlier, but Gbane immediately excelled in several martial arts. Tough guy!

But despite the attempts of Gbane, the entire first half was dictated by the guests. There was a feeling that Zenit should strain a little, and there will be a whole bunch of balls at the gates of Ilya Lantratov. The class of the Brazilians, as well as the timely openings and laborious work of Ivan Sergeyev, make the attack of the Petersburgers super powerful, even, I’m not afraid of this word, the best in the RPL. However, despite the advantage in the first half, Zenit had few shots, but in possession there was a huge advantage – 72 to 28 percent. Of course, it was not without a goal, and the author of the first goal in the new RPL season was Wendel, whom the Khimki defense for some reason left alone in the penalty area. An assist for Wendel was given by his friend and compatriot Claudinho.

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Sergei Yuran did not make substitutions during the break, but changed the tactical pattern a bit. Khimki went on the attack more boldly, and the midfielders began to pass long passes from the bottom. In one of these attacks, the hosts almost leveled the score – in the 56th minute, Lomovitsky gave a good pass to the namesake Rudenko, and the striker hit the post, Denis Glushakov was on the hook, but he also could not accurately break through.

The prize of the first replacement of the new RPL season (as well as the first yellow card) was taken by Khimki – the owner of the yellow card Kirill Bozhenov was replaced by Alexander Zuev, another debutant.

But the main hero of the end of the match was another ex-Spartak player – Reziuan Mirzov. The midfielder entered the field in the 80th minute, and five minutes later he created an attack and equalized the score!

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Juran’s team did some incredible things in the second half of last season and continue to do so in the new one! Bravo, Juran, bravo, Mirzov! But the current champion can only sympathize. It was necessary to get together as much as possible and score Khimki much more.

RPL world. 1st round

Khimki (Khimki) – Zenit (St. Petersburg) – 1: 1 (0:1)

Goals: Mirzov, 84 (VIDEO). — Wendel, 17 (VIDEO).