The match between Spartak and Akhmat in the first round of RPL-2022/23 was of particular interest to fans of Russian football. On the road to Grozny, the new coach of the Red-Whites was supposed to make his debut in the domestic championship, with whom great hopes are pinned on his name in the capital … However, due to the hellish southern heat, the meeting could not have taken place at all.

In other words, everything in this game went wrong from the very beginning. Already in the first half, Spartak got into a high-profile judicial scandal, which, unfortunately, was not the last. During the match, the referees made several controversial decisions at once, and none of them was passed in favor of the Muscovites.

Only the crazy goal of Victor Moses saved the team from a failure at the start of the tournament. Incredible connection!

Two yellows in 10 seconds

The fight between Spartak and Akhmat in the first round of the RPL was in jeopardy in the afternoon. In Grozny, where the meeting was to be held, a terrible heat reigned. Due to the summer heat, many fans simply did not get to the stadium, which met the guests of the capital with half-empty stands. There was even talk of postponing the match, but by the evening the temperature still dropped to more or less acceptable, fluctuating between 30 and 35 degrees.

However, the southern climate still had its effect on the course of the match. The football players left the premises under the stands in a frankly sluggish state – all the fighting spirit that they accumulated before the first round seemed to have evaporated under the Grozny sun. In the first minutes, the players moved around the field like sleepy flies, not keeping up with the ball and making mistakes in simple passes, and the fans were unable to charge their favorites … It seemed that the whole match could now go like this.

However, towards the close of the first half, the game took an unexpected turn. In the 41st minute, Spartak’s newcomer Maciej Rybus, who played the first match as part of the team, made a fatal mistake – or rather, two. The Pole allowed himself an outright foul on his opponent, and then, when the whistle sounded, he threw the ball aside in a rage. The referee spotted both violations – and performed a trademark miracle, turning two yellow cards into red. The player grabbed two warnings in just 10 seconds!

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It is curious that by that time Rybus was one of the most useful players in the Red-Whites. After his removal, Spartak immediately sank and seven minutes later got a goal “in the locker room” – Artyom Timofeev opened the score in the match.

Moses saved “Spartak” from the judges

If the decision on Rybus was, albeit cruel, but undeniable, then the work of the judges in the second half caused a lot of questions from fans and experts. A wave of indignation swept through social networks in the 77th minute of the match, when the chief referee Vladislav Bezborodov ignored the ball hitting the hand of the Akhmat player. At the same time, the football player reflected the projectile so that it went behind the front – but the referee left Spartak not only without a penalty, but also without a corner!

However, the strangest scene in the match took place towards the end of regular time, when Giorgi Shelia “took” the ball off Alexander Sobolev’s head. The players collided in the heat of the struggle, after which the goalkeeper of Grozny fell to the lawn … And then brazenly hit the opponent with spikes right on the shin. The player’s go-ahead was clearly intentional: after Shelia’s strike, the attacker began to writhe in pain, and this time it was not like a simulation.

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The arbitrator went to study the episode, having listened to the advice of VAR: colleagues suggested that Bezborodov remove Shelia. But the judge did not listen to the advice, and after a personal viewing of the episode, he limited himself to only a yellow card. Moreover, in the final protocol, both participants in the conflict were awarded the “yellow card”: both the goalkeeper and the forward. A very controversial decision!

Viktor Mozes helped the Red-Whites escape defeat a few minutes before the skirmish between Sobolev and Shelia. In the 83rd minute, the Nigerian brilliantly handled the ball with his chest after a rebound from the opponent and hit it tightly with the next touch. This blow left no chance for the Akhmat goalkeeper – perhaps that is why Shelia then took out his anger on the Muscovites attacker. Giorgi could only look at the ball that hit the far corner of his goal: 1:1.

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So it was Moses who ultimately saved Spartak from judicial arbitrariness and other vicissitudes of fate that turned Guilherme Abascal’s debut match in the RPL into hell. However, there will be more.