The match between Akhmat and Wings of the Soviets did not claim the title of the central match of the 7th round of the RPL, however, the meeting of the provincial teams turned out to be no less eventful than the previous games of Spartak and Dynamo. What is worth only a goal from Grozny in the 5th minute, scored after an incredible mistake by Samarans goalkeeper Ivan Lomaev and defender Roman Evgeniev. However, this episode, as it turned out, was only the prologue to the imminent football drama.

In the middle of the first half, the defender of “Akhmat” harshly framed the team. Due to one inaccurate transfer, the Grozny team were left without another goalkeeper.

Will there be enough goalkeepers until the end of the season?

A stupid mistake killed “Akhmat”

Problems with goalkeepers began at Akhmat back in the 6th round of the Russian Championship. Georgy Shelia in the match against CSKA looked extremely unconvincing: the Muscovites delivered four blows to the goal of Grozny, and three of them turned into goals. Of course, the defenders also made mistakes, but it seemed to Andrei Talalaev that the goalkeeper in his current form could only harm his team. The coach made a rare decision, replacing the goalkeeper at half-time: Mikhail Oparin, who moved to Chechnya from Yenisei this summer, entered the field instead of Shelia.

– Talalaev wanted to shake up the team. As far as I know, Shelia was not injured. They just told me at the end of the first half to get ready. George’s situation is, of course, difficult for the goalkeeper. In the locker room we cheered each other up. I understand him in a goalkeeper way, it is psychologically painful, ”Oparin later explained the situation.

It soon turned out that in this way Talalaev wanted not only to “shake up the team”, but also to teach the player to the main goalkeeper. Shelia did not get into the application for the match with “Wings”: the same Mikhail Oparin was listed at the start, and 18-year-old Rizvan Tashaev took the place of the substitute. At that time, the pupil of the club had not yet had a single game for the first team – he hardly imagined that on this day he would make his debut in the Premier League.

Tashaev got his chance under unique circumstances. The defender of the team, Yuri Zhuravlev, left Akhmat without another goalkeeper, who made a gross mistake under pressure. Having found the Wings midfielder Roman Yezhov next to him, the football player made a very uncomfortable discount with his head on Oparin. A careless pass only exacerbated the situation, leaving the goalkeeper no choice: Mikhail had to go out of the gate to get ahead of someone else’s striker.

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Unfortunately for Akhmat, the goalkeeper did not have time to get the ball first. Oparin collided with Yezhov, after which the referee had to stop the game: the players needed medical help. The referee was in no hurry to punish the goalkeeper, but soon VAR joined the case, acting up at the beginning of the first half. After watching the replay of the episode, Anton Frolov changed his mind – and awarded Oparin with a direct red card. The awkward transfer of Zhuravlev eventually left Grozny without a goalkeeper – and directly affected the outcome of the match.

In the first half, Talalaev had to make the second substitution. To put Tashaev on the gate, the coach removed midfielder Artyom Timofeev from the game. After the break, Akhmat tried to keep a draw, with which the teams went to the locker rooms, but the Wings in the majority still put the squeeze on Grozny: Alexander Kovalenko scored the winning goal in the 72nd minute – 2: 1.