Showcase shine

CSKA and Spartak showed what Russian football can be

Foreign referees who come to referee matches in the Russian championship are happy people. They, and only they, serving the most important games, are confident that the Russian championship claims to be one of the leading ones in Europe. The same Frenchman Laurent Duhamel, who came to the CSKA - Spartak match, saw full stands with a constant fire show and a “war of banners”, a field of very decent quality, and sharp, uncompromising football on it. It may well be that Monsieur Duhamel, having left Moscow, will tell his friends about the Russian football Premier League in enthusiastic tones, not suspecting that there are very few such matches in Russia - one, at most two per season.

The CSKA-Spartak derby really turned out worthy of the title of a showcase of Russian football. It took the two Champions League participants a quarter of an hour to get used to the situation, to each other and to feel like European teams. CSKA, where the three players from the Brazilian national team decided to get in shape before the start of the league, did it a little faster. The Spartak defense, where newcomer Zheder never found his place, took longer to get used to the opponent. As a result, the army team scored earlier: Carvalho's signature twisted pass from the free kick turned out to be a goal kick to Kovalevski's amazement - 1:0 “Spartak” also responded from a set piece. Titov took a free kick, and Mozart, Kovacs and Jiranek finished off with the joint efforts. The latter’s strike turned out to be not only effective, but also controversial for Valery Gazzaev. “The first goal was scored from offside,” the coach said immediately after the match, also paying attention to the episode that occurred a few minutes later. Stranzl, having knocked down Carvalho, could well have counted on a second yellow card and, accordingly, removal. However, the French referee took pity on the Austrian and Spartak.

The second half turned out even better than the first. There were shots to the post (Pavlyuchenko was unlucky), excellent saves by the goalkeepers (here Kovalevski and Akinfeev shared the laurels between themselves) and two goals scored with their heads. And again the army team was the first to distinguish itself - Olic, who came on as a substitute, took advantage of Zhirkov’s pass and another failure of the opponent’s defense. However, the tired CSKA defenders did not remain in debt, and at the end of the match the army team allowed Pavlyuchenko to equalize the score again with his head - a 2:2 draw, the validity of which was recognized by both Vladimir Fedotov and, despite the criticism of the referees, Valery Gazzaev.

Refereeing, however, was discussed not only after the CSKA - Spartak match. After the game in Samara, where Krylya Sovetov were defeated by Moscow, the referees made the following entry into the referee’s protocol for the game: “After the end of the first half, at the entrance to the administrative building, where the team’s locker rooms and the referee’s room are located, the sports director of the Krylya Sovetov team " punched the chief referee in the chest with threats of physical harm, and the general director of the Krylia Sovetov team, O.V. Grokhovsky. threatened physical harm to the entire refereeing team.” The threats, oddly enough, had no effect on this brigade, led by Evstigneev, and after the break, Moscow scored three more goals, all in the 80th minutes, achieving a major victory, the second time in a row with a score of 4:0.

The bottom of the standings has its own showdowns. Having lost to Amkar, Torpedo again found themselves in the relegation zone - 0:1. Kushev scored the only goal in this match from the penalty spot, and Amkar, having gained three points with new head coach Rashid Rakhimov, was ahead of not only Torpedo, but also Dynamo.

Dynamo, by the way, had a chance to escape the danger zone. However, all the illnesses of the “blue and white” appeared in the match with “Saturn”. If in the first half there was an equal fight on the field, then after the break an ugly defensive game resulted in three conceded goals. In all episodes, the central defenders failed, and Chesnauskis, Lebedenko and Eremenko scored with virtually no resistance. And at the end of the match, Kobelev’s team was again overcome by nerves: Danny was sent off from the field for spitting at the referee, and it looks like another Dynamo player will face a long disqualification.

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Results of the matches of the 18th round: Spartak N - Lokomotiv - 0:1 ( Traore 13 ), Saturn - Dynamo - 3:0 ( Chesnauskis 55, Lebedenko 56, Eremenko 65 ), "Rostov" - "Zenit" - 1:3 ( Burchenko 81 - Tekke 14, Ricksen 54, Anyukov 60 ), "Tom" - "Shinnik" - 3:1 ( Veyich 27, Kulchiy 30 with pens. , Mladenov 90 - Leilton 53 from pen ), "Krylya Sovetov" - "Moscow" - 0:4 ( Bracamonte 17, Barrientos 81, Adamov 83, 89 ), "Amkar" - "Torpedo" - 1: 0 ( Kushev 58 pen ), CSKA - Spartak - 2:2 ( Carvalho 27, Olic 63 - Jiranek 35, Pavlyuchenko 82 ).

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Premier League I V N P M O

1. CSKA	19	11	5	3	31--17	38
2. "Lokomotiv"	19	10	6	3	34--20	36
3. Spartak M	19	9	8	2	39--24	35
4. Zenit	19	7	9	3	26--21	30
5. "Moscow"	19	7	8	4	27--20	29
6. "Spartak" N	19	8	4	7	25--21	28
7. "Tom"	19	7	7	5	23--18	28
8. "Ruby"	18	7	6	5	21--22	27
9. "Saturn"	19	5	11	3	21--13	26
10. “Beam-Energy”	18	7	3	8	22--23	24
11. “Wings of the Soviets”	19	6	6	7	27--27	24
12. "Rostov"	19	5	4	10	24--36	19
13. "Amkar"	19	3	8	8	12--27	17
14. Dynamo	19	3	7	9	17--28	16
15. "Torpedo"	19	2	9	8	15--25	15
16. "Shinnik"	19	1	5	13	10--32	8

Andrey VDOVIN