| On Easter, Muscovites were treated to fourteen goals Spartak head coach Alexander Starkov is ready to resign. After the match with Moscow, in which the red-whites led with a score of 3:0, but only managed to achieve a draw - 3:3, Starkov hinted at his possible dismissal, noting that everything should be decided this week.
“The pressure that is put on me and the whole team affected the game. In order to reduce it, I am ready to meet with the team management, and I am ready to voice my decision in three or four days,” the still head coach of Spartak said vaguely after the match. But for Alexander Starkov, who avoids harsh assessments, this phrase means a lot.
Something like this was to be expected after any result other than a victorious one. However, most experts were inclined to believe that if Starkov left Spartak, it would be only after the ninth round. Just during the two-month break in the championship, which is associated with the World Cup, the new head coach will be able to get to know the team and prepare it for the decisive games in the Premier League and the Champions League qualifying matches. In addition, Starkov’s possible successor could just finish the season as the head coach of one of the teams in a foreign championship. But after yesterday’s statement by the Latvian coach, the club’s owners, who did not openly express their position in the scandal with Dmitry Alenichev, must again make a fundamental decision.
After the first half, “Spartak” - “Moscow”, it was hardly possible to imagine that everything would end with such a performance by the “red-white” coach. His team, having started the game at a very decent pace, quickly achieved a huge advantage. Already in the 9th minute of the match, Mozart converted a penalty awarded for a violation of the rules against Kovalchuk, and brought Spartak ahead. Five minutes later, Mozart failed to punish Moscow for the second time for inattention in his own penalty area - his second shot from the 11-meter mark was saved by City goalkeeper Zhevnov. Five minutes later, Bazhenov scored Spartak’s second goal in this match, and the teams went into the break with the score 3:0 - in the commotion near the goal, Titov pushed the ball into the net. And nothing foreshadowed the miraculous salvation of “Moscow” in the second half.
Referee Baskakov helped. Having not exhausted the penalty limit, the referee, towards the end of the first hour of the game, again pointed to the spot, now at Kovalevski’s goal. In vain did the Spartak team prove that Moscow striker Adamov was knocked down to the penalty line, and he crawled inside on his own. Kirichenko missed from 11 meters. Literally two minutes later, Semak, sending the ball into the far corner, brought his team closer to an acceptable result. His team of Leonid Slutsky brought a precise shot from Cizek in the 82nd minute into the top nine of Kovalevski's goal - 3:3.
The audience was even more amused by the participants in the Lokomotiv - Rubin match. Slavoljub Muslin's team lost 0:1 during the match, won 3:1, lost again 3:4 and eventually achieved a draw - 4:4. Again, two penalties were converted (one per team), and Loskov and Dominguez each scored a hat-trick. Quite a worthy continuation of the scoring extravaganza in Luzhniki.
After draws between Moscow, Rubin and Tom, CSKA again took the lead. Moreover, by the sixth round in the Russian championship there were no invincible teams left. “Saturn”, having lost 0:1 to CSKA in Luzhniki, filled in the last line in the “defeat” column. The only goal in this meeting was scored by army player Jo. This is already the Brazilian’s eighth goal in the first six rounds, and if he maintains this rate of fire, he may well be able to break the scoring record in the entire history of the Russian championships - 25 goals in the 1995 season, owned by Oleg Veretennikov - already somewhere at the beginning of the second circle.
Another Moscow club, Dynamo, which suffered its fourth defeat in the championship, closes the standings. Last year, Oleg Romantsev resigned after the eighth round, having nine points to his name. Yuri Semin has two points after six games. It’s impossible to catch up with Oleg Ivanovich.
Results of matches of the 6th round . "Luch-Energia" - "Torpedo" - 2:0 ( Ivanov 32, 76 ), CSKA - "Saturn" - 1:0 ( Zho 12 ), "Amkar" - "Tom" - 0: 0, "Spartak" M - "Moscow" - 3:3 ( Mozart 9 - on pen., Bazhenov 20, Titov 39 - 3:0 - Kirichenko 61 - on pen. Semak 63, Chizhek 82 ) , "Lokomotiv" - "Rubin" - 4:4 ( Loskov 33, 45, 82 - penal, Starkov 56 - Bazaev 32, Dominguez 61, 68 - penal, 73 ), "Rostov" -- "Shinnik" -- 0:0, "Wings of the Soviets" -- "Dynamo" -- 1:0 ( Medvedev 22 ), "Spartak" N -- "Zenit" -- 1:1 ( Poroshin 81 -- Kerzhakov 63 ).
Premier League I V N P M O | 1. CSKA | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 12--5 | 13 | | 2. "Ruby" | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 10--8 | 11 | | 3. “Wings of the Soviets” | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6--4 | 11 | | 4. "Tom" | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4--3 | 11 | | 5. "Moscow" | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 8--9 | 11 | | 6. "Spartak" N | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 10--8 | 9 | | 7. "Rostov" | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 7--3 | 8 | | 8. Zenit | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 10--7 | 8 | | 9. "Saturn" | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5--3 | 7 | | 10. Spartak M | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 9--10 | 7 | | 11. "Amkar" | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4--6 | 6 | | 12. "Lokomotiv" | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11--13 | 5 | | 13. "Luch-Eneriya" | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6--8 | 5 | | 14. "Torpedo" | 6 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 3--6 | 4 | | 15. "Shinnik" | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2--10 | 3 | | 16. Dynamo | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4--8 | 2 |
Andrey VDOVIN
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