Translated material
Capital zilch
“Moscow” drops out of the championship race
There are only two real contenders left for the gold medals at the Russian Championship. “Moscow”, having lost to “Spartak” - 1:3, actually abandoned its claims to both “gold” and a place in the Champions League: the “city residents” cannot cover the six-point difference with the leaders over the remaining three rounds. Now Leonid Slutsky's team has one concern - how not to miss the bronze medal.The match with “Spartak” for “Moscow” became the most important entrance exam to the highest football society, and the “townspeople” could not pass it. They seemed to prepare carefully, masking the lack of experience and class behind the subtle organization of the game. But at the most decisive moment, Leonid Slutsky’s team lost their nerve. The ball missed in the opening of the match after a set piece upset the Argentine midfielder Barrientos so much that he jumped and kicked Andrei Ivanov in the head. While the doctors were pumping out the Spartak defender, the entire opposing team attacked the Argentinean, and after a quick exchange of blows, the referee removed one player from each team - the instigator Barrientos and the Spartak player Dedura, who, by the way, did not take the most active part in the episode.
This unequal exchange may have ruined Moscow. The “townspeople”, of course, did not give up. Moreover, taking advantage of the mistake of Spartak goalkeeper Pletikosa, another Argentine - Maxi Lopez - equalized the score by finishing off the ball that bounced off the goalkeeper into the net. But this was the last episode that upset the Spartak players. Having tested the strength of the crossbar of the Luzhniki goal, Stanislav Cherchesov's team postponed their goals until the second half.
After the break, it became obvious how Moscow fell short of Spartak. The “red and whites” turned out to be more tactically competent and, having sacrificed the initiative, ended up winning. Having survived the activity of the guests, Cherchesov's team again managed to use the standard position. And again the central defender, Zheder, distinguished himself. Spartak spent most of the remaining time on the defensive, but did not forget about counterattacks. The last of them ended with the third goal. Welliton could only put his foot under Titov's pass - 3:1. And on that Saturday evening, Stanislav Cherchesov could only regret the decision of one of the main players, Dmitry Torbinsky, to leave the team at the end of the season.
“I hope we lost to the champions,” Moscow coach Leonid Slutsky noted in turn. But it is unlikely that St. Petersburg is ready to agree with him. Even after the guests opened the scoring in the match between Zenit and Khimki - Andrei Tikhonov celebrated his 37th birthday with a converted penalty - no one at Petrovsky doubted the victory. And Dick Advocaat's team achieved it, while trying to correct the difference in goals scored and goals conceded. All four Zenit goals were scored from outside the penalty area, and three of them after multi-play combinations. Having relaxed in relative safety from the relegation zone, Khimki stopped resisting, and the score could have become completely indecent.
Now the Moscow region team will again have to remember that the fight for survival is not over yet. A two-point gap does not guarantee anything for Slavolub Muslin's team - the second loser of the championship, who will follow Rostov to the first division, has not yet been determined. Even Krylya Sovetov, who won their last victory on June 24, are not giving up. The next success came only four months later: Rubin was defeated in Samara - 3:0. The team's first victory in the second round could be key for the Samara team. But there are still meetings ahead with CSKA, which received a chance for medals, with the unstable Lokomotiv and with the same Khimki.
Results of matches of the 27th round . "Rostov" - "Saturn" - 1:3 (Stavpets 21 - Kirichenko 28 with pen., 35, Karyaka 54) , "Zenit" - "Khimki" - 4:1 (Pogrebnyak 36, Zyryanov 44, Lombaerts 59, Tekke 79 - Tikhonov 20 with pen.) , "Spartak" - "Moscow" - 3:1 (Dedura 14, Zheder 61, Welliton 90 - Lopez 21) , "Tom" - CSKA - 0:1 (Maznov 45 own goal) , Lokomotiv - Luch-Energia - 1:1 (Sychev 82 - Gvazava 4) , Amkar - Spartak-Nalchik - 1:1 (Kushev 79 penal - Faizulin 68) , "Wings of the Soviets" - "Rubin" - 3:0 (Topic 40, But 79, Quintero 86) , "Dynamo" - "Kuban" - 1:0 (Semshov 39 ).
Premier League
| 1. "Spartak" | 27 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 44--29 | 52 |
| 2. Zenit | 27 | 15 | 7 | 5 | 49--32 | 52 |
| 3. "Moscow" | 27 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 34--28 | 46 |
| 4. CSKA | 27 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 37--22 | 44 |
| 5. "Saturn" | 27 | 11 | 11 | 5 | 33--24 | 44 |
| 6. Dynamo | 27 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 36--32 | 40 |
| 7. "Lokomotiv" | 27 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 36--36 | 40 |
| 8. Amkar | 27 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 26--21 | 38 |
| 9. "Ruby" | 27 | 9 | 4 | 14 | 28--36 | 31 |
| 10. "Tom" | 27 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 34--33 | 31 |
| 11. Khimki | 27 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 24--29 | 31 |
| 12. "Spartak" N | 27 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 27--33 | 30 |
| 13. “Wings of the Soviets” | 27 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 29--37 | 29 |
| 14. “Beam-Energy” | 27 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 23--33 | 29 |
| 15. "Kuban" | 27 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 22--33 | 28 |
| 16. "Rostov" | 27 | 1 | 11 | 15 | 16--41 | 14 |