Translated material
Who was nobody
"Siberia" joined Europe
A new record will be set in the Europa League next year. The easternmost team, Siberia, will play in it. The Novosibirsk club, having beaten Alania yesterday, reached the final of the Russian Cup, where it will meet Zenit. Regardless of the result of this match, which will take place on May 16 in Rostov, Siberia will receive a ticket to the Europa League - last season's bronze medalist Zenit already has a pass to the qualifying round of the Champions League.Moreover, there is a possibility that Sibir will make its debut in European competition as a first division team. The Novosibirsk club, having only one point after six starting rounds, now occupies last place in the standings of the current championship. And this is all the more strange because the “eagles” decorated their entry into the final of the Russian Cup beautifully and naturally.
In the national championship, Kriushenko’s team plays poorly, but in the Cup “Sibir” is a formidable force. The Siberians lost to Alania in the 6th round a few days earlier, but yesterday the Vladikavkaz team were defeated 3:0.
The score could have become big even after the first half. But of all the scoring opportunities, the hosts used only one before the break: Medvedev sent the ball into the goal with a rebound off the post. In the second half, the Siberians played on counterattacks, and they turned out to be more dangerous than Alania’s attempts to equalize the score. In the middle of the second half, the hosts realized their advantage during the top-flight: Antipenko threw the ball to Medvedev, and the Sibir captain brought his team one step closer to the final. Medvedev scored the final score, a hat-trick and the title of the main hero of the meeting in the last minutes.
In Perm, Amkar and Zenit fought much harder. Both halves of normal time, and then 30 minutes of extra time, despite the score 0:0, were filled with numerous scoring chances. Moreover, Zenit, which was considered the favorite of the meeting, and the unyielding Amkar, created them alternately. For every dangerous breakthrough by Danny, the Permians responded with their own sharp attack, and the goalkeepers of both teams, Malafeev and Narubin, worked with the same workload.
The only thing that Zenit managed to do was pin the opponent to the goal at the end of the second half. But Amkar’s defense did not waver, although a couple of times the home team’s defenders cleared the ball almost from the goal line. But at the end of the additional 15 minutes, the guests already experienced a couple of unpleasant moments, but everything was decided only in a penalty shootout. In it, Zenit was luckier - at Amkar, two central defenders Popov and Belorukov did not convert their shots, and all the visiting penalty takers were accurate.
Zenit head coach Luciano Spalletti has already won the Italian Cup twice with Roma - in 2007 and 2008. Now he has an excellent chance to take the first Russian trophy on May 16.
Football. Russian Cup. Semi-final. “Siberia” – “Alania” – 3:0 (Medvedev 14, 66, 90) , “Amkar” – “Zenith” – 0:0 (on penalties – 2:4).