In the central match of the second round of the RPL in Rostov-on-Don, the local club hosted the reigning national champion Zenit. The confrontation between the teams of Valery Karpin and Sergey Semak always attracts increased attention.
On the day of the match, Karpin received the long-awaited and pleasant news – FIFA lifted the ban on registration of newcomers from Rostov. And the club managed to add seven players to the season’s request at once: Iranian Mohammad Mohebi, as well as Ilya Vakhania, Evgeny Chernov, Alexei Ionov, Roman Akbashev, Kirill Stolbov and Danila Sukhomlinov.
Two of them – Ionov and Chernov – were in the starting lineup. Gustavo Mantua came out as part of “Zenit” from the first minutes on the court, the rest of the player combination was already familiar.
At the beginning of the meeting, “Zenith” had more possession of the ball, but then “Rostov” managed to equalize the situation. In the 17th minute, due to back problems, the field was forced to leave the central defender of the guests Dmitry Chistyakov. He replaced Strahinya Erakovich, who Zenit literally stole from Spartak this summer.
Khoren Bayramyan’s mistake was decisive in the first 45 minutes. After his failed pass, the teammate gave a pass to the exit of Mateo Cassierra, who took out defender Maxim Osipenko and shot accurately into the far corner.
After the break, Karpin stepped up the game with a series of substitutions, and in the end, his team managed to avoid defeat. Danil Krugovoy in his own penalty area hit the opponent’s leg instead of the ball, and the match referee Yevhen Kukulyak signaled the “point”. Nikolai Komlichenko struck hard and accurately, leaving no chance for Mikhail Kerzhakov. The result is 1:1.
And after the final whistle, Semak went to settle things with the referee and saw a red card in front of him.
