Do you like nostalgia? You are almost certainly worried about Spartak. In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Lukoil Arena, the Spartak management made a clever arrangement: the improvised teams of Oleg Romantsev and Dejan Stankovic met with active footballers (from the main and youth teams), footballers, club legends, fans and journalists, for whom it was a joy to run in red and white uniform in front of 30 thousand spectators. As you correctly guessed, there was no Fan ID.
The compositions turned out to be as unusual as possible. Let’s list them complete and with non-football explanations. Stankovic’s dream team: Stipe Pletikosa, Artem Rebrov, Alexander Dovbnya, Ezequiel Barco, Jesus Medina, Danil Prutsev, Ruslan Litvinov, Marquinhos, Daniil Denisov, Egor Titov, Salvatore Bocchetti, Alexander Samedov, Pavel Yakovlev, Emmanuel Emenike, Alina Myagkova , Elena Terekhova, Alexander Dobroditsky, Artyom Krutovskikh, Mikhail Pykhcheev, Vadim Galeev, Egor Sysoev, Ilya Kovalchuk (hockey player), Lev Zulkarnaev (actor), Roman Kositsyn (comedian).
Romantsev team: Alexander Filimonov, Alexander Maksimenko, Srdzhan Babich, Dmitry Kombarov, Igor Mitreski, Roman Zobnin, Daniil Khlusevich, Ricardo Mangas, Dmitry Alenichev, Anton Zinkovsky, Nail Umyarov, Mikhail Ignatov, Daniil Zorin, Ari, Sergey Yuran, Welliton, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Nikita Bazhenov, Dmitry Kuroshev, Egor Ananyev, Nikolay Kobylin, Georgy Rykov, Artyom Bykovsky, Marina Fedorova, Tiyana Filipovich, Alexander Legkov (skier), Ivan Abramov (comedian), Yuri Borzakovsky (athlete).
Well, you understand how legendary this is, right? Pletikosa against Filimonov, Bochetti against Babich, Titov against Alenichev, Emenike against Welliton. And Pavlyuchenko and Ari are in the same lineup! Do you remember their fight in the Russian Cup final? I wonder if they talked about that incident?
In fact, Oleg Romantsev’s own description of such a significant ensemble is as accurate as possible. And yes, just like Rinat Dasaev, he was royally assisted by Alexander Mostovoy. This is not ironic: the Tsar was hung with a microphone and his wise instructions were constantly being broadcast.
Each of them was introduced separately to applause. They all played alternately. Bazhenov, for example, tried himself as a central defender. And before the kick-off, the crowd sang along with Maxim’s iconic song “Do you know”.
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Football itself was secondary. The main thing was that we managed to collect a lot of legends and put on a show for the fans, reminding them of Spartak’s glorious past. Romantsev’s team, however, did not look like they were playing a friendly match. And especially Welliton, who scored twice in the first nine minutes. Maybe he just knows that Spartak is looking for a striker?
First, the Brazilian waited for the rebound and added a goal from a few meters away, thanks to Legkov for successfully fighting off Bocchetti. And then Alenichev acted as an assistant, just like in the old days. Apparently, someone told the men in red jerseys that they were not alone on the field: there were also those in white. So, Titov was awarded a penalty and Kovalchuk proved that he is not only good at hockey, and converted it. At that moment the fans chanted: “Puck, Puck!”
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Emenike, Titov and Samedov also had chances. The first 30-minute half was fun. And during the break, the whole stadium congratulated Stankovic on his 46th birthday. It just so happened that his birthday was today.
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In the second half, Alenichev apparently thought: well, I’ve made an assist, it’s time to score. And he shot straight into the top corner. Do you know who assisted him? Welliton! Maybe it’s realistic to give him a contract at least until the winter? Dovbnya didn’t have the slightest chance of salvation. But a few minutes later he prevented Yuran from scoring in a one-on-one.
Samedov didn’t want to leave without a goal either: in the 42nd minute he found himself completely alone in front of the goal and rolled into the far corner. 2:3, intrigue! In time, because immediately after that the current players came out. The speed has increased. Stankovic’s team ran faster. Maksimenko, for example, wonderfully performed a volley from Medina. That’s all. It turned out to be joyful. Especially as regards the surroundings.
It’s a shame Promes didn’t participate. Here’s how he’s doing:
Promes found a new team after Spartak! He will be back in touch with Russia
