A LEGIONAIRE FOR TWO
We had almost a whole winter to wait for this match! Due to the World Cup, Russian football stopped for an unusually long time, so fans managed to miss their teams even more than usual. So the resumption of the season with a game in Cherkizovo (formally in Rostov, but that game received much less attention) was a great gift for all our football fans.
There was a lot of talk before the game. Here and the prospect of postponing the match due to frost. On Wednesday night minus 12 degrees were recorded in the capital, and even a couple of degrees less was expected. A separate topic was the changes at Lokomotiv, in which the German vector dried up and was replaced by the Russian one.
Mikhail Galaktionov, coach of the youth team, became the head coach, and most of the newcomers are passport holders with a double-headed eagle. So the fact that Francois Camano turned out to be the only legionnaire at the start should come as no surprise. It is interesting that Spartak had 11 Russians at the base. Are they more used to the cold?
DZYUBA AGAINST “SPARTAK”
Ilya Lantratov, Igor Smolnikov, Sergey Pinyaev came out of Loko’s newcomers at the start… and, of course, Artem Dzyuba, who, no matter how many games he plays for other teams, will always be associated with Spartak first. place. And that in red and white he always comes out with a special humor.
There were no special surprises in the choice of Guillermo Abascal. All the same 4-3-3 with three strikers (from left to right) Anton Zinkovsky – Pavel Meleshin – Mikhail Ignatov. Here it is worth remembering that Alexander Selikhov, his namesake Sobolev and Shamar Nicholson were banned for six matches of the Russian Cup, so the choice of the coach was not surprising. As well as the appearance of Quincy Promes in the reserves, who never left a single training camp, Christopher Martins, who had just recovered, and newcomers Alexis Duarte and Tomas Tavares, who did not impress in training camp.
PRUTSEV – SPECIAL ON “LOKO”
Spartak passed the winter training camp almost brighter than all the RPL teams and even won the RPL Winter Cup, winning all three matches and not against a single ball. So his initiative and high intensity at the start of the match did not surprise at all. The rojiblancos possessed the ball twice as much as their opponents, they received it high and in the 16th minute they caused a mistake by Ivan Kuzmichev.
An inaccurate cross from a friend was almost leveled by a tackle from his midfield partner Stanislav Magkeev, but the Spartak team played excellently on the rebound and, through Ruslan Litvinov, handed the ball to Danila Prutsev. , who from the penalty semicircle put the ball into the corner of Lantratov’s goal. Loko becomes the favorite client of the midfielder, because it was in the match with him that Prutsev opened the scoring for his goals for Spartak.
The red and green had no choice but to try to move the game away from their penalty area, but they lacked physical preparation and mutual understanding. At least, in the context of the opponent, which he combined very decently. Especially considering that the grass is far from the best quality. There was also a lot of marriage in Spartak’s actions, but because of the speed of the ball, if they had enough precision, it was very promising.
Even against the background of partners, Meleshin stood out for his activity. In general, he entered all martial arts, both above and below, played every episode (he somehow almost pinned Lantratov), constantly participated in combinations and threatened the goal himself. He once nearly went down one on one, but he reached for the ball and barely pushed it straight into the goalie.
“SPARTAK” RESCUED: DZYUBA PUNCHED ON THE BAR AND ABOVE THE VOID…
To Galaktionov’s credit, in the locker room he managed to set the team up for more aggressive action in the opposing half, and Loko even won a couple of corners, one of which ended with a fine shot from Dmitry Barinov outside the box. near the corner.
However, the Spartacists still looked preferable. First of all, due to the fact that they occupy incredibly cool positions. Each person in possession of the ball always has several targets nearby, and whatever the bounce or bounce, there is always one of the players who will join the fight nearby. As a result, there are a lot of rebounds and the opponent never gets clean balls.
At the end of the game hour, the coaches took the option of reinforcing the game through substitutions. And not for show. Anton Miranchuk came out for the hosts and Promes for the guests. The teams have a powerful clip! The departure of the Russian in the Loko game had a more noticeable effect. The railwayman finally tamed the ball, began to come out better from the defense, finding free spaces, and delivering it to the last third of the pitch. Another won corner ended with a header from Dziuba: the bar! In another episode, the striker missed an empty goal after Georgiy Jikia, who interrupted the cross, hit the ball right off his leg.
… AND KAMANO TAKEN MAGKEEV’S GOAL
In the end, the teams were tired of fighting each other, the cold and the frozen grass, but the hosts were more persistent and deserved a return goal. It was scored by Magkeev, who ideally ran into Maxim Glushenkov’s serve, but after a few minutes of watching the referees annulled it for Kamano’s offside, which prevented Martins from reaching the ball. Wow, there will be controversy! But, I remember, a similar goal by Samuel Gigot in the dark times was disallowed once in the same way.
In general, Loko could count on a draw in the second half. Spartak defended painfully and counted only on counterattacks, which were dispersed by the substitute Legionnaire trio Promes – Keith Balde – Martins (they played inside right). But he was not as cheerful as the base players in the first half.
So the conclusion of this match is the following: Spartak is very well physically and, above all, psychologically, well played and managed by the coach, but Loko will be a serious opponent for anyone in the spring and will probably quickly solve the problem of keep record. in the RPL. By the way, the return match in the team’s Cup is already on February 27. Who is better prepared for it?
Russian Cup. RPL path. 1/4 end. the first game
Lokomotiv – Spartak – 0:1 (0:1)
Goal: Prutsev, 16.
Lokomotiv: Lantratov, Nenakhov, Kuzmichev, Magkeev, Smolnikov (Tiknizyan, 59), Karpukas, Barinov, Kulikov (Miranchuk, 59), Pinyaev (Glushenkov, 67), Kamano (Ignatiev, 87), Dzyuba.
Spartak: Maksimenko, N. Chernov, Jikia (Maslov, 87), Denisov (Tavaresh, 88), Khlusevich, Litvinov, Prutsev, Zobnin, Ignatov (Balde, 75), Zinkovsky (Martins, 75), Meleshin (Promes, 59) .
Warnings: Litvinov, 43. Magkeev, 71. Barinov, 89.
Referee: Bezborodov (Moscow).
