Zenitists gathered in Kazan not without fear. Kurban Berdyev’s team defeated “Moscow” on the road and the opponent, who was only a line above the “townspeople” in the table, was clearly not afraid of home. In addition, Rubin intended to prove that his recent home defeat against Lokomotiv was an exception confirming the rule, or, in extreme cases, creative from the referee Sukhina.
However, the St. Petersburg people smelled the smell of medals and put up a strongly attacking composition. For example, the defense quartet consisted of a retrained midfielder Shirl, an active brovochnik Anyukov and Hagen with Skrtel, who like to work their heads in someone else's penalty area. Famous for reliability and attention to the result, Dick Advocaat in Kazan seemed to have reincarnated as the dashing Pan Vlast, who loved to watch frisky wards races of the wards.
Kazanians punished the attacking carelessness of “Zenith” by skillful removal of the ball from the goal: he got to Dominguez, who played against Benashur, imposingly left Shirl, pulled Malafeev out of the frame and scored. Petersburgers sat down like this: about a goal conceded already in the 9th minute, the lawyer at the installation did not tell them anything. But in the end, “Zenith” changed his mind and began to play more carefully. And the satisfied Rubin switched to deterrence tactics. Saturating the space from their own penalty box to the center of the field, the Kazan squeezed Arshavin to the flanks, from where he repeatedly tried to heal the head or leg of his partners. But Denisov did not have time, and Skrtel missed. Correct statistics “Zenith” was only part of the corner - the hosts regularly passed the ball over the front, depriving guests of the opportunity to play the episodes.
At the beginning of the second half, Rubin seemed to remember the number of goals shipped to Moscow and rushed to score. All the same Dominguez and Benashur took on the success of Kazan, but they were stopped by the only Zenit player who was not distracted that evening from defensive concerns. Malafeev defended the goal so convincingly that the lawyer replaced Anyukov on Tekka: Glory, they say, can do without defenders, and you go and beat. Two minutes later, those hoping for Glory presented the ball to Benashur, and he secured the hosts' advantage with a low shot - 2: 0. However, the replenishment of the personal account of Kazan “Zenith” as if did not care. Until the end of the match, the St. Petersburg team took the initiative, forgetting, however, about their beloved proverb “I beat, I will beat.” It came to blows only in the last twenty minutes: Tekke again jumped over everyone in the penalty area, but the ball he started up took the height above the crossbar.
The finishing activity of St. Petersburg met the traditional Tatar "hospitality" - was rewarded with a counterattack and a goal. Calisto stumbled over Hagen's leg with such undisguised pleasure of flying that Judge Veselovsky allowed to shoot a penalty twice - only for artistry. The first blow of Dominguez was taken by Malafeev, who moved from the place to the whistle. Attempt number two turned out to be both happy for the Argentine - scoring, and "unlucky" - the thirteenth successful.
The endgame was of little interest to anyone. Only Kazan goalkeeper Kolinko decided to take a fraction of the glory from his defenders and perfectly parried Ricksen's hit under the crossbar.
By the quick game of “Zenith” I wanted to add on the support of the stands of “Petrovsky” - then there would be goals. The real result of the match is this: neither ours nor yours. Only the bronze will dream of missing Petrograd points now. Whereas the Rubin, having successfully played on the counterattack, firmly ass in the middle of the table - so what? Frankly, one can only rejoice at Dominguez - the Rubin striker, like Spartak Pavlyuchenko, is only one step away from the goal mark of Jo.