Those who want to gossip over the steering CSKA today and without us there will be a crowd. Therefore, we will try to withstand a serious tone. And we simply state: disrespectful towards the Arsenal counterpart Valery Georgievich actually deprived Arsene Wenger of a choice of a line of behavior in the situation prevailing at the finish of the group stage. Since we have diverged in views on virtuality and football justice - let us trust the table. And she will never lie.
Its sad symbolism is that the Russian champion was left with the 8 points that his coach identified at the start as the desired guarantee for passing further. So now judge who has sunk deeper into the virtual space: Gazzaev, so rudely miscalculated (after all, even 11 points would not have sufficed!), Or Wenger, who doubted only Henri’s “hand”, who scored a goal in Moscow - clean, but not credited?
Champions League - a competition that does not tolerate assumptions, quite familiar with a long dominance in the national championship. In it, the account is always kept on real trifles: steps, moments, words. This truth at the end of the season turned into a club, now and then nailing on a poor army head.
Take the same transcontinental voyage to Vladivostok before the decisive meeting with Porto. In the spring, the frailty of such a calendar neighborhood just waved a hand. But to correct the schedule was, in principle, a minute and good deed! (Then, by the way, they still did not know with whom to play. One could not return to Moscow, but wave closer to the same Port through the North Pole.)
And the holy simplicity with which the Tsesk headquarters yawned elementarily (as a presumptuous chess player is the key move of the opponent) is perhaps the decisive moment of the whole group cycle! It was an hour between the first and second Moscow goals from “Porto”. Indeed, at 0: 1, CSKA still remained the master of its fate - just win at Hamburg. And with the goal of Lucho Gonzalez, the situation turned upside down. That's what the guest bench was so frantically happy about! There, even before the starting whistle, they knew how important it was to win exactly 2-0. And the army players, even when they came to the journalists from the locker room, assured themselves without any doubts: nothing, we will defeat Hamburg and we will be there! And they were very surprised when they heard in response that this was not enough. It turns out that they did not even suspect what the second ball meant in their goal and how important it was, having missed it, to answer at least with a goal. Okay players - on the field of leisure time to count options. Only, it seems, no one counted them at the edge either ...
Go ahead. Throughout the season, they gave us almost for valor the ability of CSKA to solve high problems with a limited number of performers. At the finish, it turned out to be something that could have turned back much earlier: a personnel disaster. Before the trip to Hamburg, cards and injuries were wiped out from Ignashevich, Rakhimich, Wagner Love. Not to say that there are too many - the same Thomas Doll missed no less iconic figures, including even more: Sorin, Kompani, Vicki, Demel, de Jong. But it all the same turned out that the bench of the Bundesliga loser is much longer and more capable than the bench of the Russian champion.
We have not forgotten about Dudu's injury. She is an occasion to write a separate paragraph. It seems that there was a miscalculation here. The medical training camp in Spain unjustifiably optimistic about the condition of the Brazilian returning from treatment. As a result, Dudu came out in the starting lineup, and his replacement already in the 8th minute plunged both the team and the head coach into confusion. Gazzaev didn’t just send the unpunished reservist Grigoriev into battle, but also started a clearly emergency (and not easy!) Tactical restructuring. After all, if it had been provided, agreed in advance - you would not have to so thoroughly and artistically explain to the players its essence ... on the fingers!
A hole in the central defensive zone, which arose in the absence of Ignashevich and especially Rakhimich, as an indicator, revealed the lightness of statements about the balance and stability of the army game. These qualities imply the team’s willingness to compensate the losses relatively painlessly and more significantly than the Hamburg ones. And not in the helpful Rostov and Tomsk, but in stadiums with addresses more resonant. To do this, you need much more reliable and thorough staffing. And it is possible only with a different scale and scope of selection. However, having reported in spring on the work done with a short spell “Jo!”, The corresponding club services fell into a lethargic dream.
On Wednesday, CSKA lost to the opponent also in the mood, courage. Yes, heroically played at the gate of Akinfeev. Yes, a flash of inspiration visited Zhirkov, who left a long memory of the current European Cup cycle masterpiece scoring raid through half the field. But the command, shared by all, belief in luck and success, was not enough for the army team. At the start and finish stages of the game - especially.
Oddly enough, I do not want to make high-profile claims in this regard. It is not the Utopian Timurovs who won the tournament in Russia, who naively assume the general purity of thoughts. Although it was interesting and perhaps even pleasant to imagine themselves as such in numerous interviews with words of disbelief in the draw pact of Porto and Arsenal. But it’s much harder to convince oneself of a pipe dream than journalists and their gullible readers.
“Porto” and “Arsenal” behaved exactly as they would have done in their place any two League teams that you named at random. The difference between the rivals was only that one played purely on the result, and the other was still a bit on the viewer. However, in the last ten minutes, by default, even an imitation of struggle and spectacle was rejected. The hosts and guests took turns rolling the ball, avoiding approaching other people's free kicks.
Perhaps they should not even be blamed for this. How many of you would rush headlong along the platform, knowing that there was another half an hour before the train left, and in your pocket a ticket for a sleeping car with a numbered seat, bought ahead of time and for honestly earned money? And if your future companion neighbor is walking next to the same measured gait, it is not at all necessary to arrange distillations with him. Let the one with the reserved seat run ...
Sergey NOVIKOV
HAMBURG Germany - CSKA Russia - 3: 2 (1: 1)
Goals: 0: 1 - Olic (23, penalty), 1: 1 - Berisha (28), 1: 2 - Zhirkov (65), 2: 2 - van der Wart (85), 3: 2 - Sanogo (90) .
HAMBURG: Wechter, Atuba (Feilhaber, 69), Reinhardt, Mataisen, Mahdavikia, Jarolim (Sanogo, 83), Trochowski, Berisha, van der Warth, Laas, Lyuboy (Guerrero, 75).
CSKA: Akinfeev, Shemberas, A. Berezutsky, Daniel Carvalho, Olic, Krasic, Zhirkov, Dudu (Grigoryev, 8), Aldonin, V. Berezutsky, Taranov (Odia, 77; Kochubey, 86).
Warnings: Dudu (30), Atuba (49), V. Berezutsky (82).
Removal: Atuba (69, from the bench after replacement).
December 6. Arena Hamburg. 22:45.
Judge: Farina (Italy).