The tenth round sent Rubin to St. Petersburg with a difficult mission - to stay outside the danger zone of the table. Thanks to the victory of the tour earlier, Kazan jumped from last place immediately to 14th. “Zenit” after the defeat of the leader had a chance to catch up with the “national team” and break away from CSKA at least until the end of the match in Perm.
However, in the first half, it seemed that a draw would suit St. Petersburg. As it turned out later, the reason for the slurred actions of Zenit at the beginning of the match was a promise not issued by Dick Advocaat to release at the heart of Dominguez, who had just moved from Kazan in the winter to St. Petersburg. The Argentinean was not in the first eleven, Zenit preferred to play again without flanking midfielders, exposing a massive wedge of players in the center of the field, which more and more resembles the “pig” of Livonian knights who drowned in Lake Peipsi.
The only active extreme player was right-back quarterback Fernando Rixen. It is not known how much the Dutchman ran for the game from front to front, but it was visible both here and there. Midfielders Zyryanov, Denisov, Gorshkov and Tymoshchuk in attempts to combine only interfered with each other. Only the rare discoveries of Zyryanov and Denisov on the flanks, stretching the team defense of Rubin, created a sharpness in the attack. Even the banal canopies from St. Petersburg did not work.
The team of Kurban Berdyev counted on counterattacks, adhering to tactical scheme 9-1 with the only forward Bayramov. All the Rubin midfielders (even a very active attacking midfielder Pyotr Gitselov, who often opened in front of other people's gates and even got offside), returned throughout the game to their free kick.
Rubin failed to catch Zenit in the oncoming traffic, but the standard helped. Kazan opened the scoring after a free-kick near the Chontofalski gates (they waited for Mikhail Kerzhakov at the gates of St. Petersburg, but the Slovak managed to recover) - the ball was picked up by Selim Benashur and instead of giving the right to open Budylin, he sent him to the opposite flank to fight. The non-standard solution surprised the Zenitists so much that in the end no struggle came about. The ball went to defender Fedorov, who was in foreign possessions, who, having almost flown out of the field, got ahead of Pavel Pogrebnyak and shot from the ribbon to the central defender Gabriel. The Brazilian, striking, almost injured his teammate.
After the break, Radimov appeared on the field, replacing the less creative Gorshkov, and Dominguez - instead of the less universal Denisov. The former Rubin player in the second half played two roles: the extreme midfielder on the left flank, which Zenit lacked so much and the second pace forward. Both roles succeeded him. And in the 67th minute, the Argentinean performed a great corner: the ball, having flown over low Sibaya and the giant Gabriel, found the head of Skrtel. If he didn’t get the ball, Kim Dong-jin would score. Kolinko only managed to raise his hands.
After the goal, “Zenith” broke out, and “Ruby” burned out. The game of St. Petersburg was built through two "fresh" players - Radimov and Dominguez. And Andrei Arshavin, who palely played almost the entire match, oddly enough, was rewarded by game greed. The forward of the Russian national team did not share the ball, beat himself and missed - except once. Pogrebnyak threw the ball from behind, Arshavin remembered about dribbling, went around Ayupov and Gabriel and just shot into the open far corner of the goal. Hoping for his greed again, Arshavin again ran away from Gabriel, but threw not only Kolinko, but also the gate.
Finally, the brawl shook the audience at the last minute of the compensated time, when six fists at once hit the back of the head of Jean Narde - Riksen, Skrtel and Križanac. A second earlier, the Brazilian had dangerously attacked Chontofalski, who had difficulty catching the ball after the Rubin attack. The fight had hardly begun, but in the ranks of the teams there were pacifists who managed to separate the hot guys. Another slurred game “Zenith” ended in victory. It’s difficult to create moments for Petersburgers, but so far everything is in order with the implementation.
Vadim SINAEV
Zenit - Rubin - 2: 1 (0: 1)
Goals: 0: 1 - Gabriel (40), 1: 1 - Shkrtel (67), 2: 1 - Arshavin (78).
ZENIT : Chontofalski, Riksen, Skrtel, Krizhanats, Kim Don Jin, Zyryanov, Gorshkov (Radimov, 46), Tymoshchuk, Denisov (Dominguez, 46), Arshavin, Pogrebnyak.
RUBY : Kolinko, Jean Narde, Fedorov, Gabriel, Sibaya, Gitselov (Volkov, 77), Ayupov, Benashur (Paunovich, 81), Budylin, Gatskan, Bayramov (Ralph, 68).
Warnings : Kim Dong-jin (7), Jean Narde (76), Arshavin (76), Gatskan (89), Riksen (90 + 4).
Removal: Jean Narde (90 + 4, second warning).
May 20. "Petrovsky." 2 p.m.
Judge: Valentin Ivanov (Moscow).