FC Spartak
Goals: Pereyra, 61 (0:1), Ari, 67 (Joãozinho, 0:2), Akhmedov, 72 (Kaleshin, 0:3), Promes, 87 (Davydov, 1:3).
FC Spartak
FC Krasnodar: Dykan, Kaleshin, Granqvist, Sigurðsson, Joãozinho, Gazinskiy, Akhmedov (Wánderson, 78), Shirokov, Pereyra (Izmailov, 76), Mamayev, Ari (Bystrov, 85).
Yellow cards: Källström, 8 (attack breakdown) – Akhmedov, 67 (attack breakdown).
Referees: S. Ivanov, Bereznev, Usachev (all Rostov-on-Don).
8 March.
Three years running FC Krasnodar is to start the spring part of the football season on the International Women's Day, but it was the first time now to be done in an away game. It was also the first time for the Club to play at the brand new Otkrytie Arena in
The home team manager, Murat Yakin, did not spring any particular surprises with the lineup of his own, too, and the only ex-Krasnodar player with the Red-Whites, Movsisyan, made a start in the game. Yura’s aces are well known, they are agility and speed. In the beginning of the match the whole Spartak team was similar to their centre-forward. Accompanied by the drizzle with an occasional sleet the players from the capital of
As for the Moscow team, by the 6th minute they switched from pressure to direct threats for the opposite goal when Promes received the ball and attempted a shot into the first corner from under the opponent, but the ball’s path was reliably blocked by the one Krasnodar player whose job it was, Dykan. 10 minutes later FC Krasnodar goalkeeper entered the game outside his domain: he came out and cleared the ball aside being only a heartbeat faster than Movsisyan who was rushing for a rendezvous with the goalie.
By the middle of the first half the black-greens started acquiring their own game gradually adapting to quite a heavy pitch and opposition’s aggressive manner of play. Suddenly it became clear that when Krasnodar players were successful in swift transition from defense to attack huge gaps appeared in the defensive lines of FC Spartak that one could (and should!) have utilized for the benefit of it.
The first sign of the black-green ultimate domination was the break-through by Kaleshin along the right flank on the 22nd minute. Mamayev met the low cross of his own right back with a shot on the run missing the first top corner of the net. Two more minutes passed, and Shirokov delivered a fine and precise pass to Ari with an outside of his foot, but the one-on-one situation with Rebrov was disrupted with the assistant ref’s signal after the latter had observed an offside. Three minutes later Pereyra skillfully avoided an offside trap, but since he released the ball too far the
Step by step the visiting team acquired a taste for it. With 30 minutes of the game done Ari gathered as many as three opponents at the home 18-yard line and cunningly hid his shot behind them trying to trick the ball past the keeper, and missed. Five minutes later Shirokov attempted a finishing shot after the corner kick missing the target, too. Soon it was Pereyra who made a timely response to a soft high cross by Mamayev and headed the ball centimeters away from the goal.
For a long time Spartak players were unable to create something that even remotely looked like a dangerous episode, but in the end of the first half they finally showed their sharp teeth.
The 0:0 on the scoreboard was far from despairing, but most of those observing the match hardly expected a mighty scoring boost after the half-time, too. The teams resumed the game with their prior lineups and FC Spartak once again trying to increase the pace, but it became apparent soon enough that the first half had taken too much of their powers. Even if spartakovtsy went forward in a rather cheerful way, not all of them would return to their third of the pitch, and hardly always at that.
On the 52nd minute a warning bell was sounded next to Rebrov’s domain in the form of Shirokov’s shot into the first corner, but the keeper was able to react to it. Three minutes later Roman attempted a header after an aimed serving by Akhmedov with the ball dropping precisely into goalkeeper’s position. Then a third aimed shot on target by FC Krasnodar in the second half became an opener. Shirokov went dribbling across FC Spartak box, the opposing player managed to kick the ball from under him, but it arrived exactly to Mauricio Pereyra finishing his run and with a mighty volley of his literally piercing the gathering of players in front of the keeper. Rebrov saw the ball only when it was flying into the net.
This goal determined the manner of the following game. FC Spartak dashed against their offender like a wounded beast almost without keeping in mind the need to defend, and started missing a lunge after lunge. Ari the centre-forward was the natural spearhead of the black-green attacks. In one episode Rebrov was on the ball before the Brazilian player and took it off his foot, but in the next one the keeper and the whole defense of the Red-Whites was unable to cope with the Bulls’ No. 9.
The goal came in as if it was scored on PlayStation. There player-controlled strikers are able to outplay the defenders with no rush easily placing the ball from non-playing foot to a playing one and shooting on goal with computer accuracy. This never happens in real football. Well, almost never, since it was exactly what happened now. A finishing shot by Ari from
The 11-minute long run in the middle of the second half was a period in which FC Krasnodar placed all of their three scored goals. A third goal was born out of two attack phases, the first one, where Shirokov took the most active part, and second, which the latter missed completely. After a trademark “air” combination of the Bulls Roman played a wall pass with Ari and arrived one-on-one with Rebrov. The halfback didn’t shoot on goal by himself as he saw Pereyra running alongside. The pass turned out too strong, though, and the Uruguayan player was not able to reach to the ball no matter how he tried. Upset Shirokov turned away from the opposition goal clutching his head. When 2 or 3 seconds later he turned back his disappointment immediately changed into joy. It turned out that Roman’s cross did not go wasted and led to an assist, since Kaleshin caught up with the ball on the right flank and accurately delivered it to the penalty mark. Odil Akhmedov was in the right place and calmly threw the ball into the net with a header.
3:0 and FC Krasnodar winning, and no one doubted the outcome of the fixture any longer. It was apparent that FC Spartak would not be able to avoid the first defeat at home in the running championship. Anyway, a lot of people were still curious if 4:0, a most favorite score with the black-greens, could be repeated this time. Well, it didn’t, though it could. No more than three minutes passed when the corner kick next to the away team’s goal turned into an away team’s sweeping counterattack, Ari appeared in front of the lonely Rebrov ultimately losing a microduel with the keeper. What he really could have done was giving the ball to the right, and then Shirokov would have a chance to kick the ball into the empty goal …
On the 82nd minute the same Ari once again ran away to personally deal with the keeper, threw the ball over him, but was not able to jump over Rebrov and tripped over the goalie’s knee. However Ivanov the ref, who in general displayed high level of refereeing in the match, observed no corpus delicti in the actions of FC Spartak captain and no penalty kick was ordered.
The fourth goal of the game actually did take place, but it was scored into Dykan’s net this time. Krasnodar players allowed themselves to lower their concentration a bit in the end of the match, and young Davydov the forward, who had come out as a sub for the home team, assisted to Quincy Promes who did not miss the empty goal a couple of meters away. A pity it was Promes who scored. Nothing personal, it’s just that Joãozinho, a newly made left back of FC Krasnodar, in this particular game almost destroyed the most creative midfielder available to FC Spartak today. This only scoring chance in the end of the match, even though it was indecisive at that, is what does not allow us to remove the word “almost” from the previous phrase.
As a result, a runaway victory turned into merely a victory. Well, not a victory. The first victory in the Club history over FC Spartak in Moscow, the very important victory in the beginning of the year that not only assisted in keeping acquired positions, but may also become a good beachhead for the further success. What we should do is not getting all high and mighty now…