Zenit Ural April 22 results. Removals are a key point in the game
Football reviews, news, transfers, RFPL, Spartak, Barcelona, Juventus, Real Madrid and other clubs Our group on VKONTAKTE - https://vk.com/futbolnye_hroniki"ZENIT" OPENED KRESTOVSKY WITH A VICTORY. “URAL” RECEIVED THREE REMOVAL “Zenit” defeated “Ural” in the match of the 24th round of the Premier League – 2:0. The game became the first in history to new arena "St. Petersburg", which was built on the site of the Kirov Stadium. This match, the first test for the 2017 Confederations Cup and 2018 World Cup stadium, took place under a flattened roof. The announcer at the stadium was the Honored and People's Artist of Russia Mikhail Boyarsky. When the lineups were announced, the spectators (according to FIFA requirements, the game could not be attended by more than 25 thousand fans, as a result, the attendance was recorded at 20,004 people) booed Zenit forward Alexander Kokorin and head coach Mircea Lucescu. At the beginning of the game, organized blue-white-blue fans held a large-scale performance “Back to the Future.” At the same time, fans, despite safety requirements, used flares and smoke bombs. At the end of the first half, Kokorin was injured. Instead, Lucescu sent Oleg Shatov onto the field. In the second half, the guests remained in the minority. Ural midfielder Eric Bikfalvi received a second yellow card in a tackle against Igor Smolnikov, after which Bumblebees forward Roman Pavlyuchenko began to express dissatisfaction with the decision of chief referee Alexei Eskov in an aggressive manner. The attacker went head-to-head with the referee, and then twirled his finger at his temple and addressed the judge in a raised tone from behind the backs of his partners, who cut him off from Yeskov. Zenit scored the winning goal in the end during a set piece. Branislav Ivanovich hit the goal of Nikolai Zabolotny. After that, Eskov showed yellow cards for the clash to Ural midfielder Roman Emelyanov and St. Petersburg forward Artem Dzyuba. For the visiting midfielder, the punishment resulted in a deletion, the third in the match for Alexander Tarkhanov’s team. In the end, Zenit's second goal in the three-to-zero attack was scored by Ioan Mollo. Zenit is in third place with 46 points. CSKA, which is second, has 47, Spartak has 54 before today's away match with Rostov. Ural with 29 points remained in 10th place. In the next, 25th round, the club from Yekaterinburg will play away with Spartak on Tuesday, April 25, and the St. Petersburg team will play away with Orenburg on Wednesday, April 26. Russian Championship Premier League 24th round “Zenit” (St. Petersburg) – “Ural” (Ekaterinburg) – 2:0 (0:0) Goals: Ivanovich, 86 (1:0). Mollo, 90+4 (2:0). “Zenit”: Lunev, Smolnikov, Ivanovich, Crishito, Zhirkov (Netu, 63), Tsallagov, Julianu, Yusupov (Mollo, 53), Danni, Kokorin (Shatov, 44), Dzyuba. “Ural”: Zabolotny, Kulakov, Dinga, Balazits, Dantsev, Dimitrov, Emelyanov, Bikfalvi, Lungu (Merkulov, 68), Ilyin, Pavlyuchenko. Warnings: Bikfalvi, 23. Emelyanov, 40. Dzyuba, 86. Crishito, 89. Removals: Bikfalvi, 61 (second GC, rough play). Pavlyuchenko, 62 (non-sports behavior). Emelyanov, 86 (second housing complex, unsportsmanlike behavior). Judges: ESKOV. Eleferenko, Mosyakin (all Moscow). April 22. Saint Petersburg. Stadium "St. Petersburg Arena".
TO the most important match Zenit approached Ural in an objectively difficult psychological situation. Housewarming is a wonderful event for anyone football team- due to still unresolved problems with the lawn at Krestovsky it became the subject of jokes for fans and concern for the players themselves. Another negative background is dropping out of the championship race after losing to Spartak. The third is Agent Shatov’s recent statements about conflicts in the locker room.
The leader in points scored in the spring part of the championship came to visit the discomforting Zenit. Ural is on the move, won four last matches RFPL (three clean sheets), reached the final of the Russian Cup. What I mean is that it would be naive to wait for a simple game.
Although tickets for the first match were sold only for the lower sector of the stadium, fans celebrated the housewarming with a spectacular performance. It was up to the players.
The starting pile let us down
Zenit started strongly, clearly counting on quick goal. In the first 10 minutes, the guests played for the last minute, and Crishito and Ivanovich won “air” and accelerated the attacks again. Criscito even took a shot - he ran towards someone else's penalty area, the pressing Ural defenders did not meet him and the Italian fired from afar. The second shot was also from outside the penalty area.
Zenit was in a hurry, but the guests quickly got their bearings and began to meet their opponents away from their penalty area. It was impossible to get through the “fence” of eight players through the center; we had to fall to the flanks. Here a certain misunderstanding was discovered between Dziuba and the rest of the attack group. Artyom himself more often found himself on the flank than in the center of the attack. From the left he crossed into an area where there was no one except him. As a result, during the entire first half he never won the ball and did not throw it to Juliano or Danny under attack. Already when the teams went to the room under the stands, Juliano emotionally explained something to the forward. Judging by his gestures, it’s better not to go too far to the flank.
Give the ball - hit it!
Half an hour later, Ural, with 30% possession of the ball, was not inferior to Zenit in the number of shots on goal. The throws weren't dangerous. Only two on target, and they are harmless and not strong. But this focus on the goal commands respect. Literally every time Pavlyuchenko managed to catch the ball in the center circle, Ural brought the attack to a blow. Bikfalvi played most often: he played in an atypical position in the center of midfield, but this did not lose his activity in attack. By the 40th minute, Lunev had already been shot at eight times.
Time number: three strokes by Chisamba Lungu. This is not so much, but the entire Zenit had the same amount.
Surprise in the second half
Everyone expected that, starting from the 46th minute, Zenit would improve. Oddly enough, Ural added. Three hits in five minutes is strong. First, Dimitrov was first on the rebound and shot from outside the penalty area. Next moment was scoring: Yusupov unexpectedly “gave” the ball Emelyanov, he put the body to Ivanovich, dragged the ball and shot from the center of the penalty area - it hit the post. After that, Zenit woke up and pushed the game away from its goal. Mircea Lucescu released Mollo instead of Yusupov and sent Juliano in pair with Dziuba, and Danny went to the left flank of the attack. A little earlier, at the end of the first half, Kokorin came on instead of the injured Shatov.
Removals are a key point in the game
By the 60th minute, Zenit had pressed the opponents into the penalty area, although things had not yet come to dangerous shots. The match became quite nervous, but Ural held on. And then the main moment of the game happened. Bikfalvi, having a yellow card, made a hard tackle and... got to the ball, but then drove into Smolnikov’s leg. Referee Eskov decided to show the second yellow card. He was immediately surrounded by Ural players: Lungu hugged the judge for a minute and seemed to be telling the story of his life, and Pavlyuchenko tried to butt him, pushed his teammate towards Eskov and also expressed something emotionally. Another deletion. Strange decision. The referees are under pressure in 10 episodes per game, so why not solve everything by sending them off? Although Pavlyuchenko’s yellow card for attacking the referee probably should have been shown.
After the double sending off, shots were fired at Zabolotny's goal. From the 60th to the 80th minute, the St. Petersburg team struck nine times. But the penalties did not solve the problem with shots on target: eight out of nine were missed. “Ural” played according to the classic court system “4-4-nobody”. It worked out reliably.
Zenit put the pressure on in the 86th minute, Ivanovich hit the ball literally from the goal line after a corner kick. Emelyanov and Dzyuba were jostling a little behind. Then they chatted some more. Emelyanov held the forward with both hands, in response he waved it off and hit the back of the head with his elbow. Finally, the referee intervened, who clearly missed the episode and simply showed both of them a yellow card. Emelyanov had it second. He will also miss the game with Spartak in the next round.
Playing with eight players, Ural created a scoring chance in the 91st minute and could have made this match legendary, but Dimitrov failed to beat Luneva. And in the third added minute, three Zenit players fell on the goalkeeper. It’s logical: Ural didn’t have enough three. Victory with a score of 2:0 in the debut match at the new stadium. But was it really football?
No, we don’t need video replays: the referees are also participants in the game, which means they have the right to make mistakes. We love football for its emotions, and mistakes add emotion to it. And all that... I wonder if they will continue to say something like that to us after such a match.
Ten years. For ten long years, all those associated with Zenit waited for the stadium on Krestovsky Island to host its first match. When the old arena - the Kirov Stadium - was demolished, they thought that in the new building it would be possible to see football in 2-3 years. It was 2006 then. The first stone of the Zenit Arena was laid in 2007. The original completion date of March 2009 was postponed, according to official data, due to the death of the Japanese arena architect Kisho Kurokawa and due to subsequent design difficulties. The opening of the stadium was delayed every year by 12 to 24 months. There were even doubts whether it would be ready for the 2018 World Cup, as problems arose with the contractor. And, fortunately, by December 2016 it was announced that the main construction work had been completed, and in April 2017 Krestovsky would be ready to host the first match.
A vivid embodiment of this epic immediately before the Zenit - Ural match was the story of Vladislav Radimov about how, in a conversation with Andrei Arshavin, he discussed whether he would have time to play at the new stadium or not. As a result, Arshavin himself will most likely not make it in time. And Radimov, let us remind you, hung up his boots at the end of 2008. There was no entertainment program before the fight, since the organizers immediately warned: this is not an opening match, this is one of three test games before the Confederations Cup. The fight turned out to be like in an arena, since they decided to lower the roof due to the February weather in April St. Petersburg. The only thing that was solemn was the symbolic kick on the ball by Vladimir Kulik, one of top scorers in the history of Zenit. Kulik passed the ball to Roman Pavlyuchenko, after which the game began.
First time.
Despite the fact that there were dangerous moments from the very beginning of the fight, it was impossible to call it interesting in the first minutes. There were too many mistakes and defects on both sides. Actually, this is what allowed the goalkeepers to warm up in the opening ten minutes. The first goal in the history of Zenit Arena could have been scored as early as the 4th minute. Domenico Criscito fired a targeted shot from the center of the opponent's half of the field - the ball flew right on target, and only Zabolotny's sharp throw allowed Ural to avoid problems in this situation.
Five minutes later, the hosts struck another dangerous blow - this time from a closer range. It was Danny from the goal area who again checked the reaction of the Bumblebees goalkeeper - it again turned out to be excellent. And for the time being the Urals didn’t let them get any closer – Alexander Tarkhanov’s charges were positioned very tightly near their penalty area. Only after the 10th minute did they begin to show up in the opposing half of the field.
During these raids, Ural created a little hassle at the Zenit goal: Emelyanov and Bikfalvi shot dangerously from afar, but in both cases Lunev confidently took the ball into his hands. Towards the middle of the half the game calmed down. And it leveled out. Yes, Zenit had a little more possession of the ball, but the Yekaterinburg team tried not to give the initiative to the opponent, and when there was an opportunity, the guests threw the ball beyond the center circle and rushed forward with considerable strength.
The 23rd minute became significant: Bikfalvi fouled Tsallagov and received the first yellow card in Krestovsky history. A dubious achievement, but like other important events, it needs to be recorded - after all, the first match at the stadium, which was waited for ten years. Zenit did almost nothing in attack, although it placed more emphasis on attacking actions than Ural. Although Mircea Lucescu's team acted in a variety of ways, they just lacked what the “blue-white-blue” had constantly done in previous matches – crosses to Dziuba.
The first episode when Artyom was useful on the second floor occurred as early as the 30th minute, when there was a discount on Juliano, who was supposed to go one-on-one with Zabolotny, but slipped, allowing Zabolotny to pick up the projectile in his hands. The stadium gasped - largely because nothing was more dangerous for a long time didn't happen. A couple of minutes after this there was reason to gasp again, but this time it was sadder for Zenit fans: Pavlyuchenko shot from the area of the arc, Lunev fixed the ball, but uncertainly. If Roman had punched harder, the St. Petersburg team would have had problems.
The game was equal, and by the end of the half, Ural had even more chances. In the 40th minute, Roman Emelyanov received a second yellow card for Ural, who made a rough tackle on Kokorin. In this situation, Alexander was injured, an electric car came after him, which the Zenit forward refused, leaving the field accompanied by doctors. And three minutes later coaching staff Mircea Lucescu made a forced substitution: Shatov came on instead of Kokorin, who remained on the lawn until the end of the half, but behind the edge. In the first minute of added time, Dzyuba could have scored from the corner of the goalkeeper with a turn, but in the end he missed.
Second half.
The beginning of the second forty-five minutes almost turned into a disaster for Zenit. Apparently, during the break, Alexander Tarkhanov gave instructions to go forward in large numbers in the first five minutes. The attacks of the “bumblebees” were dangerous with the note “potentially” until the 50th minute. Yusupov made an unsuccessful back pass, Emelyanov intercepted the ball, beat Ivanovich in the penalty area and probably shot into the lower left corner - the post! It was the most dangerous moment at that time.
And it seemed that the Urals would continue to trample forward, but in the end, Zenit, realizing how close the missed goal was, seized the initiative. There were dangerous crosses by Smolnikov, and the play through the center improved. Yusupov was replaced by Yoan Mollo, who earned a dangerous free kick at the right edge of the penalty area. “Ural” in those minutes, as in the middle of the first half, again sat on the defensive and could not get out of it. True, this was of little use to the St. Petersburg team - there were no dangerous shots, and Zabolotny entered the game only when it was necessary to put the ball into the field.
And in the 60th minute it happened key moment match. Smolnikov tried to catch the ball at someone else's goal post, but Bikfalvi, knocking the ball out, drove into the foot of Zenit's side by inertia. The Romanian received a yellow card for this violation, which automatically turned into a red one. In general, the episode is at the discretion of the referee, because Eric initially played the ball, and only then hit the leg. In some ways this moment was reminiscent of Vidal’s removal. But in the Champions League, the sending off was completely illegal - Asensio himself drove into the Chilean’s feet. Immediately Smolnikov’s leg was static, only Bikfalvi played. In general, 50/50. There was a foul, but did it warrant a yellow card?
Everything would have worked out well if Roman Pavlyuchenko had calmly reacted to this removal. But the “Sleeping Giant” exploded and began to angrily express his displeasure to the judge, at one point he even butted Eskov with his head. Which is probably why he received a straight red card. No matter what happens, you can’t behave like that. Even the Chelsea players kept a low profile in 2009, when Tom-Heening Evrebo extinguished Londoners' final dreams. Only Michael Ballack ran after the Norwegian at the very end, trying to hold him accountable for his arbitrariness. For Ural, the ending could have been much simpler, but Pavlyuchenko let his team down.
After this, the “bumblebees” had no choice but to sit on the defensive and repel Zenit’s attacks. For the St. Petersburg team, Neto came on instead of Yuri Zhirkov, and Criscito moved to his usual left flank. Interestingly, even in the 11x9 game format, the hosts did not succeed in everything. Although real chances to score appeared immediately. In the 65th minute, Juliano shot close to the post, and a minute later Danny hit the woodwork. Moreover, this all happened after the Ural defender almost cut the ball into his own goal - Zabolotny came to the rescue, but Nikolai was unable to kick the ball far. As a result, Danny's finishing move almost turned out to be fatal for the guests.
Immediately, Ural made the first substitution: instead of Chisamba Lungu, Mikhail Merkulov appeared on the Zenit Arena field. Perhaps it was in vain that Tarkhanov removed Lunga - the Zambian could have organized a scoring chance single-handedly. But there wasn’t much choice in this situation. The St. Petersburg club created several chances later, but only two or three were dangerous. Although, taking into account the difference in class, in such a situation, Zenit should have immediately dealt with the opponent.
Only after the 80th minute did the expected massive attack on Zabolotny’s goal begin, during which the St. Petersburgers ruined three (!) scoring chances. First, after the discount, Dzyuba should have headed Juliano into the near corner, but Balazic was ahead of him. Then Neto could beat to the same right pillar, but didn't hit the ball at all. And to top it off, the defender prevented Dzyuba from scoring. And only on the fourth attempt the shell ended up in the Zabolotny goal. And even then they didn’t score - they pushed. In the 86th minute, after Criscito's set-piece, Ivanovich brought the sphere into the goal from outside the goalkeeper's area, pushing Zabolotny there at the same time - 1:0! Who was definitely not expected to score the first goal at Krestovsky!
After this episode, another scandal occurred: Emelyanov seemed to push Dzyuba too zealously, Artyom didn’t like it, and he almost hit Roman in the face with his elbow. Then a skirmish began, the result of which was the presentation of the “mustard plaster” to both. But here's the catch - for the Ural footballer he became second. Third removal as part of the “Bumblebees”! Incredible!
You just need to take your hat off to Ural: Alexander Tarkhanov’s guys even went on the attack with seven of them, and, moreover, in the first added minute they almost equalized the score - Lunev barely covered the ball after Dimitrov’s shot. Then the Ekaterinburg team went on the attack with the whole team, and they got burned: Zenit organized a 3-on-0 counterattack, Juliano passed the ball to the left in the penalty area to Mollo, who rolled the ball into the empty net - 2:0!
Results of the match.
Honestly, right now it’s difficult to objectively comment on everything that happened in the first match at the Krestovsky stadium. Not a single removal from Ural was one hundred percent. In the episode with Bikfalvi - 50/50, in the episode with Pavlyuchenko - it was also possible to limit ourselves to yellow. It's no joke, but the moment with Emelyanov's participation was perhaps the cleanest in this regard - a mutual clash and a second yellow card. The only point is that Eskov could have sent off Dzyuba as well, Artyom played rudely with his elbow. But would this affect the result? Hard to tell. One thing is for sure: there will be numerous analyzes in the press and on TV.
For now, let's state the dry facts: Zenit began the history of Krestovsky with a victory, not allowing CSKA to take the lead. "Ural" demonstrated today very good football, but... Somewhere discipline really failed. The Ekaterinburg team showed that they are capable of not only finally leaving the zone of transitional matches in the next rounds, but also winning the Russian Cup.
