Spartak lost its coach and lost. But Akhmat hasn’t won in nine rounds!

Spartak lost its coach and lost. But Akhmat hasn’t won in nine rounds!

Anatoly Romanov December 3, 2023, 21:20 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Romashchenko broke the black streak by reuniting with his former team.

Akhmat’s nine-game winless streak was broken by a victory over Spartak. But the rojiblancos lost for the first time in four days.

Sobolev was once again left out of Spartak’s starting lineup, despite two assists in Kaliningrad. Guillermo Abascal once again trusted the speed of the team in front and the Promes-Ignatov couple. “Akhmat”, in turn, acted as the “number two”, exerting high pressure in the episodes and relying mainly on the quick feet of Berisha. However, overall, the match in Grozny lacked high-speed attacks. With the score 0:0, the rojiblancos got several potentially dangerous corner kicks, but after one of them they received a strong counterattack into their own goal. Berisha stayed in midfield against Prutsev and could have escaped one-on-one, but what a great tackle Danil made – just brilliant!

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However, as the first half progressed, Berisha became excited and began to put more and more pressure on the Spartak defenders. At one point he tried to win a penalty by throwing the ball to Duarte, he found a contract with Selikhov, but he went too far. The referee realized that the Kosovar himself had caused the foul and did not award the penalty. But at the end of the half hour of play, Berisha created Agalarov’s goal with his run and passed it from him. It is not the first time that Babich has been disappointed by the lack of speed in the high defense, and the top scorer of the 2021/2022 RPL season scored his third goal this season and the first of the match.

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The most interesting thing is that the episode didn’t end there. Berisha celebrated the goal in front of the Spartak bench. Abascal did not like the provocative behavior of his opponent: the Spaniard suddenly “blew the roof off”: the coach pushed the player! Bernard received a yellow card and Guillermo received a well-deserved expulsion.

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At half-time, Spartak had a double advantage over Akhmat in accurate passes in the opponent’s third, but in shots the advantage of the Muscovites was small: 5:3 (on goal: 3:2). However, at the end of the half Spartak recovered. Once again, Prutsev played very subtly, finding Zinkovsky with a pass on the left half-back and the winger shot deftly into the full-back.

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“Akhmat” in the current RPL season is the worst in terms of play on its field (23% points so far). But in the match against Spartak, from the appearance of Miroslav Romashchenko’s team, it was impossible to say that they had a “domestic illness.” The Grozny team played strongly in the first minutes after the break and scored quickly. Todorovic’s attack spread panic in the red and white defense, the Bosnian escaped from Ryabchuk and Babic, and the Bulgarian Kovacev scored on the rebound. It seemed that Abaskal’s instructions, suspended from his duties by the referee, did not reach the Spartak players in the locker room.

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Spartak’s offensive game was not going well, so Sobolev’s departure was suggested. The classic center forward appeared on the red and white field in the 56th minute in place of Ignatov. Almost from the first touch, Sobolev organized a chance for Promes, but then he himself got lost in the forest of a large number of Akhmat’s defending players. Romashchenko, in turn, switched to playing with five defenders, adding the versatile Shvets to the defensive line. Thus, the local coach drove the team deeper into his own area, although even without this he managed to destroy well.

In the end, “Spartak” pressed, however, the red and whites did not get a real push. Atypical individual actions, aggravating passes, good openings in Shelia’s area: Abascal’s team had problems with all this. Sobolev twice received the ball in the Akhmat area, but missed the mark. The Muscovites ended up taking more than twice as many shots: 12:5, but in terms of shots on goal the result was a tie (4:4). The last minutes turned out even calmer than Romashchenko expected: Akhmat finally won at home.