The referee made a serious mistake in favor of Zenit. But Smolov surprised everyone, even the minority.

The referee made a serious mistake in favor of Zenit. But Smolov surprised everyone, even the minority.

Anatoly Romanov November 29, 2023, 20:50 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Dynamo lost the eliminated Carrascal, but still defeated the champion.

In the first RPL Path quarterfinal match of the Russian Cup, Dynamo defeated Zenit, despite finishing the match in the minority.

Both coaches changed goalkeepers for the cup match: Dynamo replaced Leshchuk with Shunin, and Zenit with Adamov instead of Kerzhakov. The St. Petersburg team unexpectedly did not include Wendel, who, according to Sergei Semak, was not feeling well. Marcel Lička also put Carrascal and Ngamalyo in the starting eleven, and left Smolov and Makarov on the bench, as if repeating the change made during the break in the derby against CSKA.

From the first minutes, the pace of the match between Dynamo and Zenit was good, but the match passed without goals. The Muscovites dominated in the center: they had more possession of the ball and a territorial advantage, while those from Saint Petersburg defended in a 3-4-2-1 formation and hoped to take advantage of the free space that appeared in the home team’s field. in the countryside. However, the blue-white-blue team did not know how to react quickly, as Lička’s team was effectively counterattacking. Zenit did not insist on pressing, unlike Dinamo.

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For half an inning, the only shot was a random attempt by Barrios. Soccer players made many mistakes and the game became pure martial arts. Dynamo struck for the first time only midway through the first half; Tyukavin’s shot was more terrible for the Zenit goalkeeper. Prior to this, two or three potentially dangerous attacks by the blue and white were thwarted by cold tackles or interceptions by Rodrigao. With the Brazilian recovered from an injury, Zenit has much more order in defense.

After 45 minutes of play, the score in shots on goal was 1:0 in favor of Dynamo, so the zeros on the scoreboard seemed an absolutely logical result. But just before the break a real scoring opportunity finally arose: in added time Tyukavin, beating Alip in the air, forced Adamov to make a beautiful save. Here Zenit was lucky.

After the break it was clear that the game would not open much until a goal was scored. However, the Russian champion was already better with the ball, Zenit made more touches in the Dynamo area. Barrios continued to include Wendel: if in the first half the regular defensive midfielder got it right before the others, at the beginning of the second the Colombian cut off a penetrating pass in the area to Sergeev. But the center forward did not play well in the Moscow cold: Ivan simply failed. Then Claudinho also got it right from a good position.

And in the 68th minute an episode occurred that changed the course of the game. Judge Kukuyan appeared to make two errors at one point. The referee sent off Carrascal for a second yellow card, although a foul, if any, clearly did not merit a caution. Another strange decision by Kukuyan was to immediately report a violation. The referee should have allowed Zenit to finish the episode, because at that moment Claudinho made a shot behind his back and the blue and white striker escaped one by one. Perhaps, with a hasty whistle, the Sochi player deprived Zenit of a goal, as Dynamo deprived a player.

But Zenit itself is to blame for what happened next. How can you fail like that in an 11 vs. 10 game? And how he got Lichka’s replacement right! The Czech released Smolov, who brilliantly dispersed the counterattack with a pass to Ngamalyo and completed it himself after the Cameroonian left Alip.

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In the final minutes, Semak threw the tall Erokhin and Fernández into the fray to crush Dinamo with crosses. But the attack was completely unsuccessful for the St. Petersburg team. The locals defended themselves well! As a result, today Zenit did not make a single shot on goal in Shunin’s goal, although the total number of shots was almost double that of the opponent (12:7).

The episode of Carrascal’s dismissal was analyzed for the “Championship” by former RPL judge Igor Fedotov:

“Cucuyán’s mistake: he should not have expelled Carrascal. The second yellow card must be made of reinforced concrete. Maybe he saw that Carrascal made actions on the card, but it was a mistake: there was no elimination. The VAR could not intervene because it was the second yellow card. For me this cannot even be considered an infringement; I had to continue the game.”