© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday, the penultimate matches of the 29th round were played in the Russian Premier League, after which the two strongest teams in the country were revealed - "CSKA" with Deividas Šemberas, who defended the champion's title by defeating the "Luch-Energia" team, "Spartak" won a tense match against "Rostov" and secured the second ticket to the Champions League. Meanwhile, "Zenit" and "Lokomotiv", who defeated their opponents, kept the intrigue for the bronze medals until the last round.
Moscow's "Spartak", needing a victory to keep their hopes of fighting for the title alive, visited Rostov. Despite the match not having a significant importance for "Rostov", the team immediately showed who the hosts were. After 8 minutes in the first half, Latvian J.Laizans scored a penalty kick to put the hosts ahead.
After thirteen minutes, "Spartak" captain J.Titov equalized, but the guests did not have long to celebrate as "Rostov" once again scored after three minutes through Milos Kruscic. However, before the end of the half, "Spartak" once again equalized the score - J.Titov scored a penalty kick.
In the second half, "Rostov" adopted a counter-attacking strategy, while "Spartak" pushed forward and in the middle of the half, R. Pavlyuchenko managed to turn the score in favor of "Spartak". However, the Moscow team's advantage did not last long, as three minutes later a penalty kick was awarded to "Spartak", which was successfully converted by M. Osinov.
Despite conceding a goal, "Spartak" did not give up and in the 82nd minute, R. Shishkin's shot on goal was parried by the home team goalkeeper straight to R. Pavlyuchenko, who successfully put the ball into the net. "Rostov" failed to equalize and thus "Spartak" won 4-3.
However, this victory for "Spartak" did not have a greater significance, as in Vladivostok, "Luch-Energia" lost to the leader "CSKA". The "Army Men" scored four goals without reply and secured the 2006 champion title before the end of the competition.
Among the champions, who were supported throughout the match by D. Šemberas, the Brazilians stood out - D.Carvalho scored one goal, while V.Love scored a hat-trick.
In another "Lithuanian" club's match, Moscow's "Dynamo" and "Torpedo" faced off. Both teams tried to demonstrate good football from the beginning. "Torpedo" launched a couple of good attacks but conceded the first goal. Former longtime "Torpedo" attacking leader I. Semshov scored from a sharp angle.
The second half started with active actions from "Dynamo" and their efforts paid off, as "Torpedo" defender E. Jaager scored an own goal. After the second goal, "Dynamo" slowed down, while "Torpedo" managed to reduce the deficit.
After scoring a goal, "Torpedo" could have equalized, but Z. Karchemarskas' excellent game prevented them from doing so, and "Dynamo" won 2-1.
In Yaroslavl, "Shinnik", who will play in the first league next season, met St. Petersburg's "Zenit", who were fighting for the bronze medals. Somewhat unexpectedly, "Zenit" started playing as if they were contenders for the medals. After a while, "Zenit" recovered, but most of their goal attempts were long shots.
In the second half, the situation changed slightly. "Zenit" attacked, while "Shinnik" counterattacked. In the 68th minute, "Zenit" defender M. Shkartel headed the ball into the goal. It seemed that everything was clear in this match.
However, in the 90th minute, "Shinnik" successfully converted a penalty kick and the score was level. "Zenit" players did not lose their composure and went on the attack. In one of these attacks, F. Ricksen's shot rebounded off A. Jordake into "Shinnik" goal.
With a score of 2-1, "Zenit" won and thus kept the hopes of their fans alive to win the bronze medals.
In Perm, "Amkar", who had achieved all their goals, met "Lokomotiv", who were fighting for the bronze. The match started without a warning, and in the 9th minute, "Lokomotiv" foreign legionnaire from Scotland G.O'Connor scored the opening goal. Later, "Lokomotiv" caused panic in "Amkar's" defense, but "Amkar" not only managed to defend, but also scored the equalizing goal.
In the second half, "Amkar" also started to play actively, but despite that, the visitors surged ahead after Z.Shaker's goal. After this goal, both teams had the opportunity to score, but only "Lokomotiv" defender B. Ivanovic succeeded. "Lokomotiv" won 3-1 away.
In Tomsk, "Tom" calmly won 1-0 against "Moscow", who failed to capitalize on their chances to equalize the score.
Finally, in Moscow, "Saturn" faced Kazan's "Rubin". With the help of two penalty kicks, the visitors won 2-1 with a minimal difference and increased their chances to participate in the Intertoto Cup next year.
In Samara, the local "Krylya Sovetov" narrowly lost 1-2 to Nalchik's "Spartak". The visitors scored the opening goal at the end of the first half. Although "Krylya Sovetov" managed to equalize in the second half, "Spartak" scored the second goal and won 2-1.
29th round statistics:
2-1
29’ [1 - 0] Igor Semshov
60’ [2 - 0] Enar Jaager (own goal)
70’ [2 - 1] Jorge Jokic
1-2
68’ [0 - 1] Martin Shkartel
90’ [1 - 1] Igor Budisha
90’+2’ [1 - 2] Andre Jordake (own goal)
1-0
68’ [0 - 1] Valeriy Klimov
1-2
39’ [0 - 1] Ansar Ajupov (penalty)
65’ [1 - 1] Martin Jakubko
69’ [1 - 2] Ansar Ajupov (penalty)
1-3
9’ [0 - 1] Garry O’Connor
23’ [1 - 1] Vitaliy Grishin
55’ [1 - 2] Zuagi Shaker
78’ [1 - 3] Branislav Ivanovich
3-4
8’ [1 - 0] Jurij Laizans
21’ [1 - 1] Jegor Titov
24’ [2 - 1] Milosh Kruscic
39’ [2 - 2] Jegor Titov
62’ [2 - 3] Roman Pavliuchenko
65’ [3 - 3] Mikhail Osinov (penalty)
82’ [3 - 4] Roman Pavliuchenko
1-2
45’ [0 - 1] Levan Gvazava
54’ [1 - 1] Sergey Vinogradov
71’ [1 - 2] Roman Koncedalov
0-4
15’ [0 - 1] Ricardo Carvalho
20’ [0 - 2] Vagner Love
50’ [0 - 3] Vagner Love
61’ [0 - 4] Vagner Love
