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In the Premier League of Russia, the weekend brought an unprecedented "drought" of goals in the 25th round matches - only six goals were scored in eight games played. Four of them were scored in one match, two ended with minimal victories for the home teams, and in the other matches, the teams failed to score.
In the only Saturday match, Moscow's "Torpedo" traveled to face Yaroslavl's "Shinnik" in a battle for seventh place. The hosts took the lead after A. Shirko's goal in the 25th minute, but I. Semshov equalized the score seven minutes later, and then turned the score in favor of the visitors in the second half. The victory was secured for the Muscovites by S. Budilin, and "Torpedo" surpassed their rivals in the league table.
Such a start did not promise anything unusual, but in Sunday's matches, only two goals were scored - A. Bochkov helped "Rostov" defeat another outsider, Vladikavkaz's "Alania," and surpass them in the league table, while R. Kovac, along with Moscow's "Spartak," defeated Samara's "Krylya Sovetov" resistance and unexpectedly returned to the race for the championship title.
"Spartak" received this "gift" because the other three contenders for first place played to goalless draws: "CSKA" with D. Sembera and "Lokomotiv" on the road against respectively "Moskva" and "Dynamo" clubs in two capital derbies, and St. Petersburg's "Zenit" ended their away match without goals against Moscow's "Saturn," where R. Dziuksas played the entire match.
There were no goals in the matches of Perm's "Amkar" against Grozny's "Terek," who had fewer and fewer hopes of staying in the league, as well as Kazan's "Rubin," which dropped to sixth place, and Tomsk's "Tom," who occupied the bottom place in the league table. The next round of the Russian championship will be played in two weeks, with only five rounds left until the end of the season.
