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On this Sunday, four matches of the 21st round of the Russian "Premier" League were played, three of which ended in draws with different results - in the most productive and evenly matched Moscow derby, "Moskva" and "Spartak" played, the leader "CSKA" lost two points against "Saturn", "Dinamo" club was saved from defeat by Ž.Karčemarskas, and only "Zenit" achieved a stunning victory. The Russian football opening on Sunday took place in Moscow, where "Moskva" and Moscow's "Spartak" met. The match started without any delay. "Moskva" controlled the ball and midfield more, but did not create many dangerous chances, and in the 35th minute after a high pass from the "Spartak" player into the penalty area, Roman Pavliuchenko scored the first goal of the match with a header. Twenty-second minutes into the second half, "Moskva" tried to equalize, but in the 66th minute, the young "Spartak" defender Roman Shishkin doubled the score with a perfect penalty kick. It seemed that everything was clear in this match, but not giving up since spring, "Moskva" did not surrender, and after two minutes, following a mistake by goalkeeper Woicech Kovalevski, Roman Adamov reduced the score with a close-range shot. After another six minutes, a penalty was awarded for "Spartak" towards the goal, which R.Adamov successfully converted. "Spartak" confidently took action to turn the score in their favor and soon succeeded - after a header hit the crossbar and into the goal, Radoslav Kovac scored. However, "Spartak" failed to maintain the winning score, as in the last minutes of the match under almost identical circumstances, Hector Brakamonte hit the post, and first to touch the ball, Sergey Semak equalized the score. The entertaining, productive, and intriguing match ended with a score of 3-3. In another match in the Russian capital, the "Lithuanian" Moscow "Dinamo" met Samara's "Krylja Sovetov." Lithuanian national team players Žydrūnas Karčemarskas and Robertas Poškus appeared in the starting lineup of Moscow "Dinamo" from the first minutes. The first half started quite passively, with the teams studying each other. However, the calm start ended quickly, and R.Poškus with his teammate organized an attack on the "Krylja Sovetov" goal, which ended unsuccessfully. This attack seemed to awaken the visitors, and they quickly organized an assault, resulting in a goal by Kšyštofas Lagievka. "Dinamo" started to attack more actively, but struggled to break through Samara's club defense, with most dangerous attacks coming from set pieces. Nevertheless, after one of the set-piece situations, R.Poškus managed to head the ball, which hit the goalkeeper and rebounded to "Dinamo" player Leandro, who equalized the score. In the second half, "Dinamo" coach made a couple of substitutions, after which R.Poškus did not return to the field. In the 54th minute, "Dinamo" defender D.Kolodinas handled the ball in the penalty area, and the match referee awarded a penalty, which was saved by Ž.Karčemarskas, preventing his team from defeat. The remaining part of the match had few dangerous situations, and both teams' goalkeepers played confidently, resulting in the match ending in a 1-1 draw. In St. Petersburg, the local "Zenit" met the season revelation Nalchik's "Spartak." The visitors tried to confirm their status as the season's revelation, as they unexpectedly launched several dangerous attacks in the beginning of the match and could have scored a goal, but failed to do so. However, halfway through the first half, "Zenit" confirmed that they were the favorites in this match - pushing the ball into the goal in a literal sense to take the lead thanks to the club's newcomer, Dutchman Fernando Ricksen. Ending the first half, the hosts had another opportunity to score, but the visitors' goalkeeper played successfully. After the break, "Zenit" attacked more, and the visitors' defense made more mistakes. The hosts scored three more goals and won with a score of 4-0. After this victory, "Zenit" is only one point behind the leading trio, with a great chance to win some medals this year. In the last round match, Ramenskoye's "Saturn" met the champions "CSKA." The "Saturn" players started the match more actively. The home team's most productive players this season, Alexey Yeryomenko and Edgar Česnauskis, stood out with long-range shots. Later, the initiative was taken over by the "CSKA" players, who increasingly threatened the "Saturn" goal, but somewhat unexpectedly, after a corner kick, Ghanaian legionnaire Baffour Gyan scored a beautiful header goal, putting the hosts ahead. In the second half, "CSKA" played faster and more fiercely. This paid off in the 62nd minute, when Serge Ignashevich equalized the score with a header after a penalty kick. Later, in a controversial incident, the referee awarded a penalty kick to "CSKA" towards the "Saturn" goal, which was successfully converted by "CSKA" defender Daniel Carvalho. However, the "army men" did not celebrate a victory that day, as the referee awarded another penalty kick for a foul against Serb Simon Vukčevič within three minutes of the end of the match. "Saturn" captain A.Jeryomenko successfully converted it, and the match ended in a 2-2 draw. Two matches will take place on Monday - the outsider Moscow "Torpedo" will have a chance to catch up with "Dinamo" if they win at home against Vladivostok's "Luch-Energia", and Moscow's "Lokomotiv" could overtake "CSKA" and "Spartak" in Kazan and become the new leader of the championship.
21st round Sunday match statistics
3 – 3
35’ [0 - 1] Roman Pavliuchenko
66’ [0 - 2] Roman Shishkin
68’ [1 - 2] Roman Adamov
74’ [2 - 2] Roman Adamov (11 m)
76’ [2 - 3] Radoslav Kovac
87’ [3 - 3] Sergey Semak
I. Dedura ("Spartak") was not registered for the match.
1 – 1
9’ [0 - 1] Kšyštof Langievka
29’ [1 - 1] Leandro Fernandez
54’ Florin Shoava ("Krylja Sovetov") missed a penalty kick.
Ž.Karčemarskas ("Dinamo") played the entire match, while R. Poškus ("Dinamo") played until the 46th minute. E. Raziulis ("Krylja Sovetov") was not registered for the match.
4 – 0
25’ [1 - 0] Fernando Ricksen
69’ [2 - 0] Andriy Arshavin
85’ [3 - 0] Igor Denisov
90’ [4 - 0] Pavel Mares
E. Majus ("Zenit") was not registered for the match.
2 – 2
32’ [1 - 0] Baffour Gyan
62’ [1 - 1] Sergey Ignashevich
78’ [1 - 2] Daniel Carvalho (11 m)
87’ [2 - 2] Aleksei Jeriomenko (11 m)
E. Česnauskis ("Saturn") played the entire match, while R. Džiaukštas ("Saturn") was not registered for the match. D. Šemberas ("CSKA") played the entire match.
Tournament Table
