Zenit beat Rostov and went to the final of the Russian Cup

Zenit took the next step to the final « Fonbet » of the Russian Cup. He entered the decisive stage of the RPL path, confidently understanding with the Rostov’s semifinal round. Having won the first match on a foreign field with a score of 1: 0, the Zenitites in their own, having suffered a little in the first half, eventually beat Rostovites even a little larger – 2: 0.

Zenit, which in this match, of course, cost without half of those players who usually perform key functions in the country’s championship, rebuilt the game for more than a quarter of an hour. Not without torment. It was unlikely that the stands were pleased to watch how Rostov, which, in theory, was supposed to be slightly timid, instead quite brazenly, without a special look at the rear rushing to the giant. And this is not that stupid impudence. In the end, there are no hints of reckoning for it for a long time. And the Zenit goalkeeper Denis Adamov, meanwhile, has to be terribly difficult when Nikolai Komlichenko beats his head on his goal, it’s good that it is possible to get the ball under the crossbar.

The hint appeared in the middle of the half, when the scoop of Ilzat Akhmetov found the penalty of Alexander Sobolev inside. Zenit striker hit irresistibly, but immediately became convinced that viewing the pass on VAR is by no means a difficult formality: something is not right there, something requires careful study. Sobolev’s goal was nevertheless canceled. It was difficult to discern with the naked eye, the armed armed defined him confidently.

But a little later this episode could already be safely called a symptom. The symptom of the changes in the game. Sobolev got the opportunity to accept the ball due to the fact that the Rostov defense, just now tailored and dense, suddenly lost the density: when there are too many free sites, Zenit players, even if there is no vein, Maxim Glushenkov or Luis Enrique, turn into an extremely dangerous detachment.

And then the trend only intensified. Pedru ran on the left, not meeting any resistance, almost fifty meters, almost reaching the goalkeeper. Mateo Kascierra got a ball near her, not finding none of the opponents nearby, and then calmly walked back with him. Rostovites helped out the unprofitability of the Zenitites and the fact that they stopped their activity with their own activity – did not pat on the hole in a panic, exacerbating their position, and in any successful case flew forward, straining the Petersburgers.

With audacity, the guests seemed to be in order and immediately after the break. And the same Komlichenko almost literally did not pierce Adamov’s ball – the goalkeeper stood in close combat. The field on the field insisted that some kind of intrigue in this pair would still live. But she died, oddly enough, quickly.

Zenit stepped forward after a simple, without frills of attack. She caught a canopy into the penalty area, and inside her, the Rostovites lost their pedru, who figured out a lot in the situation, performing a discount along the gate. The discount, in turn, found a fencer’s sword, a long leg of Sobolev, thrown forward, like a sword of a fencer.

And after that, Rostov somehow completely wilted. Trying to pile up, he immediately missed the most acute attack. Kasserra and Alexander Erokhin ran away. It was good and good for them. The attack ended with nothing, because Erokhin got into the rack, and the referees were also recorded outside the game. But about the condition in which Rostov found himself, he spoke eloquently.

He came out of this state only after he missed once more, now – after the angular draw. Pedru again showed himself to be a wonderful assistant, sharply and aimed by sending the ball diagonally to the goalkeeper, noticing, it seems, by moving in the right direction of Cascierera. Rostov mentor Jonathan Alba at these minutes is possible, he sadly admitted to himself that he had not guessed with the first replacement. Somehow everything fell apart precisely after he sent Sako on the field.

Zenit reached the final of the RPL path, in which he will meet with the winner of the Dynamo -Ostska pair (a return match was later held in it; in the first, the Dynamo lost to the army – 1: 2). Rostov sank into the “path of the regions”. At the second stage of his semifinal round, Rostovites are waiting for a collision with Lokomotiv.

Alexey Prepokhov