The meeting ended with a victory for the hosts with a score of 2:1. The match score was opened by visiting striker Mohamed Konate in the 24th minute. In the 32nd minute, Ivan Sergeev equalized the score. 5 minutes later, Mateo Cassierra scored the decisive goal of the match.
The guests started the match with great pressure. “Akhmat” felt very good on the field of the current champion of Russia. And Zenit looked very slow in the first half hour. Sergei Semak’s team moved their opponents closer to their penalty area in order to use the free space in the opponent’s half. But the hosts made many mistakes and therefore failed to create danger in front of Shelia’s goal.
And in the 24th minute, Konaté gave his team the advantage. The striker carried the ball from the center of the field, beat Adamov and rolled the ball into the empty goal. The Grozny team converted their first shot on target. The missed goal refreshed Zenit. The hosts managed to score the first shot on goal after half an hour. And in the 32nd minute, Ivan Sergeev equalized the score. Claudinho struck, but hit Sergeev, who handled the ball and shot. But the owners didn’t stop there. After 5 minutes, the St. Petersburg team scored the second. Gustavo Mantuan crossed into the penalty area, where Mateo Cassierra carefully headed the ball towards goal. At the break, the score remained unchanged.
Despite the score 2:1, in the 60th minute the St. Petersburg team was inferior in the number of shots (7-10) and shots on target (2-3). After an hour of the match, Zenit went on the defensive and worked to maintain the result. Akhmat was unable to find free space and create an opportunity. The guests were visibly tired and the substitutions bore no fruit.
“There are good matches in which we manage to control the flow of the match throughout the match. In some, we don’t do very well. That’s normal. Unfortunately, we scored a goal and had to cope In the first half we were unreliable in defense and in the second half we were more reliable, we did not give the opponent the opportunity to create chances in front of our goal . We could have scored a third to end the match more calmly,” Semak said after the match.
“Probably, the time has come when you need to talk with the team. About the current situation. It is not easy, but not difficult. Six matches without victories. If we take the figure separately, it is important. But our opponents were “I’m not weak, so I wouldn’t be so adamant. Victories are very necessary. We are trying to find a way out of this situation. I am doing everything possible to correct the situation,” Romashchenko commented on his team’s defeat.
Zenit, having won, scored 26 points and reduced the gap with the leader to 2 points. Akhmat suffered a third consecutive defeat and fell into the play-off zone.
Yahya Hasanov, Athletistic
Source: Sport
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