Athletistic/Football. Former footballer Alexander Bubnov expressed his opinion on the match of the 13th round of the Russian Championship between Fakel and Spartak (2:0).

“This time I can’t say that Abascal made a mistake with the lineup. It’s almost the same team that beat Pari NN, except for Promes, who didn’t come to Voronezh at all . It was clear that Spartak would be difficult against “Fakel”. The “Fakel” team is inflexible, the pitch is not in the best conditions and the weather conditions were difficult. It snowed for two days in a row, and the land turned into a swamp.

In such conditions, the game slows down, it is difficult to control the ball on the court and resort to dribbling. “Fakel” is used to such conditions. The players never complain about their pitch. Abascal even said before the match that “those who adapt more quickly to the conditions will be in a better position.” “Fakel” didn’t even need to adapt. Spartak never managed to rebuild.

Functional training, fighting qualities and the ability to work with the ball were emphasized. “Fakel” agrees with that. Here, we had to simplify the game, use long passes. It was far from the Spartak style. It was difficult for Denisov, and Bongonda and Zinkovsky were not strong in the selection. The rest of the Spartak midfielders were simply inferior to their opponents in the fight. As a result, the visiting offensive line was cut off the ball.

“Spartak” not only did not have an advantage, but even in the first half they looked tired. “Fakel” was better in both ball control and scoring chances. Already in the first half, the Voronezh team could have scored when Markov hit the post. The red and whites failed to give their defenders any breathing space and ultimately made two errors. First there was a penalty and an expulsion after Babich’s mistake, then Khlusevich made a mistake. And that’s it, the game was decided!

  • Bubnov: “It was clear that Krylia Sovetov was playing to the limit, and Zenit was able to add more”


@sportru