There was no Russian Premier League action on Saturday as Russia celebrated Victory Day, marking the anniversary of the end of World War II.
And the big teams celebrated their own Victory Day as RPL Matchday 8 saw the big guns announce their intentions for the title. CSKA, Spartak Moscow, Zenit St Petersburg and Rubin Kazan all completed important victories. The table is still tight, with five points separating the top eight teams.
The top four:
Rubin Kazan 17pts, CSKA Moscow 16pts, Zenit and FC Moscow 15pts, Spartak Moscow 13pts.
Bottom two:
Saturn Moscow 5pts, Khimki 2pts
Top Goal Scorers:
Dominguez (Rubin Kazan) and Wellington (Spartak Moscow) 5 goals, Pavel Pogrebniak (Zenit) four goals.
Sunday
Dynamo Moscow 1 - 2 CSKA Moscow
The first game of Matchday 8 started off with old city rivals Dynamo and CSKA facing each other. This encounter was a dress rehearsal for the Russian Cup semi-final this week; the winner to face current RPL champions Rubin Kazan.
The tale of these two old city rivals was that Russian national team defender Vasili Berezutski scored in the 90th minute to the disappointment of the home fans as CSKA came from a goal down to beat Dynamo 2-1.
Dmitri Kombarov scored first for Dynamo in the fifth minute.The Army boys then had Tomas Necid to thank for the equaliser, the 19-year-old Czech Republic striker was a 78th minute substitute and scored after being on the field for only four minutes.
It’s the second week in a row the Army Men have come back to win after being a goal down; last week CSKA beat Kryliya Sovetov(Samara) 3-1.
CSKA climb up to second, a point behind current champions Rubin Kazan. Inconsistent Dynamo fall from fifth to eighth.
Form Guide - Last Five Games
Dynamo Moscow – WLLWL
Points: 12 Position: 5th
CSKA Moscow – WWLWW
Points: 16 Position: 2nd
Terek Grozny 2 - 2 Amkar Perm
After having four goals ruled out in seven games, Terek Grozny's manager, Vyacheslav Grozny, had some strong words to say to the Russian media about referees and some “hucksters” that were trying to undermine his team’s cause.
All the drama occurred after Matchday Seven when the Chechen side lost 2-1 to Tom Tomsk in West Siberia.
Matchday Eight saw the Chechen’s side luck turn; the Tsentralnyi Stadium in Pyatigorsk was the setting for 12,000 fans to witness a Terek comeback as the home team rescued a point in the 90th minute to record a 2-2 draw with Amakr Perm.
It was tall Romanian striker Daniel Pancu who opened the scoring for the home side; the 31-year-old striker converting a penalty for Terek as early as the second minute.Amkar Perm, who were defeated by FC Moscow last week, responded by having 35-year-old Bulgarian veteran striker Martin Kushev level the score in the28th minute.
The same player also gave Amkar the lead right before half-time.
Then, right at the death when it looked like the away side would get the three points, it was Terek’s 1.87 metre Romanian striker Daniel Pancu who grabbed an equaliser and in the process rescued a point for the home side.Both teams got a point but on the RPL table, they stay where they are.
Form Guide - Last five games
Terek Grozny - LLDLD
Points: 9 Position: 11th
Amkar Perm – DWLLD
Points: 7 Position: 13th
Zenit St. Petersburg 2 -0 Kryliya Sovetov(Samara)
In the last round, Zenit St. Petersburg were upset away by newly promoted Rostov 2-1.This time out, in front of 21,000 at the Petrovski Stadium in St. Petersburg, Zenit were able to beat fourth placed Kryliya Sovetov (Samara).
After a goalless first half it was Russian international midfielder Konstantin Zyryanov who opened the scoring on the 57th minute. After being a substitute in the last two games, Russian national team striker Pavel Pogrebnyak was rewarded with a start for this match and 25-year-old repaid his coach, Dick Advocaat, with the game-clinching goal in 68th minute.
It was the national team player’s third goal in three games and the striker's fourth in the RPL this season.Zenit climb three places up to third while Kryliya Sovetov (Samara) went in the opposite direction down to sixth position.
Form Guide - Last Five Games
Kryliya Sovetov (Samara) -WDWLL Points: 13
Position: 6th
Zenit St Petersburg -DDWLW
Points: 15 Position: 3rd
FC Moscow 0 -0 Lokomotiv Moscow
The Eduard Streltsov Stadium in Moscow was the venue where 8,000 fans bore witness to the biggest fear of any football supporter: the scoreless draw.
The only talking points from this Moscow derby game were the eight yellow cards and a sending-off for Lokomotive’s 26-year-old Montenegro defender Marko Basa, who picked up his second yellow card in the 58th minute.
FC Moscow go down to fourth place, still only two points behind RPL leaders Rubin Kazan, and Lokomotiv Moscow stay in tenth position.
Form Guide - Last 5 Games
FC Moscow – WWWWD
Points: 15, Position: 4th
Lokomotiv Moscow –LDLWD
Points: 10 Position: 10th
Rubin Kazan 4 - 0 Tom' Tomsk
Current RPL champions Rubin Kazan have enjoyed three big wins in the last week. The leaders of the RPL thrashed the Aliens of Saturn Moscow 5-0.during Matchday 7, beat FC Moscow 1-0 to advance to the final of the Russian Cup and, just for fun, the team from Kazan thrashed Tom Tomsk 4-0 to keep themselves at the top of the RPL.
The 15,000 at the Tsentralnyi Stadium in Kazan were singing at full voice at the beginning, middle and end of this home game.
The first half saw Russian national team defender Roman Sharonov, the 33-year-old veteran, open the scoring in the 23rd minute.Turkish midfielder Gokdeniz Karadeniz then doubled the lead only three minutes later after he had been set up by the in-form and skilful Argentinean, Alejandro Dominguez .
Russian striker Roman Adamov got the third goal for Rubin 12 minutes from time after he was set up by Christian Noboa.
Hasan Kabze, a 79th minute Turkish substitute made it 4-0 in the 84th minute to complete the rout.
Rubin stay atop of the RPL ladder, a solitary point above CSKA Moscow, while Tom Tomsk fall two spots to ninth.
Form Guide - Last Five Games
Tom Tomsk - DWLWL
Points: 10 Position: 9th
Rubin Kazan -WWLWW
Points: 17 Position: 1st
Spartak Moscow 4-0 Saturn Moscow
Spartak Moscow thrashed the Aliens of Saturn Moscow 4-0.
The RPL preview was right when it anticipated that the person who had the job of adding the goals on the scoreboard could be very busy in this game.
Last week, the RPL review stated that Saturn had reached their nadir after they were beaten by Rubin Kazan 5-0.
The RPL round-up concedes it was wrong.
Every week Saturn Moscow seem to find a new low.
The Aliens are now only two points from the bottom.
The first goal for Spartak Moscow came in the sixth minute. Spartak’s Brazilian attacker Alex found Russian international midfielder Vladimir Bystrov lurking near the outside of the box.
The 25-year-old left his Saturn defender for dead as he motored towards the byline, there he had the composure to lay the ball into the path of Yevgeni Makeyev, the Russian teenager scoring his first ever goal in the RPL.
The second goal came during the 21st minute of play. In-form Brazilian striker Welliton ran onto a pass that was delivered from midfield.
The Brazilian's rebounded shot fell into the path of Spartak’s big No. 9 Artem Dzyuba, the 20-year-old Russian striker netting his first for the season.
A busy first half saw another goal arrive for Spartak in the 26th minute. Vladimir Bystrov was tearing the Aliens apart and he set up Welliton, whose clever run into the box allowed him to shoot the ball into the goal.
Spartak should have scored more but only converted one more chance; the goal coming right on the 72nd minute. Wellington got his second goal of the game and fifth of the season, taking the Brazilian to the top of the RPL goals scoring charts.
Form Guide - Last Five Games
Spartak Moscow – LWWLW
Points: 13 Position: 5th
The Aliens – DLDLL
Points: 5 Position: 15th
Spartak Nalchik 0-0 Khimki
The RPL preview speculated that the neutrals would not be enthralled by this contest. It was no surprise, therefore, that these teams played out a 0-0 draw at the Spartak Stadium.Khimki 'keeper Roman Berezovsky was the hero for the visitors after the referee awarded a penalty right at the death.Berezovsky stopped Aleksandr Amisulashvili's powerful shot to earn Khimki a lucky draw
Form Guide - Last Five Games:
Spartak Nalchik – DLWLD
Points: 6 Position: 14th
FC Khimki - LLLDD
Points: 3 Position: 16th
Kuban Krasnodar 0-0 Rostov-Na-Donu
The Kuban stadium and its 12,000 supporters greeted newly promoted Rostov and current giant killers of the RPL.The past two matches have seen Rostov beat 2005 UEFA Cup winners CSKA Moscow and current holders Zenit St. Petersburg.However, it was back to normal in this game as the Canaries of Kuban held out the giant killers of Rostov for a 0-0 draw.
Form Guide - Last Five Games:
Kuban Krasnodar - DLWDD
Points: 9, Position: 12th
FC Rostov-Na -Donu: LDWWD
Points: 13, Position: 7th
Con Stamocostas, Goal.com
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