The secret of Zenit's success is judge Eskov.
The first match at the new stadium in St. Petersburg turned out to be shameful. Although Zenit won, it was obviously not without the help of the referee. Let us remind you that Alexey Eskov sent off Eric Bikfalvi in the 60th minute, and then Roman Pavlyuchenko, who did not agree with the referee’s decision.
And only in the majority did Zenit manage to score two goals against Ural. The first, in the 86th minute, was headed into the net by Ivanovich, and the second (by this time the referee also sent Emelyanov to rest) was scored by Mollo in added time.
This fight caused a very mixed reaction among both fans and professional athletes and specialists.
- Lawlessness! Well, what is this Eskov doing? You don’t know how to judge, but why do it so brazenly?! If I were Tarkhanov, I would lead the team off the field. Guys, what are you doing?! It was immediately obvious that Bikfalvi played the ball first. Smolnikov was late to the ball; take his foot away and he would not have received damage. This is not a violation on the part of the Ural player. And Eskov became the second Koshshoi (referee of the recent match between Real Madrid and Bayern, who made a lot of mistakes. – Ed.), - famous former referee Sergei Khusainov told Sport Express.
“Victory with a taste of shit! Zenit’s signature style. The judge understood that 40 billion were invested in the stadium not in order to lose the first match,” restaurateur and Spartak fan Evgeniy Keksin wrote on his Facebook page.
Popular sports commentator Svetoch commented on the fight in St. Petersburg using a screenshot.
This is the very moment when Mollo scores the second goal against Ural. Svetoch's followers joke that the photo is missing a judge.
– I didn’t see all the moments. A foul in the penalty area is, of course, punishable by a card. The judge was nearby - the decision was his to make. To put an end to it: I’m sure that Bikfalvi received the second yellow card, I don’t know about the two subsequent deletions,” Sports.ru quotes Zenit head coach Mircea Lucescu as saying.
– It was impossible to take the team off the field; they would be disqualified. The team played well, but the referee intervened in the game. Even in the first half, Emelyanov played the ball. Bikqualfi cleared the ball. All football players fall, you can’t give red cards for this. Three deletions are not murder, but [the referee] did everything for Zenit to win. It's hard to play with seven of us. You can't judge like that. I understand that the new stadium is magnificent, but you can’t judge it that way. We will write in the protocol that we do not agree with Bikvalfi. I don’t know about Pavlyuchenko yet. The judge probably got a kick out of the red cards,” Alexander Tarkhanov said at a press conference.
Famous football journalist Igor Rabiner assessed the match this way.
“Circus. Now, for Zenit to win at home against Ural, two need to be sent off. Moreover, the first player, Bikfalvi, played the ball. And by inertia he hit the leg,” the expert noted.
– What should I say? You saw everything yourself. Call Eskov... Zenit didn’t even know where to run before we were sent off. In short, draw your own conclusions,” Ural President Grigory Ivanov told Sport Express.
– I shouldn’t comment on this. For me, there was nothing,” said SE Bikfalvi.
A complaint will be sent to the Russian government.
The opening match of the Krestovsky stadium on April 22, 2017 turned into an unprecedented scandal. In the match of the 24th round of the RFPL, Zenit St. Petersburg and Ural Ekaterinburg met.
The guests are very confident in the spring portion of the championship. Four victories in a row and reaching the final of the Russian Cup - for the first time in the history of Ural.
On the Zenit Arena lawn, which objectively looks worse than the field of the small Ural stadium (!), the “bumblebees” did not give up. Zenit could not do anything with the guests' strong defense, which received many praises from football experts. And the Ekaterinburg attackers were getting closer and closer to the goal of the St. Petersburg team, who were once saved from a certain goal by the bar.
The nightmare on the field began in the 60th minute. Drawing the attack away from his goal, Ural midfielder Eric Bikfalfi knocked the ball out in a tackle. He knocked him out, but then Igor Smolnikov’s ankle got caught under the spikes. For English football, as commentators noted, this is a standard game situation, but referee Eskov immediately showed the Yekaterinburg player the yellow card. As this was his second yellow card, he left the field.
The unfair decision blew up the residents of Yekaterinburg. The referee especially got it from Roman Pavlyuchenko, for which he was “awarded” with a red card. In the third part of the match, “Ural” was left with nine players, the “” correspondent reports.
But even under such circumstances, the St. Petersburg team could not bypass the defensive redoubts of the guests. In the 86th minute, after a free kick at the Ural goal, Branislav Ivanovich heads the ball into the post and immediately pushes goalkeeper Nikolai Zabolotny into the corner of the goal - he is unable to reflect the rebounded ball. The referee does not react to the violation.
Meanwhile, a brawl breaks out in the penalty area - Zenit player Artem Dzyuba hits Roman Emelyanov on the back of the head. The judge shows both of them a yellow card, and the Yekaterinburg resident a red card, taking into account the previous yellow one.
"Ural" remained on the field with eight men and almost equalized the score in extra time. The final result of the match was 2:0 by Mollo.
Many were under the impression that Zenit had to win at any cost. The head of Gazprom, Alexey Miller, watched the match from the VIP stand.
“Ural” lost points on the “Krestovsky” field, but outplayed the St. Petersburg team in skill and earned the praise of fans not only in Yekaterinburg. After the match, his ratings in the Russian Cup final against Lokomotiv will clearly increase.
Governor Evgeny Kuyvashev expressed his readiness to protect the team's rear. He promised to turn to the “sports” Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko with a request to evaluate the refereeing of the match in St. Petersburg.
The Minister of Sports of the Sverdlovsk Region Leonid Rapoport is pleased with the way Ural fought with one of the leaders of the championship. He spoke about this in Sports.ru.
Leonid Rapoport, Minister of Sports of the Sverdlovsk Region:
My first emotion was this: this is just too much. You can earn money for this in a decent company. It’s a shame, of course, but I’m pleased with how the team fought in the game against one of the championship leaders. The ball didn’t go into our goal, we were unlucky somewhere. But the team listens and hears the head coach - all the settings were fully implemented. The guys were left with a feeling of dissatisfaction. I think now they will be angrier in the final match of the Russian Cup after such a result in the match with a top club.
Let us remind you that the first official match at the St. Petersburg stadium (Zenit Arena) ended in a victory for the hosts with a score of 2:0. During the meeting between Ural and Zenit, referee Alexey Eskov removed three players from the Ekaterinburg team from the field. The first was a double removal in the 60th minute: Alexey Eskov showed the second yellow card to Ural midfielder Eric Bikfalvi. Dissatisfied with this decision, Pavlyuchenko attacked the referee and received a straight red card, which resulted in his removal from the field. Then, in the 87th minute, after a clash with Zenit forward Artem Dzyuba, Ural defender Roman Emelyanov received a red card.
The president of the Yekaterinburg team has already stated that our players will receive the same bonus for this game as if they had won the match. “The guys are great, they fought and played, they showed that they are real men and we have a team,” said Grigory Ivanov. A quick look at one of the popular forums for Zenit fans shows that even they agree with him.