Russian national team players beat the Serbian team in a friendly match in Moscow. The meeting, rich in bright moments, ended with a score of 4:0, starting from the 21st minute the guests played with ten men. The Sport correspondent talks about everything that happened on Thursday evening at the VTB Arena.
Brothers foreverFor the first time since February 2022, when the International Football Federation (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) attacked domestic teams and clubs with sanctions prohibiting participation in international competitions due to the events in Ukraine, a truly cool team. Yes, there were 11 “freight trains” in which Valery Karpin’s team lost only once, but only Cameroon (51st place in the FIFA rankings) and Iran (20) could be called interesting rivals… And not a single team from Europe. Yes, there was an agreement on a home friendly match against the national team of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but subsequently the guests refused the meeting.
Serbia is a completely different level! The brotherly country's national team is in 32nd place in the FIFA rankings and is now preparing to travel to the European Championship in Germany, where England, Denmark and Slovenia await in Quartet C.
What happened before the starting whistle
- Grigory Leps performed the patriotic composition “Motherland”;
- Pelageya sang the Russian anthem;< /li>
- Serbian and Russian actor Milos Bikovic struck a symbolic blow to the ball;
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Russian Presidential Aide Igor Levitin, Serbian Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic, Minister of Sports of the Russian Federation Oleg Matytsin, President of the Russian Football Union (RFU) Alexander Dyukov;
- The match was also attended by famous director Emir Kusturica. In a conversation with journalists, he admitted that in September he would begin preparations for the filming of the film “Crime without Punishment” based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoevsky.
There was something sad… Before the match, a minute of silence was announced in memory of one of the most recognizable sports journalists in Russia, Vasily Utkin.
The death of the iconic commentator at the age of 52 became known on Tuesday — two days later, a stadium filled with fans paid tribute to the memory of the master, and a touching video was displayed on the scoreboard with a cut from the comments of the “first man in the media” (this is how ex-Russian national team helmsman Leonid spoke about Utkin Slutsky).
Too friendly guests…And how many of “ours” came out as part of the Serbs! From the first minutes, Milan Gajic and Sasa Zdelar from CSKA, as well as Zenit defender Strahinja Erakovic, played (Spartak's Srdjan Babic remained on the bench). And it had to happen that it was Gajić who became the main anti-hero of the match… The Serbs forgave the hosts: Andrija Zivkovic missed the left corner from a great position. But the Russians didn’t forgive me a couple of minutes later. Daniil Khlusevich rushed down the left flank and was brought down in the penalty area by an army man. The referees initially recorded an offside, but after watching the video replay, Gayich was sent off, and the penalty was successfully converted by Anton Miranchuk.
Ten minutes passed, and the passive Serbian team conceded the second. Captain Alexander Golovin found Konstantin Tyukavin in the penalty area, who threw the back of his head at Maxim Osipenko. The Rostovite sent the ball into the goal, and goalkeeper Djordje Petrovich again fell just short of saving it — 2:0. But Matvey Safonov came to the rescue: five minutes before the end of the first half, Luka Jovic charged from about ten meters away, but was unable to break through our goalkeeper.
After the break, the best scorer in the history of the Serbian national team, Aleksandar Mitrovic, appeared on the field, but he failed to change the course of the match. But substitutes Yuri Gorshkov, who provided an assist in the 52nd minute, and Alexei Miranchuk, who made a touching shot, were able to build on the success of the Russians. The score became anything but friendly…
Despite the substitutions, Serbia never came close to breaking the score. But the Russians, urged on by the stands, could even bring the score to 5:0: brother Lesha “twisted” into the corner, but the goalkeeper came to the rescue, and after Ivan Sergeev’s shot, Petrovich turned the ball into the post.
Arsen Zakharyan really wanted to score at the familiar Dynamo stadium. However, the Serbs were first saved by the crossbar, and then by a passive offside. But Arsen’s goal was successful! At the end of the meeting, Sergeev brought the score to 4:0, which, thanks to Safonov’s excellent save, remained unchanged.
Until the meeting in three days, the Russians entered a steep streak of five victories in a row and successfully avenged their crushing defeat from the Serbian team at the end of 2020. In the final round of the group round of the Nations League, the team conceded five unanswered goals in Belgrade. Then there was disappointment, now – delight! I want to follow such a team… And I regret that because of the “ban” we were not able to enjoy the game of our guys at the 2022 World Championships in Qatar and will not be able to cheer for Karpin and company at Euro 2024.
We are content with little:< br>
- March 25The Russians will also meet with the Paraguayan team at the VTB Arena;
- June 7we are waiting for a friendly match against the Belarusians in Minsk.
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