22 Jan 2019
Doha, 21 January 2019. The opening game of The Match Premier Cup featuring four top Russian football clubs ended in a 2-1 win for Spartak Moscow over FC Rostov at Aspire Academy on Monday 21st January night. It was an entertaining game that was evenly balanced affair with action swinging from one end to another for the greater part of first half. Most of the play was concentrated away from final third except from a few close changes which were thwarted by defenders and occasionally by goalkeepers. Twenty-four minutes into play Spartak Moscow almost broke the deadlock when striker Luis Adriano whizzed past his marker but had his goal bound shot blocked with the ball for a corner during one of the forays on Rostov goal.
On minute 40 the first goal of Match Premier Cup came courtesy of a sweet shot curled into the right corner of goal by Icelandic international Kjartansson Vidar following some neat exchanges that released him to run at goal before picking his spot
Changes at half time did not slow down the fast-paced game. Substitute Georgy Melkadze badly fluffed his lines when he shot straight into goalkeeper, Sergey Pesyakov’s hands from a few meters out after 54 minutes on the clock. Spartak did need to wait long for the equaliser which came four minutes later when they were awarded a penalty kick for foul on their striker in the box. Brazilian striker Luis Adriano calmly converted
Spartak had the lion’s share of changes in the second half, but Maxim Glushenkov contrived to miss three clean cut chances in front of goal and it looked like the match was headed for a draw. Rostov had the chance to win it right on the stroke of full time when Russian Referee Sergey Lapochkily awarded them a penalty but substitute Alexey Ionov’s weak spot kick was saved by goalkeeper. Play quickly shifted to the opposite penalty area where with virtually the last kick of the game the game’s third goal and a second and winner for Spartak Moscow went in from Denis Glushakov’s side footed shot during goal-mouth melee. And so, the opening game of The Match Premier Cup saw Spartak Moscow beat Rostov 2-1 in front of an appreciative crowd at Aspire Academy.
Match Day 2 is on Tuesday 22nd Januar, y will see Zenit St. Petersburg take on Locomotiv Moscow at 20.00 Doha time at the same venue, Aspire Academy.