By your prayers or by your own efforts? Spartak held off Liverpool
It became known four months ago that at the end of September the Tushinskaya arena will gather a full house and will roar like a distraught bear. When Spartak became the champion and directly qualified for the main club tournament of the planet. The fans would fill the stadium even if Azerbaijani Qarabag came to visit. But in the first ever league championship match at the "Opening Arena", the red and white were destined to fight with the legendary Liverpool. And it was a great gift.
Or a big failure. Because it was difficult to think of a more inopportune moment to meet with the English grandee. A series of ringing failures in the championship, injuries to many leaders and a merciless psychological press — Spartak approached this game with such baggage.
With the starting whistle, the fan sectors began to sing the sacramental: "God save Spartak! Give him strength..." And this evening the appeal to supernatural powers was more relevant than ever. It seemed that the current Spartak defense was not able to contain the English attackers without help from above.
Liverpool began to confirm this thesis from the very first minutes, tightly pinning the hosts to the goal. Goalkeeper Rebrov's jersey was soaked with sweat by the tenth minute, head coach Carrera's shirt — even earlier. The Italian couldn't help but break a sweat when he saw how easily the guests penetrate into the Spartak penalty area.
Almost the first reason to seriously raise the noise level — already very high — at the stands appeared only in the middle of the half. It was the red-whites who carried out a nice counterattack on the left flank with a transfer to the center. And a few seconds later, the very magic that the fans were praying for happened. Samedov earned a free kick 25 meters from the goal, Brazilian Fernando approached the ball and opened the scoring with the first shot for Spartak.
GIF! @fcsm_official#UCL #Champions League. Group E. 2nd round. #Spartak Liverpool #SpartakLFC 1:0 23' Fernando pic.twitter.com/4AphYC0DVR
— RFPL (@rfpl) September 26, 2017
"Liverpool recouped very quickly, playing a simple "wall" with the withdrawal of Coutinho, for whom Barcelona offered 130 million euros in the summer.
GIF-GL! @LFC#League of Champions. Group E. 2nd round. #Spartak Liverpool 1:1 31' Philippe Coutinho pic.twitter.com/0vQ55FzZir
— RFPL (@rfpl) September 26, 2017
However, this incident by no means became a wreck of hopes, because in the interval between the goals, the Spartacists made it clear that they still have something to say in this match. A fine high-speed exit from the defense led to a striking three-in-three lunge. It's a pity Popov ruined him with a stupid pass.
And this definitely cannot be attributed to the fact that visiting artists were not too eager to win. The English drew in the previous game with Sevilla, and they needed three points from the nose. A sharp decrease in the degree occurred due to the fact that the Spartak defenders finally stopped losing their position, the safety net was earned, and the opponents had no choice but to switch to uncharacteristic throws into the penalty area.
However, this evening could not do without hassle a priori. Valokordin went into action when Rebrov, performing another small feat, injured his tibia and was forced to finish the match ahead of schedule. Selikhov came out instead. Carrera, seeing off the 23-year-old goalkeeper on the field, whispered something in his ear and kissed him fatherly. Selikhov, although he played his first game at this level, did not disappoint. In the 96th minute, he managed to raise his arm and parried the blow at point-blank range.
We jumped right to the 96th minute because before that the vaunted Englishmen had created almost nothing worthy of mention. And somehow it didn't seem at all that God was protecting Spartak. No, it was the red-whites themselves who managed to establish the harmony of the ranks, cling to this draw with their teeth and not let it go. Jurgen Klopp, the head coach of Liverpool, cursed on the edge, threw bottles of water, but never came up with anything that could break the champion of Russia.
The importance of this draw, obtained despite the circumstances, is difficult to overestimate. I really don't want to jinx it, but this result may well become a springboard from which the resurrection of the "Spartak" that shone last spring will begin. Not only in the championship, but also in the Champions League. What the hell is not joking, such a "Liverpool" can be left out of the playoffs.
Keywords: Liverpool | Champions League | Reportage | Spartak | Football