The complaint will go 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 Premier League, Zenit St. Petersburg and Ural Yekaterinburg met.

The guests are very confident in the spring segment of the championship. Four victories in a row and reaching the Russian Cup final - 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 fold. “Zenith” could not do anything with the strong defense of the guests, which received many commendable words football experts... And the strikers of Yekaterinburg were getting closer and closer to the gates of the Petersburgers, who were once saved from a sure goal by the bar.

The nightmare on the pitch began in the 60th minute. Taking the attack away from his goal, Ural midfielder Eric Bikfalfi knocked out the ball in the subcategory. He knocked it out, but then Igor Smolnikov's ankle got under the spikes. For English football As the commentators noted, this is a standard game situation, but referee Eskov immediately showed the Yekaterinburg citizen a yellow card. Since this was his second yellow card, he left the field.

The unfair decision blew up the people of Yekaterinburg. The referee especially got from Roman Pavlyuchenko, for which he was "awarded" with a red card. In the third part of the match, “Ural” remained with nine players, the correspondent reports.

But even under such circumstances, the residents of St. Petersburg could not bypass the protective redoubts of the guests. In the 86th minute after the penalty kick at the Ural's goal, Branislav Ivanovich sends the ball into the post with his head and immediately pushes goalkeeper Nikolai Zabolotny into the corner of the goal - he is unable to reflect the rebound ball. The referee does not react to the violation.

Meanwhile, a scuffle is played out in the penalty area - Zenit player Artem Dziuba hits the back of the head of Roman Yemelyanov. The judge shows both of them a yellow card, and the Yekaterinburg player also shows a red card, taking into account the previous yellow card.

"Ural" remained on the field with eight and additional time almost compares the score. The final result of the match 2: 0 was put by Mollo.

Many had the impression that Zenit had to win at any cost. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller watched the match from the VIP rostrum.

“Ural” lost points on the field of “Krestovsky”, but outplayed Petersburgers in skill and won the praise of fans not only in Yekaterinburg. After the match, his quotes in the Russian Cup final against Lokomotiv will clearly increase.

Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev expressed his readiness to defend the "rear" of the team. He promised to turn to the "sports" Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko with a request to assess the refereeing of the match in St. Petersburg.

The Minister of Sports of the Sverdlovsk Region Leonid Rapoport is pleased with how Ural fought with one of the championship leaders. He told about this in Sports.ru.

Leonid Rapoport, Minister of Sports of the Sverdlovsk Region:

The first emotion I had was this: it's just overkill. For this, in a decent company, and you can get it. It's a shame, of course, but I'm happy with how the team fought in the game with one of the championship leaders. The ball did not go into the goal, we were unlucky somewhere. But the team listens and hears the head coach - all the settings have been completely fulfilled. The guys still have a feeling of dissatisfaction. I guess now they'll be meaner in final match Cup of Russia after such a result in a match with a top club.

Recall that the first official match at the stadium "St. Petersburg" ("Zenit-Arena") ended with the victory of the hosts with a score of 2: 0. During the meeting between Ural and Zenit, referee Alexey Eskov removed three players from the Yekaterinburg team from the field. The first was a double sending-off in the 60th minute: Alexey Eskov showed the second yellow card to Ural midfielder Eric Bikfalvi. Dissatisfied with this decision, Pavlyuchenko pounced on the referee and received a direct red card, which entailed 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 announced that our players will receive the same award 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 Zenit fan forums shows that even they agree with him.

The secret of Zenit's success is the judge Eskov.

The first match at the new stadium in St. Petersburg turned out to be shameful. “Zenith”, though won, but, obviously, not without the help of a judge. Let us remind you that Oleksiy Eskov removed Eric Bikfalvi in ​​the 60th minute, and then Roman Pavlyuchenko, who did not agree with the referee's decision.

And only in the majority “Zenith” managed to score two goals “to the Urals. The first in the 86th minute sent Ivanovich into the net with his head, and the second (by this time the referee sent Yemelyanov to rest) in stoppage time, Mollo scored.

This fight caused a very controversial reaction both among the fans and among professional athletes and specialists.

- Outrage! Well, what is this Eskov doing? You don’t know how to judge, but why do so insolently ?! If I were Tarkhanov, I would have taken the team off the field. What are you guys doing ?! It was immediately obvious that Bikfalvi played the ball first. Smolnikov was late for the ball, take your foot away - and you wouldn't be injured. This is not a violation on the part of the Ural player. And Eskov became the second Koshoi (The referee of the recent match between Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, who made a lot of blunders. - Ed.), - Sergei Khusainov, a well-known referee in the past, said to Sport-Express.

"Victory with a taste of shit! Signature of Zenit. The judge understood that 40 billion was invested in the stadium not to lose the first match," the restaurateur and Spartak fan Yevgeny Keksin wrote on his Facebook page.

The popular sports columnist Svetoch commented on the fight in St. Petersburg using a screenshot.

This is the very moment when Mollo scores the second goal into the goal of “Ural”. Svetoch's subscribers joke that the photo still lacks a judge.

- Didn't see all the moments. A foul under the penalty area, of course, is punished with a card. The judge was there - he made the decision. To put an end: I am sure that Bikfalvi had the second yellow, I don’t know two subsequent deletions, ”Sports.ru quotes the words of Zenit head coach Mircea Lucescu.

- It was impossible to withdraw the team from the field, they will be disqualified. The team played well, but the referee intervened in the game. Even in the first half, Yemelyanov played the ball. Bikvalfi knocked the ball clean. All players fall, you can't give red cards for this. Three deletions is not a murder, but [the referee] did everything to make Zenit win. It's hard to play in all of them. You can't judge that. I understand that new stadium gorgeous, but you can't judge that. We will write in the protocol that we do not agree with Bikvalfi. About Pavlyuchenko - not yet in the know. Probably, the judge got a kick from the red cards, - said Alexander Tarkhanov at a press conference.

The well-known football journalist Igor Rabiner assessed the match this way.

“Circus. Now, in order for Zenit to win at home against the Urals, you need to remove two. Moreover, the first player, Bikfalvi, played the ball. And by inertia he got in the leg,” the expert noted.

- What should I say? You saw everything yourself. Call Eskov ... “Zenith” did not know at all where to run to before our deletions. In short, draw your own conclusions, - Grigory Ivanov, President of the Urals, told Sport-Express.

- I shouldn't comment on this. For me - there was nothing, - said SE Bikfalvi.