Kvaratskhelia magic sparks Rubin comeback win over Ural

Ural Ekaterinburg 1-2 Rubin Kazan
Saturday 20 June, Ekaterinburg Arena

Goals: Pablo Santos 7’ (OG); Kvaratskhelia 39’, Bakaev 56’

Man of the Match: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Sent off: Vyacheslav Podberezkin (71’)

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia scored a sensational overhead kick and laid the winner on a plate for Soltmurad Bakaev as Rubin Kazan came from behind to beat Ural Ekaterinburg. Leonid Slutsky’s side leapfrogged above Ural despite falling behind to Michal Kucharczyk deflected opener and captain Vyacheslav Podberezkin’s second-half red card.

Ural thought they had broken the deadlock just after a minute when Andrey Egorychev stabbed home a low first-time effort direct from a corner, only to see it ruled out for offside by VAR. They didn’t have to wait long though.

On seven minutes Kucharczyk latched onto a Petrus Boumal through ball lobbed over the defence. Aleksandr Zuev marshalled him but couldn’t deny the Polish winger an inch of space to shoot, and Pablo Santos’ lunge only succeeded in deflecting the ball over Yuri Dyupin’s foot.

The goalscorer swung an inswinging cross into the six-yard box a few minutes later towards Andrey Panyukov. The striker connected from close range but couldn’t divert it past Dyupin.

The pace of the game never quite took off until Kvicha Kvaratskhelia lit proceedings up with a remarkable overhead kick on 39 minutes. Pavel Mogilivets sent an outswinging corner slightly behind the teenage Georgian forward that was dispatched emphatically. Shortly after, Filip Uremovic sent Yaroslav Godzyur scrambling with a low left-footed shot that trickled inches wide of the far post.

Ten minutes after the break Rubin edged in front. Kvaratskhelia danced around a slide tackle from Roman Emelyanov before picking out Soltmurad Bakaev six yards out to sidefoot comfortably home.

Just when Rubin looked to be confidently cruising towards a precious three points, disaster struck. With 20 minutes to go former Ural midfielder Vyacheslav Podberezkin raked a high boot down Erik Bicfalvi’s hip and was shown a direct red card. 

Ural failed to make it count though. Artem Yusupov headed into the ground and just wide in the last minute, but a foul had already been given in the buildup.

Ural Ekaterinburg: Godzyur, Kulakov, Wilusz, Emelyanov, Zolotov (Yusupov 83’), Egorychev (Augustinyak 83’), Boumal, Kucharczyk, Bicfalvi, El Kabir (Bavin 74’), Panyukov (Efremov 61’)

Rubin Kazan: Dyupin, Pablo Santos, Uremovic, Starfeldt, Abilgaard, Mogilivets (Ig. Konovalov 61’), Podberezkin, Bakaev (Davitashvili 67’), Zuev, Kvaratskhelia, Ignatyev (Markov 86’)