We have rounded up the key facts and figures from matchday 15 of the Russian Premier Liga.

For the first time in the RPL, both teams in one match were led by German coaches; Domenico Tedesco and Sandro Schwarz in the Spartak vs Dynamo derby. It was their first clash in Russia, but previously they’d crossed paths in the Bundesliga when they coached Schalke Mainz. In the 2017/18 season, Tedesco beat Schwarz twice, 2-0 and 1-0, before exchanging 1-0 and 3-0 victories next season. The Moscow derby draw was the first in the history of meetings between the two.

Bernard Berisha scored his second double of the season in the game against Zenit. The Akhmat captain twice drew his side level, scoring from open play in the first half and converting a penalty after the break. He completed his previous double in reverse order: against Ufa, Berisha first scored a spot kick, and in the second half from open play for the first double in his career. After 15 matchdays he has bagged six goals as the team's top scorer so far.

Anton Miranchuk scored his third goal against Arsenal as his converted penalty in the last game helped Lokomotiv beat Arsenal while down to 10 men. Now the midfielder is the top scorer in the fixture, previously having shared the lead with former teammate Manuel Fernandes and Arsenal forward Evgeny Lutsenko, who have scored twice. Anton scored both of his first goals in November 2018, also at the RZD Arena, as the Red-Greens beat Arsenal 3-1. The last goal against Arsenal was Miranchuk's third RPL strike of the season, equalling club top scorer Fedor Smolov.

For four consecutive RPL seasons, Akhmat and Zenit have drawn in Grozny. The run began with a goalless draw in December 2017, and in the next two seasons, meetings at the Akhmat Arena ended 1-1, with the hosts opening the account twice, and the guests hitting back thanks to goals from Sebastian Driussi. Zenit twice took the lead at the weekend, but Akhmat pulled back thanks to Bernard Berisha. The last home victory over Zenit came to Akhmat in November 2016, and Zenit have not won an RPL match in Grozny since April 2015; both meetings ended 2-1.

Sochi midfielder Nikita Burmistrov scored his fifth goal of the season against CSKA and repeated his personal RPL record, which he achieved at Amkar in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons. At the VEB Arena, the 31-year-old scored against CSKA for the second time in his career; he scored the first for Amkar in a 3-1 home win in July 2012. Burmistrov played for CSKA from 2005 to 2009 and made his RPL debut at the age of 17. He played six matches for the Red-Blues 2007.

For the sixth time in the history of the league, CSKA finished the first half of the campaign on top of the standings, and on four of the previous five occasions were eventually champions; in 2003, 2006, 2012/13 and 2015/16. The exception was the 2011-12 transitional championship, where CSKA were top after the 15th matchday with a two-point lead over Zenit, only for the St. Petersburg team to finish ahead of CSKA in the title race in the spring. Only in four RPL seasons the winner of the first round did not become a champion; Torpedo in 2004, Lokomotiv in 2005, CSKA in 2012 and Zenit in 2014.

It took eight home games for Rotor to pick up their first RPL point at the Volgograd Arena. They lost seven consecutive games at home after returning to the league, including the technical defeat against Krasnodar, and broke the run thanks to a 0-0 draw with Ural. At the same time, the team's winless home series in the Premier League, taking into account 2004, reached 11 matches. Their last home victory, a 3-2 win over Rostov, came on 25 September of that year at the Central Stadium, after which they drew at home 1-1 with Kuban Krasnodar and 0-0 with Dynamo Moscow, and also lost 5-2 to Zenit. In the remaining home games this calendar year, Rotor will host Ufa and Arsenal on 12 and 16 December.

Thirteen months separated the two doubles in Khoren Bayramyan’s career, and both came for Rostov in away matches. On 6 October 2019 he scored twice against CSKA at the VEB Arena and added an assist for good measure as Rostov won 3-1. A year later Bayramyan scored twice against Rubin, for whom he played in the 2018/19 season, and his goals helped Rostov win 2-0 in Kazan. At the Ak Bars Arena, the midfielder played a full match for the first time since 11 October, when he played for the Armenian national team against Georgia in the UEFA Nations League.

Ari did not play for 251 days before coming on as a substitute against Tambov. The forward played the last 15 minutes in his 160th game for Krasnodar in all competitions. He hasn’t appeared in official matches since 15 March, when Krasnodar lost 2-0 away to Sochi, after which the 2019/20 season was paused. Ari missed the restart due to injury, and had appeared on the bench just once this season, for the 1-1 draw against Rostov on 30 August, but didn’t come on.

Dynamo had not scored in 357 minutes of regular time in derbies against Spartak, with both of the last two Dynamo goals coming at the Otkritie Arena. In August 2018, then-Dynamo defender Vladimir Rykov scored past Aleksandr Maksimenko in the 82nd minute from his own half, but Dynamo lost 2-1; in the next three meetings they failed to score. In the last match, the run was interrupted in the 79th minute by Dmitry Skopintsev, who opened the scoring with a long-range shot. Spartak were saved from defeat thanks to ex-Dynamo man Roman Zobnin.

For the first time in 989 days, Bojan Jokic scored in the RPL in Ufa’s 2-1 defeat to Khimki. He last scored in the RPL on 10 March 2018, when he scored the winner in a 3-2 victory over Anzhi.

Photo: Denis Tyrin/CSKA