Fiery Moscow derby levelled by Umyarov’s first Spartak goal

Spartak Moscow 1-1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Sunday 7 November, Otkritie Arena

Goals: Spartak - Umyarov 64’; Lokomotiv - Kerk 23’
Sent off: Spartak - Litvinov 35’; Lokomotiv - Jedvaj 90+5’
Man of the Match: Aleksandr Sobolev (Spartak)

Francois Kamano returned from injury in fine style to set Lokomotiv steaming into the lead against Spartak with a sensational assist to fellow winger Gyrano Kerk. Kamano set inside from the left flank, and out of nowhere threaded the eye of a needle behind Georgi Dzhikia for Kerk to slam home a first-time sidefooted finish past Aleksandr Selikhov.

To make matters worse, Spartak were reduced to 10 men 12 minutes later. Ruslan Litvinov had already been booked for pulling Konstantin Maradishvili back, so when he lunged in off his feet at Maradisvili later on, his sending off was inevitable.

Lokomotiv weren’t battering down the door though, and their failure to press home their man advantage cost them dearly just after the hour mark. Nail Umyarov had come on at the break, and he struck a fist-pumping equaliser. 

Ayrton Lucas’ blasted goalwards shot was deflected behind for a corner, which was cleared centrally; Umyarov swung a shot through a crowd of players, and it snuck inside Guilherme’s right-hand post.

Aleksandr Sobolev even had a free header six yards out but wasn’t able to generate enough power to trouble Guilherme. 

Tin Jedvaj was shown a second booking after the final whistle for remonstrating excessively with the referee to end a pulsating Moscow derby.

Spartak stay ninth on 19 points, while Lokomotiv remain fourth on 25 points.

Next RPL fixtures: Saturday 20 November - Lokomotiv vs Akhmat; Krasnodar vs Spartak