Российская премьер-лига
News We have looked back over the Russian Premier Liga matchday 28 fixtures to bring you our favourite stats and figures.
0 - When the two top scorers in the RPL come head to head, one with an almost flawless penalty record having an early spot kick and the other having notched in five of his last six league appearances, one would think the goals would flow. At the BetBoom Arena, however, Dmitry Poloz and Gamid Agalarov both failed to hit the back of the net to leave Ufa’s home clash against Rostov goalless. It was the first time in nine games Rostov had failed to score, and only the second time away from home all season.
1 - Being a goalkeeper on the books at CSKA Moscow in the last two decades and not being called Igor Akinfeev has been a thankless task for many, but with plenty of time on his side, 18-year-old Vladislav Torop needn’t be too disheartened just yet. The Russia under-19 international made his first-team bow earlier this season in the Russian Cup, keeping clean sheets against both Zenit Izhevsk and Metallurg Lipetsk, but this weekend made his first Russian Premier Liga appearance against Sochi.
2 - Akhmat’s season has been one of all of nothing. The Grozny side remain on course to set the lowest total of draws in a season since Dynamo Moscow’s 2005 campaign; this weekend, by the narrowest of margins, they beat Nizhny Novgorod to stay on just two draws all season. Their last two matches? Against a Krylia Sovetov side that smashed five goals past Dynamo, and a Krasnodar that has drawn only once in their last seven RPL fixtures.
3 - In a flash Dynamo Moscow’s title challenge has evaporated into a 12-point deficit after their calamitous 5-2 collapse in Samara. They have now equalled their longest losing streak of three consecutive league defeats in almost six years (at the end of the 2015/16 relegation season they lost all but one of their last nine RPL fixtures, which included two four-game losing runs).
5 - Zenit’s championship-winning celebration party also had the small matter of an RPL match in the middle of it as Khimki came to town on the back of some impressive form. A slightly rotated side saw in-form Ivan Sergeev lead the line for the fourth match in a row, and the Russian striker bagged his third goal in three games to take his tally for the season to 10. It was Sergeev’s fifth consecutive season reaching double figures, after 16 goals in 2017/18 and then 2018/19 in the PFL, 14 goals in the 2019/20 FNL campaign, the record-breaking 40 last season in the FNL and now 10 this campaign.
7 - Krylia Sovetov’s astonishing 5-2 thrashing of Dynamo Moscow was epic for a number of statistical reasons, not least the sheer volume of goals. They haven’t been involved in a seven-goal league match for over a decade, and last won a seven-goal match way back in 2006 (a 6-1 thrashing of Amkar Perm).
10 - While little surprise arose from another Zenit home win - Sergey Semak’s champions had won eight of the last nine - what was unusual was that it came by the slimmest of margins. It was the first time Zenit had only managed to score one goal in a home RPL game; in fact, they have score more home goals (43) than all but three other RPL teams overall (Dynamo, Sochi and Rostov).
512 - With almost the last kick of the matchday, Anton Miranchuk stepped up to the penalty spot to seal all three points against Rubin Kazan. It has been a testing campaign for the Lokomotiv midfielder after long-term injury denied him the vast majority of the RPL season, and the late winner at the RZD Arena marked his first RPL goal in 512 days. His last strike also came against Rubin back in December 2020, and also helped his side win that day - 3-1.
