Ural eliminate Spartak to reach RPL Path final

Russian Cup play-offs
RPL Path semi-finals, 2nd leg
Ural Ekaterinburg 2-1 Spartak Moscow
Tuesday 4 April, Ekaterinburg Arena

Goals: Ural – Cisse (32), Sungatulin (72); Spartak – Balde (49)

Long shots became the key weapon for Ural to be successful in Cup legs against Spartak. Yury Zheleznov saved a draw for Ekaterinburg at Otkrytie Bank Arena in March, and now Ibrahima Cisse opened his Russian career score with beautiful volley from the rebound. Keita Balde, the main striker this night in absence of Aleksandr Sobolev and Shamar Nicholson, also celebrated first Russian goal catching the long ball from Rusla Litvinov and beating Ilya Pomazun in the beginning of second half.

But the Red-Whites suffered from their graduate, and it was Fanil Sungatulin. He spent just five minutes on the field before scoring from distance to the bottom corner, and like Cisse, midfielder got first goal in Ural career. It’s not the first time Ural overcame Spartak in Cup two-leg series; 2-1 win on aggregate was captured in 2018/19 quarter-finals, and in the end Ural reached main final.

Ural won 3-2 on aggregate and qualified to RPL Path finals, while Spartak move down to Regions Path semi-finals, where will face winners from Dynamo vs Akron or Krasnodar vs Rostov matches in the second stage.