The central game of the day will be the match between the current owner of the Russian Cup, Spartak Moscow, and the national champion of the last four years, Zenit St. Petersburg, at the Otkritie Bank-Arena stadium. Before this, the Spartak player is first in the group B table with 6 points, Zenit is third (3 points). The red-whites in the previous two games of the tournament defeated the Samara “Wings of the Soviets” (1: 0) and the Voronezh “Fakel” (3: 0), the blue-white-blues, in turn, beat the “Fakel” (2: 0) and were defeated by “Wings of the Soviets” (0:2). For the Petersburgers, this defeat remains the only one in the 2022/23 season, in the 11 remaining games they won 9 wins and drew 2 times.
The second place in the standings following two rounds with three points is occupied by Krylya Sovetov. Samarans are located above Zenit, which also has three points, due to the victory in a head-to-head match. Having suffered two defeats and not scoring a single point, “Torch” closes the table.
The upcoming match between Spartak and Zenit will be the third of the season. Earlier, Petersburgers beat Muscovites in the match for Olympbet – Russian Super Cup (4:0) and in the World – Russian Premier League game (2:1). In addition to the game on Thursday, the teams will have to meet on the football field at least twice more this season – once in the championship and the Cup of Russia. In the spring part of the national cup, teams can play two matches at one of the playoff stages, and then meet in the final. The number of matches between Zenit and Spartak can reach nine if they finish the championship with the same indicators – then they will have a “golden match” (following ten rounds, Zenit has 26 points, Spartak has 19).
Defender Miha Mevlja and striker Shamar Nicholson, who did not return to the club from the location of the national teams of Slovenia and Jamaica, respectively, will not be able to play for Spartak in the upcoming match. Due to injuries, midfielders Christopher Martins Pereira and Victor Moses will not take part in the meeting. Midfielder Wilmar Barrios, who on the night of September 28 participated in the match for the Colombian national team, will most likely not appear in Zenit. Attacking midfielder Claudinho will miss the game in Moscow due to suspension, and goalkeeper Daniil Odoevsky has not fully recovered from his injury.
Zenit beat Spartak in Moscow
The game at the Otkritie Bank Arena will be the 65th in the recent history of meetings between Spartak and Zenit in official matches. At the moment, the red-whites in all tournaments have won 19 wins with 18 draws and 27 defeats. This match will be the fifth for the clubs in the framework of the Cup of Russia, in the assets of St. Petersburg two wins with one draw and one defeat. Muscovites cannot defeat blue-white-blue for 10 matches, the last time they prevailed over Zenit in the match of the Russian championship in 2017 (following that, the Petersburgers won six victories, another four times a draw was recorded).
The standings of the teams in Group C following the results of the third round of the group stage of the Russian Cup will also be determined on Thursday, when the Akhmat-Rostov match ends in Grozny. On Wednesday, this quartet hosted the Orenburg-Dynamo game, in which the Orenburg players won in a penalty shoot-out. The group table is as follows – the leader is Rostov (6 points; 2 matches), the second is Dynamo (4; 3), the third is Akhmat (3; 2), the fourth is Orenburg (2; 3 ).
Rostov in the 2022/23 season remains the only club that has not suffered a single defeat. In addition to two victories in the Russian Cup, the team led by Valery Karpin has six wins and four draws in the RPL. Akhmat has five wins, five losses and two draws in 12 matches this season. Defenders Zoran Nijic and Darko Todorovic will not play for Akhmat on Thursday. Rostov will not be able to count on reserve goalkeeper Nikita Medvedev, who is recovering from a knee injury.
Matches of the fourth round of the group stage of the Russian Cup will be held from 18 to 20 October. On the first of these days, matches Lokomotiv – Khimki and Dynamo – Rostov will take place, on the second – Orenburg – Akhmat, Pari Nizhny Novgorod – Krasnodar, Fakel – Spartak “and CSKA -” Torpedo “. The fourth round will be completed by the Sochi-Ural and Zenit-Krylya Sovetov matches.
