Gia Saralidze. Exclusively to VK
Zenit’s victory
Zenit St.-Petersburg appeared to be much stronger, more organized and stable than its rivals in the struggle for gold medals of the championship.
European Cup for Anzhi
Major investments into the Makhachkala club became fruitful. The team has gained the right to play in the Europa League. Moreover, the Makhachkala club is discussed not only in Russia, but also abroad. Players and coaches of the world elite – Roberto Carlos, Yuri Zhirkov, Samuel Eto’o, Guus Hiddink – came to work at the North Caucasus team.
Racism and nationalism at stadiums
The championship was marked by several scandals connected with racism and xenophobia at stadiums. Bananas were being thrown at black football players; slogans insulting teams from the Caucasus became commonplace at Russian stadiums. Two of most outrageous actions of Moscow and St.-Petersburg fans were the callsto boycott games against Caucasian teams and obstruction of Yuri Zhirkov during the match of the Russian national team, because he moved from Chelsea to Anzhi.
CSKA’s failure
The most stable club of Russia demonstrated incredible instability in the season. The team, which was the leader after the 17th round and had a 7-point lead, not only lost the advantage, but fell behind Zenit by15 points. CSKA couldn’t hold on to second place and failed to play in the Champions League.
Doumbia’s record
However, CSKA forward Seydou Doumbia scored 28 goals and broke two records. He broke the seasonal record of his club, which was fixed by Vsevolod Bobrov. And then he broke the record of all Russian championships, which was fixed in 1995 by the player of Rotor (Volgograd), Oleg Veretennikov.
