CSKA and Zenit are the only Russian sides to have won the UEFA Cup (in 2005 and 2008 accordingly) and the Petersburgers also won the UEFA Supercup in 2008. Every clash of top-clubs is full of intrigues: current capital Moscow against older capital St. Petersburg, the richest Gazprom’s side vs the economical Giner’s club, CSKA legend Sergey Semak as Zenit’s coach against his native side. In the RPL, the sides have met 46 times and the record is equal: 15 wins for both clubs and 16 draws.
The club bosses respect each other. Even after referee’s mistakes there is usually no scandals. Giner has even claimed that he has a personal agreement with Zenit’s boss Dyukov to not negotiate with footballers of each other’s side. That is why there has been no player transferred between the sides for the last 15 years. The last four matches between the two clubs were very tough: 0-0 (three times) and 1-1.
Football during the War
In Soviet times, CSKA and Zenit played 87 times. The Muscovites have a big advantage: 42 wins against 16 losses and 29 draws. The most legendary match between the opponents was the USSR Cup Final in 1944. The Soviet army defeated the Germans in the Moscow battle during World War II and the German army began to retreat. Thus, the Soviet government decided to start football competitions to inspire people. Symbolically in the final, CDKA (the Club of Red Army) and Zenit then of Leningrad, which was blockaded by the Axis troops for 900 days met. On August 28, 1944 70,000 spectators visited the Dinamo stadium in Moscow. Surprisingly Zenit defeated CDKA 2-1. According to legend, CDKA star forward Grigory Fedotov played in the match with one or two broken legs.
READ MORE: Grigory Fedotov: The Shalyapin of Russian Football
Newspaper coverage of CSKA - Zenit | Photos: CSKA-Games
Yury Morozov & Pavel Sadyrin
Every CSKA and Zenit fan knows that “the best coach in the world is Pavel Fedorovich Sadyrin” (a famous fan-chant). Pavel Sadyrin played 333 matches for Zenit and, after retirement, he started his coaching career as an assistant of Yury Morozov, the manager of the Blue-White-Sky Blues. In 1984 Sadyrin took over the Neva’s side and Morozov took over CSKA. The Blue-White-Sky Blues surprisingly won USSR championship in 1984. It was the biggest achievement of Zenit in the 20th century. CSKA finished last and was relegated from the Vysshaya Liga (Premier League). In 1987 Sadyrin’s Zenit and Morozov’s CSKA fought for non-relegation from Premie League. Both managers were sacked. As a result the sides had had equal amount of points, but CSKA was relegated on a tie brake. Zenit also should have been relegated but was saved by FA as it was the 70th anniversary of the Great October Revolution (the Revolution started in 1917 in St. Petersburg).
In 1989 Sadyrin took over as coach of the Army Club in the First League. He added to Morozov’s squad three players from Leningrad (Valery Broshin, Sergey Dmitriev and Sergey Kolotovkin) and created the best team of Soviet Union. In 1989 the Red-Blues won the First League, in 1990 the side was runner-up in the Premier League and in 1991 CSKA won the USSR Cup and final USSR championship. The excellent team was destroyed by the USSR dissolving.
In the 1990s, Russian football was in crisis. 300-400 spectators attended Zenit’s matches in the 2nd tier. Sadyrin returned to St. Petersburg and led them to promotion back to the top tier immediately. The side’s administration suddenly sacked the manager and Sadyrin again joined CSKA. He invited three of Zenit’s players; Maksim Bokov, Vladimir Kulik and Dmitry Khomukha - who became leaders of the Red-Blues, but Sadyrin again left the side. In 2000 he returned to CSKA for the third and last time.
In 2001 the mysterious BlueCastle Group bought CSKA and appointed Evgeniy Giner as CEO. It was a hard season for Sadyrin. The Army Men started the season with four losses from four ganes. Then CSKA goalkeeper Sergey Perkhun was deathly wounded during a match against Anzhi.
On September 30, 2001 the teacher and the student met again: Morozov’s Zenit hosted Sadyrin’s CSKA at the Petrovsky Stadium. Sergey Semak scored the opener for the Army Men. But it was a bad day for CSKA goalkeeper Veniamin Mandrykin. The Blue-White-Sky Blues answered with six goals, including four goals in five minutes. 6-1 is still Zenit’s record win in matches against CSKA. After this shock Sadyrin fell ill and two months later he passed away. Later we found out that Pavel fought a battle with cancer in the last years of his life. Yury Morozov also passed away four years later.
Corporate Wars
Due to privatization, CSKA became the richest and most successful Russian club. In 2004 the side signed with Roman Abramovich’s oil company Sibneft on a $54m contract for three years. It was one of the biggest sponsorship contracts in Europe. UEFA even investigated Abramovich’s ownership in CSKA.
The situation dramatically changed in 2005. The powerful oil company Gazprom bought Zenit. At the same time Russian authorities forced Roman Abramovich to sell Sibneft to state-owned Gazprom. Sibneft’s new owner cancelled the sponsorship contract with their main competitor. Zenit under Gazprom then became the richest Russian club while CSKA were forced to serverly cut spending.
But money is not all. For the next six years Zenit won only one championship title while CSKA won three.
Clash for trophies
On May 12, 2002 just half a year after Sadyrin’s death the pair met in the final of the Russian Cup. 48,000 people including 14,000 Zenit fans attended the game at the Luzhniki stadium. The Army Men rather easily won 2-0, it was the side’s first trophy in post-Soviet era (since 1991). For fans of both clubs it was a match of Sadyrin’s memory, so nobody was upset.
On March 6, 2011 the opponents opened the Russian football season in Krasnodar by way of the Super Cup. It was a special day for CSKA legend Sergey Semak who joined the Neva’s side in August 2010. The Red-Blues had a big advantage (shots 19-8, shots on goal 9-2), but Sergey decided the match by assisting to Aleksey Ionov (1-0). Semak also broke his leg during the match.
CSKA won a re-match two years later. Rostov-on-Don hosted the 2013 Super Cup. CSKA attacked more effectively and defeated Zenit 3-0 in a rather equal match.
On May 2, 2016 Kazan hosted the Final of the Russian Cup. Referee Aleksandr Egorov played a key role in the match. He called for a penalty kick in the 1st half for Zenit. Aron Olanare equalized the score and then received a hard ACL injury. In the second half Kokorin scored and then Egorov took a contradictory decision to call another penalty and send off Vasily Berezutscky. Later Yusupov scored the final goal against the short-handed Red-Blues (4-1).
Zenit won cup, but CSKA won the championship and three months later the sides again played for the Super Cup at the Lokomotiv stadium. Now Mircea Lucescu was in charge of the Neva’s side. The new manager dreamt to start his career at his new club by winning the trophy. Zenit was in better form and won the trophy due to Mauricio’s goal (1-0).
Of course, there were many spectacular matches between the opponents in the RPL. We look back to one of most interesting RPL tournaments. In the season 2013/2014 after 20th Matchday Lokomotiv was on top, Zenit was runner-up (2 pts. down), and CSKA was fifth (-9 pts.). A match against Zenit was last chance for the Army Men to get back in the game. In very tough match Georgi Milanov scored his first goal for the Red-Blues. CSKA won 1-0 and then won all remaining nine matches to take the title. It was the last time when CSKA defeated Zenit. It’s interesting that before the match Lucano Spaletti was sacked and Sergey Semak was in charge of the side for one match.
Predicted Line-ups
CSKA (5-2-1-2): Akinfeev – Nababkin, Chernov, Becao, Magnusson, Shchennikov – Akhmetov, Khosonov – Vlasic – Chalov, Sigurdsson
Zenit (4-3-3): Lunev – Ivanovic, Neto, Mammana, Chernov – Marchisio, Erokhin, Kuzyaev – Mak, Zabolotny, Driussi
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