And Carcedo did it again. The final of the Russian Cup was heading towards a penalty shootout… and the Spanish coach He took advantage of the five minutes of extra time (there was no extra time) to replace his usual goalkeeper, Maksimenko, who by the way had played a great gameby a specialist in the fate of the maximum penalty like Pomázun. Indeed, the move was decisive because the owner of the mitts, who had already stopped Krasnodar’s first but getting ahead, so it had to be repeated, ended up taking the last two to make Spartak champion and unleash the party among tens of thousands of red-and-white fans who had gathered at the mythical Luzhniki.
Just over four months after taking charge, Carcedo already boasts his title as Spartak coach. And with him, five other Spaniards on the staff of the Moscow team (Sebas Corona, Sergi Domínguez, Nacho Torres, Amador Sánchez and Ander Carbajo). And with all of them, Francis Cagigao, sports director, who ultimately was the one who made a big bet to acquire the services of a coach who had also made history with the Cypriot Pafoswhich among other successes led to winning its first League and placing among the 36 in the Champions League, but which was not even offered a renewal under logical conditions for those reasons.
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The development of the League that ended a week ago seemed to mark a certain favoritism for Krasnodar, second place over fourth place Spartak (they were sixth when the coach arrived), although the appearance of the stands, mostly red and white, tried to compensate for that deficit. Solari uncorked the final after half an hour. A well-planned play by Spartak from the left found the Argentine’s diagonal to get ahead of the defense in the heart of the area. It was turning out to be a tight match, with continuous interruptions, but in any case Carcedo’s team was better associated, also well supported by Maksimenko when Krasnodar prowled the other area. In fact, the goalkeeper prevented the tie just after the first goal and shortly before center back Djiku was injured, which included Martins in the game.
Krasnodar looked for and found the tie after the restart, a good play that Douglas passed, but Spartak knew how to react after Carcedo moved the bench and dispensed with the scorer and the Costa Rican Ugalde. The Moscow eleven had been completed, without mentioning until now, Gedson Fernandes, Wooh, Zobnin, Litvinov, Umyarov, Barco (who had been a doubt until the last minute) and Marquinhos… who was able to avoid the fateful point with a clear chance in the 90th minute that he kicked out. By then Pomázun was already prepared. And just as had happened in a previous tie against Zenit, the goalkeeper took care of the rest. Another title for Carcedo in a campaign that concludes. Next year’s Spartak will, of course, also try to fight for the domestic championship. The Cup, by the way, ended up broken with so much movement…
