The Russian Football Union has published an analysis of a controversial incident from the match between CSKA Moscow and Zenit Saint Petersburg, which took place on May 2 in Moscow.
In the second minute of the game, Zenit defender Douglas Santos committed a foul on CSKA forward Luciano Gondou inside the penalty area. The referee, Inal Tanashev, awarded a penalty after reviewing the incident.
“The attacking player touched the ball first. The defending player then struck the opponent’s leg (a careless foul), preventing him from continuing his attacking move,” the published refereeing analysis stated.
A video explaining the decision was released in the official VK community of the Russian Football Union.
The match ended with a 3-1 victory for Zenit. After 28 rounds, CSKA continues to fight for medals in the Russian Premier League, while Zenit is battling for the championship title.
The match was played at VEB Arena in front of 25,579 spectators. The goals came from Ivan Oblyakov (5′) for CSKA, and Igor Diveev (30′), Alexander Sobolev (51′), and Luis Henrique (60′) for Zenit. Key match statistics included 10 total shots for CSKA against 16 for Zenit, with 1 shot on target for CSKA and 9 for Zenit. CSKA committed 16 fouls, while Zenit had 7. Yellow cards were 3 for CSKA and 2 for Zenit.