Ruby have priceless weekend, the race for survival hots up and Bystrov reaches his zenith.

At the foot of the RPL, FC Khimki look marooned after suffering a 0-4 home hammering at the hands of Zenit. 

The severity of defeat was compounded by fellow strugglers Nalchik, in fifteenth-place, who secured a huge result against thirteenth-placed Amkar Perm , in thirteenth, that moved them to 17 points, just one behind Perm and Kuban Krasnodar.

The result leaves Nalchik with a real chance of escaping the last contested relegation berth.

But, of course, the real excitement over the Bank Holiday weekend was to be had at the Luzhniki as second place Spartak hosted league leaders Rubin.

Going into this hotly anticipated game, Spartak were trailing the Ruby by a single point but any hopes of leap-frogging the reigning champions were thoroughly dashed as a ruthless Rubin dispatched the Red-Whites with ease.

Experienced Russia international, Sergey Semak, hammered in the opener after 33 minutes. Alejandro Dominguez successfully dispatched a pair of penalties last weekend, so when Rubin were awarded a dubious penalty just six minutes later, the Argentine was in form to slot home again, doubling the away side’s lead.

Spartak managed to keep a rampant Rubin at bay for the rest of the half, but couldn’t make a break through themselves.

Following the recent departure of flying winger Vladimir Bystrov to Zenit, Spartak were also without a few other first-team regulars and it showed in their disjointed and attacks and snatched chances.

Just before the hour-mark Rubin reminded Spartak of how to do it. Aleksdander Bukharov found himself on the end of a counter attack and headed home the all important third goal that broke Spartak’s resolve and sapped them of any further belief they could turn the game around.

By contrast, an imperious Rubin coasted to the final whistle, breaking up anything a by now half-hearted Spartak dared to muster. The boys from Tatarstan now look odds-on to retain their crown.

Watch highlights from the match here:

http://www.footymatters.com/video/goals-spartak-moscow-0-3-rubin-kazan

Spartak were not the only Moscow team to experience heart break over the weekend as CSKA’s Love has forsaken them for the rest of the season.

Back in Brazil for family matters, Vagner Love has decided to rejoin Palmeiras, on loan, until July so that he can be on hand to help resolve some of the private issues that took him home in the first place.

And the Army Men rued his absence on Sunday as they lost 1-0 in Rostov’s SKA SKVO Stadium. Mikhail Osinov netted the winner six minutes from time.

That result saw FC Moscow take the Europa League qualifying spot off CSKA after a goalless draw against Tom’ Tomsk, in Siberia, steered them into third place.

Elsewhere, Zenit’s big win over Khimki took them up to sixth. After shelling out €15million on Vladimir Bystrov last Thursday, he helped restore Zenit fans’ faith in him (havinge left them for arch-rivals Spartak four years ago) by netting the second goal of the match.

Fatih Tekke opened the scoring on 24 minutes but it was Bystrov’s day. He was a constant menace and proved too much for Khimki defender Evgeny Gapon, whose cynical tug on the Zenit winger after 57 minutes resulted in a red card. 

Another Zenit new-boy, the Italian Rosina, scored a majestic left-footed strike on 68 minutes, before a Bystrov cross was turned in to his own net by Maxim Zinovyev.

And still Bystrov continued to shape the match when, ten minutes before time, Sebastian Sansoni received a second yellow card – the result of again failing , again, to deal with the winger’s pace – to round off a disastrous weekend for Khimki.