Former Rostov midfielder Vitaly Dyakov weighed in on remarks made by Zarema Salikhova, the wife of former Spartak owner Leonid Fedun, who called for a closer tie between Spartak and Dynamo. Dyakov’s comments reflected the coverage from Vprognoze.ru.
Earlier, Salikhova had urged the two Moscow clubs to unite on refereeing decisions in Russian football and urged patience be set aside, signaling a desire for quicker resolution of on‑field disputes.
Dyakov argued that the improvement of decisions tied to video assistance in refereeing would hinge on how accurately officials apply VAR. He observed that if a referee misses a spot kick, others beside him may help, yet VAR reviews have not produced a definitive fix in his view. The root cause, he suggested, lies in the varying qualifications of referees and the inconsistent interpretation of the same moments across different matches. He noted that it is not a matter of bias toward Zenit or against Spartak, but rather a pattern of errors that recurs across fixtures.
In a relevant incident, match officials overlooked a potential penalty when Claudinho, Spartak’s blue-and-white midfielder, challenged Tyukavin in the Zenit vs Dynamo cup clash the previous day, a decision that drew scrutiny from observers and analysts. The episode was cited as an example of how judgment calls can swing games and spark debate about the consistency of refereeing in major Russian cup ties.
Another cup contest between Spartak and Ural raised questions when a referee did not penalize a red-and-white player, Christopher Martins, for a possible infraction. The conduct of the match official in that encounter subsequently prompted inquiries from the refereeing department and amplified conversations about the standards being applied across competitions.
Former Spartak coach Valery Gladilin commented on Salikhova’s remarks about a potential merger with Dynamo, suggesting that her statements had stirred significant attention within the football community and prompted a broader discussion about two of Russia’s most prominent clubs working more closely together on governance and refereeing issues. This perspective was reported by multiple outlets as part of the wider debate on how clubs might influence the direction of Russian football through strategic alliances and shared oversight. [Source attribution: Vprognoze.ru]