February 27, 2023, 14:58 – BLiTZ – News
The rivalry between Spartak and Lokomotiv in the Russian Cup is different from the rivalry in the national championship. This cup is the territory of the railway workers, who have won the cup trophy nine times, setting a Russian record, while the red and white have won only four times.
Spartak and Loko have their own history of confrontations in the Russian Cup. The teams met only three times in the finals. The last final in 1998 was won by the red-whites with a score of 1:0, and in the previous final two years earlier, the railway workers won with a score of 3:2. However, no match between these teams attracted as many fans as their first cup final, which was attended by 103,000 spectators!
In Soviet times, railroad workers were not as successful in the National Cup as in Russian history. Nevertheless, it was the red-greens who first won this trophy in 1936. The next time they reached the final in 1957, where they met with Spartak. That match, which took place on October 26 at Luzhniki (then BSA named after Lenin), gathered an incredible audience – 103 thousand spectators. Football fans filled the stadium to capacity.
At the end of the 1957 season, Spartak and Lokomotiv did not fight for the championship. Dynamo Moscow won gold by a margin, Nikolai Gulyaev’s team (Spartak) finished third, and Boris Arkadyev’s team finished fourth. At the time of the match in the USSR Cup, Lokomotiv was three points ahead of its rival in the championship, so, perhaps, the red-greens were the favorites of the derby.
Seven players of the national team played in Spartak, including captain Igor Netto, Nikita Simonyan, Mikhail Ogonkov, Anatoly Isaev, Anatoly Ilyin, Anatoly Maslyonkin and Alexei Paramonov. And Lokomotiv had only one candidate for the national team – Yuri Kovalev. In addition, he played his only match against the Polish national team after the cup final in 1957.
The gates of Lokomotiv were defended by the future legendary goalkeeper of Spartak Vladimir Maslachenko. In 1957, he spent his first season as part of the railway workers and at the age of 21 he was considered a potential candidate for the USSR national team.
In the 19th minute of the match, Lokomotiv scored the first goal. Spartak striker Sergei Salnikov received a yellow card for attempting to headbutt an opponent, possibly due to the fact that the game was no longer given to the team. Lokomotiv seized the initiative, and Spartak goalkeeper Valentin Ivakin got more work to do.
Arkadiev’s team was closer to the second goal than Spartak to salvation. The railway workers hit the post, and in the 65th minute, the famous Soviet referee Nikolai Latyshev awarded a penalty to the red-and-whites for handball. But Lokomotiv forward Voroshilov failed to score against goalkeeper Ivakin.
This victory of Lokomotiv in the USSR Cup was the second and last.
“We had a squad, perhaps stronger in other qualities than the Spartak team,” said Maslachenko. “That explains our victory.”
The public news service previously reported that on February 27, the return match of the playoffs of the Russian Cup between Spartak and Lokomotiv will take place. The first meeting ended with the score 1:0 in favor of the red-whites.
