Spartak Moscow blew their chance to go top of the Russian Premier League on Saturday after Terek Grozny recovered from a goal down to stun Spartak with a stoppage-time goal from Antonio Ferreira.
The Brazilian seized on an error from ex-Everton midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, who accidentally headed a Terek corner to Ferreira to nod the ball in at the far post.
Terek’s win sees them displace Spartak in second place in the league, and puts the team from Chechnya level on points with leaders Zenit St. Petersburg.
“I think we earned it,” Terek coach Stanislav Cherchesov said in televised comments. “You have to play every game like it’s the last few games [of the season].”
Spartak took the lead on 65 minutes through Juan Manuel Insaurralde, who charged forward to meet a Jano Ananidze corner and score on his league debut for Spartak with a powerful header.
Just minutes earlier, Spartak had seen an Emmanuel Emenike strike ruled out for offside, and Artyom Dzyuba miss an excellent chance from five yards out, firing a tame shot into Terek goalkeeper Yaroslav Godzyur’s legs.
The hosts’ equalizer came on 80 minutes when Spartak lost the ball in their own half, allowing Rizvan Utsiev to run down the right flank with the ball and then pull back a pass for Igor Lebedenko on the edge of the box, who fired a low shot then went in off the post.
Earlier, Zenit went down to their first defeat of the season, losing 2-1 at home to a spirited Rubin Kazan side, while struggling Dynamo Moscow grabbed their first points of the season with a 3-2 win at Lokomotiv Moscow.
Later Saturday, FC Rostov take on Alania Vladikavkaz.
Sunday sees clashes between Amkar Perm and FC Krasnodar, CSKA Moscow and Krylya Sovetov, Anzhi and FC Mordovia.
The sixth round of games ends Monday when FC Kuban host FC Volga.
