The 2020 Parimatch Premier Cup held in Doha, came to an end at the weekend with Spartak crowned winners of the Cup. This is the second year in a row that Spartak has won – the team won two matches out of three and lost one in a penalty shootout.
Moscow’s midfielder, Reziuan Mirzov and Rostov’s midfielder, Pavel Mamayey shared the title of the tournament’s top striker with both scoring two goals. Spartak’s first goal in the Cup was scored by rookie Alexander Sobolev.
Lokomotiv, the runner-up, drew three matches and lost one game to Partizan Belgrade through a penalty shootout. Valery Karpin’s team, Rostov came third in the Cup, scoring seven goals and missing six. Rostov started the tournament with a defeat against Spartak, but then went on to win against Partizan and showed a strong performance against their last game with Lokomotiv, where they led the score twice but ended the game with a draw at full-time.
Eight-time Serbian champions, Partizan Belgrade, showed a strong start at the tournament defeating Lokomotiv in their first game, with former CSKA footballer Zoran Tošić scoring. Following this Partizan Belgrade lost two matches with team member Bibras Natkho receiving the only red card given throughout the tournament.
The average performance of the Cup was higher than last years, with the average goals this year per game 3.67 versus 3.5. The defenders also scored five goals out of the 22. The tournament was highly praised by all the participants.
Domenico Tedesco (FC Spartak Head Coach): “It’s great to win the 2020 Parimatch Premier Cup, now the most important focus is how we progress our training in the build-up to the second stage of the season in Russia. It’s great that we also avoided major injuries, meaning the team can proceed with further preparations in full squad mode. Qatar offered us very good facilities to train and play the matches, for which we are grateful. I hope that by competing in this tournament, it will help us achieve our goals over the next few months”.
Yuri Semin (FC Lokomotiv Head Coach): “This tournament was great for us, and we thank the organizers for inviting Lokomotiv for the second year in a row. A special thanks also for taking into consideration the participants’ desired dates for the tournament. Doha offers ideal conditions for training, and we had great games against serious competitors”.
Savo Milošević (FC Partizan): “I am satisfied with how my team played at the Parimatch Premier Cup. The whole tournament was great, except our last game, and we will learn from that for the future. For me it is important that we don’t have players who are injured, and that we now get ready for the season in Serbia. The Aspire Academy facilities and hospitality was fantastic. We hope to see everyone again”.
The 2020 Doha Parimatch Premier Cup results:
Lokomotiv – Partizan – 1-1 (2-4 on pens)
Spartak – Rostov – 2-1
Partizan – Rostov – 1-3
Spartak – Lokomotiv – 1-1 (2-4 on pens)
Spartak – Partizan – 3-2
Rostov – Lokomotiv – 3-3 (4-5 on pens)
All tournament matches were broadcastED on Match TV and MATCH PREMIER, and were also covered in their social networks and on sites matchtv.ru, matchpremier.ru, sportbox.ru.