The feeling of "Loko": whether "Spartak" will be able to win the derby against "railroaders"

The second round of the Russian Football Championship will begin with the Moscow derby between Spartak and Lokomotiv Moscow, which will largely determine whether the Railwaymen will be able to continue their fight for gold and the Red and Whites will be able to join the battle for medals. In addition, it's worth highlighting Krasnodar's road trip to Khimki and Dynamo Moscow's trip to Fakel Voronezh, as well as CSKA's home match with Rostov.

"Spartak vs. Lokomotiv

"Spartak" won the last three matches in the championship, and not once missed in their gates. But that still puts the Red and Whites in fifth place - they've lost too many points to this point. And the gap from the top three is as much as six points. And closing this top three is Lokomotiv, whose young team is unexpectedly successful this season and even has a chance to compete for gold.

"Railwaymen" only three points behind the first-place "Krasnodar". And they need to win the derby to continue the race for the championship and not let their potential rivals in the fight for a place in the top three. "Spartak" also need to win, otherwise the chances for medals will continue to rapidly melt away.

- Spartak has shown good results in recent games, but it's too early to say that the team is out of the crisis," former Lokomotiv president Nikolai Naumov told Izvestia. - After all, the victories were won over the then very weak Pari Nizhny Novgorod (2:0) and Akron (4:0), as well as in a very mediocre derby with CSKA (2:0), which now looks much weaker than Lokomotiv. "Zheleznodorozhniki" still maintain their high level of play, plus added character, as shown by last-minute victories over Rubin (1:0) and Fakel (2:1). And their leaders - Alexei Batrakov, Sergei Pinyaev and Ilya Samoshnikov - are now in good shape, as shown by the Russian national team's match against Syria (4-0), in which they were the best. So Lokomotiv is the favorite, but Spartak can win at the expense of character, if the Railwaymen relax somewhere, or through some random mistakes by the opponent. The derby is such a game that even a weaker team can adjust well to an individual match.

"Khimki vs. Krasnodar

Krasnodar played to a 1-1 draw away to Rubin Kazan last round, which broke the Bulls' 11-match winning streak in the league. That allowed second-placed Zenit St. Petersburg to cut the lead to one point. Nevertheless, Murad Musayev's men remain in first place, having not suffered a single defeat in the league.

But Khimki, for all their difficulties, have proven more than once that they can unexpectedly trip up the leaders. In the summer, Zenit lost their first points in the league in the fifth round match against them (1-1), having previously crushed one opponent after another. In October, the Moscow Region club defeated Lokomotiv Moscow 2-0, which at the time was in the lead along with Krasnodar.

The rest of the season has been extremely disappointing for Khimki. Frank Artiga's side are in 13th place in the transition zone and are only three points away from the relegation zone. But they can create problems for Krasnodar.

- In terms of the game Krasnodar are clear favorites and should easily take the three points," said former Khimki president Andrei Chervichenko in a conversation with Izvestia. - Even the misfire against Rubin was largely due to bad luck, poor execution of chances and very organized resistance from the Kazan club. But Khimki's level is much lower, and their defensive organization leaves much to be desired, which should be taken advantage of by Krasnodar, whose John Cordoba can decide the outcome of a match if given the right space. Another thing is that, as Khimki's matches against Zenit and Lokomotiv Moscow Region show, the team from the Moscow region knows how to unexpectedly gather on the leaders. And it can't be said that it showed some scintillating soccer in those games, but it did something to put its opponents in a stupor. Therefore, we can't rule out a repeat of something similar in the game with Krasnodar.

CSKA vs. Rostov

Back in the season before last, both teams fought for medals until the last round, but now they face the fate of middlers. To be more precise, Rostov has already become one, stuck in eighth place just five points away from the transition zone. Valeri Karpin's wards are 17 points behind the top three and are unlikely to join the fight for medals.

CSKA still have a chance to do so. The Army men sit in sixth place with a seven-point gap from third. They need to win if they want to join the medal race. But Rostov also need to pick up points, so that they don't face the prospect of fighting for survival.

- We realize that it won't be an easy match, but we are determined to fight hard and want to take points," Rostov captain Danil Glebov told Izvestia. - We had a difficult period, a long series without victories. But in the last round we defeated Khimki (3:1) and now we intend to gradually move up the standings. We feel we can do better. The main thing is to play our game and not to make too many mistakes.

"Fakel" - "Dynamo" (Moscow)

Dynamo, as well as last season, show bright soccer with plenty of goals scored and conceded. If in the previous championship it almost led them to the gold medals, then in the first round of the current campaign due to problems in defense the Bilo-Syni show extremely unstable results, lose a lot of points and take only the fourth place, four points behind the third.

They'll have to rectify the situation in Voronezh, but it won't be easy. Local "Fakel" is at the bottom of the standings. It is in 14th place in the zone of transition matches with a gap of three points from the departure zone. But this can be called a legacy of a bad start to the season. In the last month and a half Dmitry Pyatibratov's wards have gained good momentum.

They had a five-game unbeaten streak, which was broken only last matchday, when Fakel lost to Lokomotiv Moscow 1:2 in the final minutes. This alone suggests that Voronezh may well take points away from Dynamo.

- This season Dynamo has a very unstable team," former head coach Sergei Silkin told Izvestia. - Partly it can be attributed to personnel losses, which were in the first round. But the fact is that the guys can both have a bright and productive match with the defeat of the opponent, and lose points on the spot, as it happened recently at home with Rostov (1:1). And you never know what will happen in the next game. Everything is also not clear with Fakel - the opponent is very strong, knows how to impose a fight, play defense. And Dynamo can both stumble over its resistance and on the spur of the moment score a few goals and win confidently enough.

Also in the upcoming round of 16 there will be four more matches. Zenit St. Petersburg, the reigning national champion, will play away against Orenburg, the last-place team in the table. Rubin Kazan will host Akron Togliatti. Samara "Krylia Sovetov" will meet with Grozny "Akhmat" at home. And Pari Nizhny Novgorod will host Dinamo Makhachkala at home.