Rostov Criteria: Will the Don club knock Spartak out of the RPL Trek

In the upcoming matches of the Russian Football Cup in 2024, the semi-finalists of the RPL Way will be determined this week. This will happen following the results of the return quarterfinal meetings. Only one of them will not be intriguing - a 3-0 home victory over Grozny's Akhmat in the first match almost ensured Zenit St. Petersburg's path forward. Meanwhile, Spartak Moscow have a tough trip to Rostov, who won away (1-0).

There is no clarity in the Moscow derby between Lokomotiv and Dynamo. The first meeting ended in favor of the Railroaders (2:1), but the White and Blue are capable of turning the tide. CSKA Moscow and Rubin Kazan are even more complicated. The first match in the capital of Tatarstan ended in a 0-0 draw. And now the teams will decide everything at the Army men's home arena.

Meanwhile, the four RPL teams that finished third in their groups will play their first matches in the Way of the Regions. In the first round of quarterfinals they will face one-match confrontations with representatives of the first league. Akron Togliatti will visit Shinnik Yaroslavl, Khimki will travel to Ural Ekaterinburg, Dinamo Makhachkala will go to Sochi, and Krasnodar to Tyumen.

"Rostov vs. Spartak

Recently, the Red-Whites have gained momentum in the championship, making the public forget about the crisis of the summer and the first half of the fall. Spartak have won four straight in the RPL, including a 2-0 derby win over CSKA and a 5-2 rout of Loko last weekend. Dejan Stankovic's men moved up to fourth place, three points behind third.

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But in the midst of this successful streak came a setback in the Russian Cup - Spartak lost 0-1 at home to Rostov in the first quarterfinal match. The Don club has also recently started to come into its own. In addition to the success in the cup game, it won twice in the championship - at home against Khimki (3:1) and away against CSKA (2:1). Thus, Valeri Karpin's charges broke a long seven-match winless streak in the championship and secured eighth place, almost neutralizing the threat of fighting for survival.

- Of course, we'll do everything we can to win the second match and move on in the Cup," Rostov captain Danil Glebov told Izvestia. - We feel that we've improved our game lately. And the results speak for themselves. The same away victory over Spartak in the Cup says that we have a good chance of final success in this confrontation. It is clear that it will not be easy, as "Spartak" is a serious opponent. But we believe in ourselves and will do everything to win and get to the next stage.

"Lokomotiv vs. Dynamo

A crushing defeat to Spartak in the recent Moscow derby (2:5) makes Lokomotiv prepare in a special way for the return cup quarterfinal against Dynamo. "Zheleznodorozhniki" will surely do everything to rehabilitate for the failure, which spoiled their generally good performance in the Russian championship, where Mikhail Galaktionov's team is in third place.

In the confrontation with Dynamo they look like favorites, as they won 2:1 away in the first meeting. Now Loko will try to make it to the semifinals at their stadium. But the Bilo-Syni, who have not lost in the championship for five matches, will obviously try to fight back. At the end of last week, they disappointingly missed an away win over Voronezh's Fakel (1-1) in the RPL in the final seconds and couldn't get any closer to Lokomotiv, who finished in the top three, three points behind them.

- We are set for a serious fight for the next round," said Dynamo midfielder Daniil Fomin in a conversation with Izvestia. - We have a difficult match with a good opponent. "Lokomotiv" performs well this season both in the championship and in the Cup. It's no coincidence that the team is in the top three in the RPL and has won all its matches in the cup group. But we have already beaten them once at the start of the season in the championship (3:1). And I believe we have the skill to do it again and go further.

CSKA vs. Rubin

In the first match, the Kazan club was much closer to victory. It created many chances from play, and also had a penalty kick in the end, but CSKA goalkeeper Vladislav Torop deflected Mirlind Daku's shot.

So far, the teams' fortunes indicate that Rubin is on the rise, while CSKA is on the decline. The Army men have won only once in their last four league games, a 2-1 away win over then-disastrous Krylia Sovetov Samara. But in the last round of the RPL Marko Nikolic's wards lost at home to Rostov (1:2) and are stuck in sixth place.

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Now it is possible that seventh-placed Rubin will soon catch up with them. The Kazan team is five points behind the Army Men in the championship. And that gap could shrink this weekend, when the teams play in Moscow in the 17th round of the national championship. But first they will play a return cup game in the Russian capital. It's worth noting that Rubin have lost just twice in their last eight league games, while in the Cup they have snatched second place in the group with a playoff spot in the RPL Pathway and can now pass CSKA.

- "I'm expecting a serious battle, I'm sure we'll impose our game on CSKA in both matches," Rubin midfielder Oleg Ivanov told Izvestia. - The first cup game in Kazan showed that we can play with this opponent to win due to dedication and high discipline. Therefore, we believe that we can go further in the "RPL Way" of the Russian Cup.

"Akhmat" - "Zenit".

The previous meeting could have been more intriguing if "Akhmat" had released its main squad. But the Grozny club after 16 rounds is in the penultimate 15th place in the championship. And all their efforts are directed at getting out of the relegation zone.

It is not excluded that in the return game with Zenit Grozny will play with a reserve group of players against the background that the previous cup meeting ended with a score of 3:0 in favor of St. Petersburg, and it is unlikely that anything will prevent them from qualifying for the semifinals.

"The Way of the Regions".

"Krasnodar" rather unexpectedly found itself in third place in its group, missing in the playoffs "Way of the RPL" not only CSKA, but also "Akhmat". The departure of the "bulls" to the "Way of the regions" is so far the main sensation of the current draw of the Cup of Russia. Now they go to visit Tyumen, which occupies the last place in the first league, where more than half of the championship has already passed.

And the Tyumen team is completely failing this season, eight points behind the 15th place, which saves them from relegation to the second league. The consolation for the team is that in the last round it unexpectedly beat Arsenal Tula (2:1), one of the leaders of the season. And it is possible that Krasnodar will not come to the game with the main squad, as it is in the midst of the fight for first place in the championship.

"Khimki" are in the RPL in the zone of transition matches in 13th place, but in the last round they pleased fans with a draw with "Krasnodar" (2:2). Now the Moscow Region club travels to Ekaterinburg's Ural, who are third in the first league, which allows them to play in the transition matches at the end of the season. This club has been in the RPL for a long time, and in the spring they only came out on the results of the junctions, losing their place in the elite to Akron (0:2; 2:1). The Uralians clearly want to return back to the Premier League and in the Cup will try to remind everyone of their potential.

- We understand that it will be a difficult match, as Ural are performing well in the first league and were recently in the RPL, having retained a lot of players in their squad since then," Khimki midfielder Butta Magomedov told Izvestiya. - But we're determined to win, we want to go as far as possible in the Cup and we'll do everything we can to succeed.

"Sochi" is in fourth place in the first league after "Ural", which also gives the right to participate in the transition matches. The Southern club also dropped out of the RPL in the spring, but they have retained most of their squad and seem to be an extremely formidable opponent. Dinamo Makhachkala will visit them, who are showing good results in their debut season in the Premier League and are still outside the relegation zone with a good chance to extend their stay in the RPL.

Akron, another debutant of the elite, has established itself in the middle of the table. It also continues to play in the Cup and will travel to visit Yaroslavl's Shinnik, struggling for survival in the first league, but with a one-point head start on the relegation zone.