Chasing the leader: will Spartak take points from Krasnodar?

The central match of the upcoming 17th round of the Russian Football Championship between Krasnodar and Spartak Moscow will determine a lot in the upper part of the tournament table. "Bulls" need to win to continue the fight for gold, and the red and white - to get close to the prize three. Zenit St. Petersburg will take home Samara "Wings of Soviets", who are at the center of a big scandal. Lokomotiv Moscow will play Khimki, and CSKA Moscow will meet Rubin Kazan at home.

"Krasnodar" - "Spartak".

A month ago, the southern club could be called the favorite of this meeting. Spartak's crisis and Krasnodar's victorious march to the top of the RPL were too obvious. This was proven by their face-to-face match in Moscow - in mid-October, the Bulls defeated the Red and Whites 3-0. But it was after that meeting that Spartak won four games in a row in the league, a winning streak that continues to this day.

It allowed Dejan Stankovic's men to climb to fourth place. Now they are just three points behind Lokomotiv, who are in the bottom three. "Krasnodar", in turn, sagged in mid-November. After an 11-match winning streak, Murad Musayev's men drew two games in a row and lost their lead.

At the same time, in the midst of their successful stretch in the league, Spartak had a setback in the Russian Cup. This week the Red and Whites lost away to Rostov (1:2) in the return match of the quarterfinals of the RPL Way and flew out in the Way of the Regions - the first game in Moscow also ended in a 1-0 victory for the Don club.

"Krasnodar" flew to the "Way of the Regions" back in October, when he finished third in his group. Therefore, this week he had to fly to Tyumen - with the local club of the same name "bulls" played in the first stage of the quarterfinals.

And it was almost an embarrassment, even though Tyumen is in last place in the first league. "Krasnodar" led 3:0, but allowed the opponent to equalize (3:3) and move the game to a penalty shootout. There, one of the RPL leaders was stronger (4:2) and moved on.

- I wouldn't make predictions for the upcoming match based on the Cup games," former Spartak owner Andrei Chervichenko told Izvestia. - After all, the teams there shuffled their lineups very seriously, so the championship match will be quite different. Spartak seems to have picked up momentum, especially after the 5-2 defeat of Lokomotiv Moscow, and should be in a good mood and on a high. "Krasnodar" in this sense is on the decline with their two draws. But we know that Spartak's players get dizzy from short-term successes all the time. They win a couple or three games and immediately fans and loyal journalists start putting medals around their necks in the middle of the season. I think this will play a cruel joke on the Red-Whites. With their fluctuations in the game, they can't win for so long. Whereas Krasnodar are showing good soccer, are on an even keel, and the last two misfires shouldn't spoil the overall impression.

"Zenit" - "Krylya Sovetov"

The excitement around "Krylia" this week is very big. It's all thanks to loud statements from Samara Region governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, who said that not long ago one of the club's employees approached him and said he needed 36 million rubles to repay a debt to "unnamed criminals who are involved in corruption in the referee corps of Russian soccer."

This led to a fuss that had not been seen in our soccer for about 10 years. All officials, including the heads of the RFU and RPL, have stated the need for a full investigation into the information outlined and harsh punishment for those involved if the information is confirmed.

It's worth noting that even without this scandal, things have not been going well for Krylia recently. In September, there were active rumors about the resignation of head coach Igor Osinkin, which stopped after the governor intervened in the case. But the results only got worse after that. And Vyacheslav Fedorishchev himself stated several times about the need to reduce budget financing of professional sports clubs.

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At the same time, in the last round Samara managed to win at home over Grozny "Akhmat" (2:1), breaking an eight-match winless streak and avoiding getting into the zone of transition matches. So far, Krylia are in 12th place. And now they'll go to visit Zenit St. Petersburg, which has regained the lead.

- "Zenit" is the obvious favorite here and would be even without all these scandals around Samara, - shared his opinion with "Izvestia" Andrey Chervichenko. - The class of Peter's players is a head higher than Krylia's. Yes, in previous seasons, Osinkin's team was able to fight the leaders and sometimes took points from Zenit. Surely it will try to do so now, but we don't see the organization of the game that used to allow the team to fight on equal terms with our champion.

"Lokomotiv" - "Khimki"

After a crushing defeat to Spartak in the derby, Lokomotiv started to fall behind the leading Zenit and Krasnodar - by five and four points respectively. Therefore, Mikhail Galaktionov's charges need to beat Khimki, who are in the transition zone, to stay in the championship race. But the Moscow Region club already beat Loko (2-0) in the championship a month ago. And now they need to repeat that success to gradually pull away from their rivals in the fight for survival. Last round the Moscow Region club drew at home with Krasnodar (2:2).

- We'll do everything we can to get points in the match with Lokomotiv," Khimki midfielder Butta Magomedov told Izvestia. - We've already shown that we can beat the leaders or play them to a draw. The same games with Loko, Krasnodar and Zenit (1-1) prove that we have high potential. We'll try to demonstrate that in the next round.

CSKA vs. Rubin

Earlier this week, the teams already met on CSKA's home field. The Army men defeated Rubin 3-0 in the return quarterfinal of the Russian Cup's RPL Way and went on to advance, sending the Kazans to the Way of the Regions. The first game in Tatarstan ended in a 0-0 draw.

Now Rubin will try to take revenge in the championship. The team is still in the middle of the standings, in seventh place. And can drag CSKA, from which it is five points behind. The Red-Blues were in the group of leaders for a long time and were considered medal contenders, but the failure of the last month has led to the fact that they are starting to fall behind the top five. To prevent that, Marko Nikolic's men need to beat Rubin.

- I'm sure we'll give CSKA a fight," Rubin midfielder Umarali Rakhmonaliyev told Izvestia. - We've shown many times this season that we can fight any opponent on equal terms due to dedication and organization of the game. I believe that in the cup match we looked no worse than CSKA. Just because of a lot of individual mistakes we allowed CSKA to lead 3-0 in the first half and were unable to win back the lead. But I have no doubt that the coaching staff and the team will analyze these mistakes and we will not repeat them in the next match.

Also in the upcoming round will be four more matches. Akron Togliatti will play at home with Orenburg. "Rostov" will take on its field "Pari Nizhny Novgorod". Dinamo Makhachkala will face Fakel Voronezh at home. Dynamo Moscow will visit Akhmat Grozny.