Troika map: how the RPL leaders will perform in the next round

A triple power has formed at the top of the Russian Football Championship standings — Krasnodar, Zenit St. Petersburg and Spartak Moscow scored the same number of points and have equal chances for gold. In the next 20th round, these teams will have away matches: Krasnodar will visit Pari Nizhny Novgorod, Spartak will visit Rubin Kazan, Zenit will visit Fakel Voronezh. Meanwhile, in the Samara Region derby against Krylia Sovetov, Akron's Tolyatti striker Artyom Dzyuba may break the record for goals in official matches among Russian football players. The main intrigues of the next RPL tour are described in the Izvestia article.

Rubin – Spartak

Since the middle of last fall, Spartak has gained such momentum that it has become a favorite for many in the fight for the championship. Six consecutive victories from mid-October to early December, including defeats of Lokomotiv (5-2) and Krasnodar (3-0), forced Deyan Stankovich's team to be reckoned with.

There were fears that this gust would be shot down during the winter break. It is still difficult to say how fair they are. In the first match after the break, Spartak beat Orenburg at home with a score of 2:0, but it is hardly possible to draw conclusions based on a victory over a team that is deep at the bottom of the RPL table. At the same time, she managed to put up a decent resistance to the red and white.

Nevertheless, Spartak was able to catch up with the leaders of the championship — Krasnodar and Zenit. At the same time, Stankovich used the same squad in the last game that he had before the break, only in the end releasing the newcomers acquired in the winter, Pablo Solari and Levi Garcia, against Orenburg. According to Sport-Express, Spartak paid a total of more than €30 million for both of them, challenging Zenit's financial dominance in this regard for the first time in many years. And thus he made a bid to win the championship.

Solari was able to score a goal against Orenburg in the last minutes in his debut match. Now his team will have a difficult trip to Kazan.

Rubin is confidently in the very middle of the table, in eighth place. In fact, Kazan is not in danger of relegation from the RPL, but there is no fight for medals either. Nevertheless, during Rashid Rakhimov's two years as head coach, this team has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to take points away from the favorites.

"We have a difficult match ahead of us, Rubin is a very good team capable of causing problems to any opponent," Spartak defender Srdjan Babic shared his opinion with Izvestia. — But we will do everything to win. We have a good streak, I'm glad that after the winter break we were able to continue it with a victory over Orenburg. I am sure that we have a strong team and we are capable of continuing to win and fight for the gold of the championship.

Fakel – Zenit

The home draw with CSKA (0-0) led to Zenit not having an advantage in the table not only over Krasnodar, but also over Spartak. Now the St. Petersburg team will have to travel to Voronezh, where they have not won in the championship since Fakel returned to the RPL. In the last two draws, one of the lowest—budget league clubs in its native walls achieved draws with the champion - both times with a score of 1:1.

However, it is not known how much Fakel is ready to repeat this now. Having lost away to Khimki (0:1), Dmitry Pyatibratov's team dropped to the penultimate 15th place and are in the direct relegation zone. However, after the match in the Moscow region, the football players of the Voronezh team attributed the failure to biased refereeing.

Before the winter break, they played a number of exciting games, but due to poor implementation, they did not always achieve victories. Now they have to fight Zenit to keep up with their competitors in the fight for survival. Meanwhile, its star newcomer Luis Enrique may make his debut for the St. Petersburg club in Voronezh. According to Sport-Express, his winter transfer cost more than €30 million. The Brazilian missed the match with CSKA due to injury.

"We are waiting for a very difficult match, but we hope for success,— Fakel defender Igor Kalinin said in a conversation with Izvestia. — We have shown in the last two seasons that we can fight on equal terms with Zenit and score points in matches with them. We'll try to do it again. I think we have a good team capable of a lot. Taking into account the tournament position, there is nowhere to retreat — we must play to win every meeting.

"Pari Nizhny Novgorod" – "Krasnodar"

Krasnodar, due to a home draw with Samara Krylia Sovetov (1:1), not only did not take advantage of Zenit's misfire, but also let Spartak close in. The Southern club has been unable to win five consecutive league matches — four draws and one defeat. Now Murad Musayev's wards will have to leave for Pari Nizhny Novgorod.

This team has failed the first part of the season and is fighting for survival. In the winter, it was reinforced by a group of newcomers, and two of them have already won the home match with Akron (2-1). Striker Alexander Koksharov, who was leased from Krasnodar, made an assist and scored a goal, while Vyacheslav Grulev, who was acquired from Dynamo Moscow, scored the other goal. But even after this victory, the gap from the transition zone for Paris NN is only one point.

"We can't stop at this victory over Akron," Nikita Medvedev, the goalkeeper of the Nizhny Novgorod team, told Izvestia. — It's great that we managed to beat a direct competitor, but this spring we have 12 rounds as 12 finals. We won one, now we have to win the next one. It will be a difficult match against Krasnodar, one of the leaders of the championship, but we will do everything to succeed. If we want to solve the problem of keeping our place in the RPL, we need to give our best in every match from start to finish.

Krylia Sovetov – Akron

In the match of the last round against Paris NN, Artyom Dzyuba scored his 233rd career goal in all official tournaments, equaling Alexander Kerzhakov in this indicator. The 36-year—old Akron striker's next goal will be a record-breaking one - none of the Russian football players of the post-Soviet period scored more.

A historic goal may be scored in the next round, in which the Tolyatti club will play away with their neighbors in the Samara region, Krylia Sovetov. Both teams are next to each other in the table, completing the top ten. Krylia is only three points behind Akron and one point ahead of the transition zone.

"Dzyuba is capable of breaking Kerzhakov's record in the next match — Artyom is in good shape and is able to score goals regularly even at his advanced age," Dmitry Bulykin, a former striker for the Russian national team, told Izvestia. — And considering that the Wings have had big problems playing defense all season, it won't be so difficult for Dzyuba to distinguish himself. And he deserves this record with his career. But from his words in an interview after the defeat by Paris NN, it is clearly clear that Artyom is more focused on the results of Akron and wants to benefit the team first and only then deal with personal statistics. Therefore, for sure he will do everything for the victory of the team. Moreover, it has not yet come so far away from the joint zone. And you can't lose to a competitor again if you want to finish your debut season in the RPL without nerves.

There will also be four more matches in the 20th round of the RPL. CSKA Moscow will host Khimki at home, Lokomotiv Moscow will play Akhmat Grozny on its own field, and Dynamo Moscow will meet Dynamo Makhachkala at home. In addition, Orenburg will have to play Rostov at home.