Chasing the bulls: Krasnodar takes advantage of Spartak's misfire

In the 22nd round of the Russian Football Championship, all seven matches were replete with vivid stories, and the results significantly affected the balance of power in the standings. In the upper part of it, the leading Krasnodar defeated Voronezh Fakel at home with a score of 5:0 and managed to increase the gap from Spartak Moscow, which failed to defeat Akhmat Grozny (0:0). It turned out to be a difficult match for Zenit St. Petersburg, who played Rubin Kazan on their own field. But the reigning champion managed to win 4-0 and return to second place. And the main sensation was the crushing victory of the Samara "Wings of the Soviets" over the Moscow "Locomotive" (5:1).

Zenit – Rubin

The Kazan club immediately indicated its readiness to fight from the first to the last minute. The high level of fighting led to the fact that already in the 14th minute, Zenit's main defender Nino had to be replaced, who had his head smashed in. Nuraly Alip came out instead. The hosts had two killer chances in the first half to open the scoring, but Alexander Sobolev could not hit the Rubin goal. Another loss was the departure of one of the team leaders Maxim Glushenkov before the break. The reason is a hand injury.

He was replaced by Matteo Cassierra in the second half. Sobolev was also replaced by Luciano Gonda, who managed to open the scoring in the 51st minute, making a one-on-one exit. Soon, the Argentine almost made a double, but he hit the post from the goalkeeper. Rubin's situation was aggravated by the removal of Alexei Gritsaenko. Pretty soon, the hosts took advantage of the numerical majority — at the end of the first hour of the game, Gustavo Mantuan scored the second goal against Evgeny Stavera. After that, the guests completely "collapsed", and Zenit brought the matter to a rout — Kasyerra and Andrei Mostovoy scored once each.

Akhmat – Spartak

The Grozny club has not yet got out of the transition zone and is not far from the relegation zone, but the progress in the game and the results of the team after the winter break is obvious. Akhmat has never lost in the national championship and Cup in the spring. In the 22nd round, he was visited by a club that is considered by many to be the favorite in the fight for the RPL gold.

An away defeat to Rubin (1:2) in March interrupted Spartak's seven-match winning streak, but then he won very convincingly at home against Zenit (2:1) and gave reason to think that the misfire in Kazan was accidental. After a two-week break for the national team games, the red-whites again showed that they are ready to attack sharply and act from a position of strength. However, they did not realize several killer moments at the gates of Akhmat.

The hosts bit into the chance for a draw, and their goalkeeper Giorgi Shelia played arguably the best match of the season. The game ended with a score of 0:0. Spartak was five points behind the first place. And Akhmat has not lost six matches in a row. This allows him to have a five-point head start from the relegation zone, but from 12th place, which gives him the right to remain in the RPL without transitional matches, Grozny is separated by two points.

"I expected it to be a difficult match for Spartak, but he still had to win," Alexander Mostovoy, a former red and white midfielder, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — I thought they would use their courage and the depth of the bench. But in the end, we performed poorly in the first half. Perhaps it was the quality of the field that affected it — it was dry, and the players were moving heavily on it. This gave Akhmat the opportunity to defend well. After the break, Spartak got used to the pitch, started creating good chances, but did not realize them. Which made it more difficult for myself to fight for gold. But we must also praise Akhmat for taking a draw on character and not losing for a long time.

Krasnodar – Fakel

Fakel resisted for a long time in the game with the leader and even managed to achieve a goalless draw in the first half. But it "collapsed" almost immediately after the break. Nikita Krivtsov opened the scoring in the 53rd minute. And in the next quarter of an hour, the intrigue in the match was killed by Eduard Spertsyan, who returned from injury, who first scored himself and then gave an assist to Olakunle Olusegun. Soon Olusegun scored a double, and Danila Kozlov scored the final point.

Krasnodar wins outrageously and consolidates its advantage over competitors at the top of the table. He broke away from the second line by three points. Fakel is stuck in the departure zone. He is in the penultimate 15th place, five points behind Akhmat, which closes the transition zone. After the defeat by Krasnodar, the head coach of the Voronezh team, Dmitry Pyatibratov, resigned. Alexey Rebko, who headed the reserve team, was appointed acting director.

Once again, as in the previous two seasons in the RPL, Fakel changes its mentor twice. In the fall of 2022, the club fired Oleg Vasilenko, who led it out of the first league. Pyatibratov, who helped him, led the team. In April 2023, he was also dismissed and replaced by Vadim Evseev. With the combined efforts of three specialists, the team got into the transition matches, in which they beat the Krasnoyarsk Yenisei." (1:0; 1:0) and she retained her place in the RPL with the smallest budget in the tournament.

At the beginning of the following season, Evseev was fired after a bad start. Under Sergey Tashuev, the team rose well, but in April, after a series of defeats, Igor Cherevchenko replaced the mentor, who managed to keep the Torch in the RPL without joints. In August, at the beginning of this season, Pyatibratov returned to his place.

"Our leader is gradually gaining momentum," former Krasnodar midfielder Maxim Demenko told Izvestia. — Murad Musayev's team did not easily enter the spring part of the championship, having drawn with Krylia Sovetov (1:1), then there were heavy victories over Paris NN (3:0) and Rostov (1:0), and Akhmat's Cup relegation (1:2) But this is the first time such a convincing victory has been achieved. I am also glad that Spertsyan returned and immediately began to give results. Of course, it is impossible to draw conclusions about Krasnodar's championship prospects based on a match with one of the outsiders, who is now in a serious crisis, which led to the departure of the coach. But the leader has a chance. The away match against Zenit, which will take place in two weeks, will determine a lot.

Krylia Sovetov — Lokomotiv

After Krylia Sovetov was defeated by Dynamo Makhachkala (0-4) in March, several meetings were held in the team. In particular, Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, Governor of the Samara Region, met with the management, head coach Igor Osinkin and a number of players. After his big words in the fall about corruption, money to work with referees, the influence of agents on the club and the large salary of the coach, many predicted the imminent collapse of the team more than once.

Despite this, Krylia managed to take points away from the leaders — Zenit in December (2:1) and Krasnodar (1:1) in March. And even after the defeat in Makhachkala, they were in 12th place. However, it is very close to the zone of transitional matches. Another conversation with the local authorities had an anti-crisis effect. After the fourth minute of the match with Loko, the Samaritans led 2-0. Dominic Oroz and Ivan Sergeev scored the goals.

And by the break, the score was already 4.:0. Ivan Oleynikov and Glenn Bale scored this time. At the beginning of the second half, Sergeev brought the matter to an all-out rout. Only Bale's own goal allowed Lokomotiv to avoid a dry score, but not a complete disgrace. "Railwaymen" dropped to sixth place. They are separated from the third by four points. Krylia is now 11th, with a three-point gap from the transition zone.

"There was only one team on the field that wanted to prove to its fans and the regional leadership that it's not for nothing that it gets a good budget, it's not for nothing that football players get good salaries," Nikolai Naumov, former president of Lokomotiv, told Izvestia. — And against her came a demotivated rival who doesn't need anything in this life. Who didn't want to play, fight, run, pick up the balls. That's the result. Congratulations to Krylia Sovetov, who have received a positive boost — it should help them avoid relegation, and without transitional matches. And Lokomotiv is simply not ready for the spring part of the season. Just one victory in four championship matches, such a defeat in Samara is a failure. There are big questions for the team and the coaching staff.

Dynamo (Moscow) — Orenburg

Orenburg, which is at the very bottom of the standings, after defeating its neighbor in the relegation zone, Fakel (1-0), seemed to show signs of life in the struggle for survival. And in the game against Dynamo, he was able to resist for almost the entire first half, even creating good chances in someone else's penalty area. But closer to halftime, Jorge Carrascal's double marked the blue-white class.

And after the break, Bitello spoke, who first scored himself from Daniil Fomin's pass, and then gave an assist to Luis Chavez. Soon, Orenburg narrowed the gap in the score thanks to Said Sakharkhizan, but at the very end, young Dynamo player Viktor Okishor set the final score in the game — 5:1. Dynamo is fourth, two points from Spartak, which closes the top three. Orenburg is still in last place, eight points behind the transition zone.

"The mood after such a defeat is depressing, because it's not pleasant for anyone to lose so big, especially when you're trying to get out of last place and catch up with the competition," Orenburg midfielder Danil Khotulev told Izvestia. — We played well against Dynamo until the first goal, but then inexplicably "fell apart". Now we need to do everything to save ourselves. First of all, score points in each match. Starting from the nearest exit to Nizhny Novgorod, to our competitor, Pari NN. We've been playing pretty well with this team lately. In any case, if we don't beat such opponents, then we have nothing to do in the RPL.

CSKA Moscow — Dynamo (Makhachkala)

The Dagestani club is still located near the zone of transitional matches, but tries to fight to the maximum in each meeting. And he resisted CSKA for a long time. But in the 32nd minute, Moises still managed to open the scoring. In the future, the army team controlled the course of the meeting, and in the 80th minute Rifat Zhemaletdinov doubled the advantage of the hosts, who won 2-0 and rose to fifth place, ahead of Loko. Three points behind the third place. The Makhachkala team broke away from the transition zone by two points.

"We couldn't create enough chances at the gates of CSKA — that's the reason for the defeat," Timur Magomedov, goalkeeper of Dynamo Makhachkala, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — We also conceded offensive goals from rebounds at the standards. We will work and fix it. In any case, we need to fight in every match if we want to stay in the RPL, especially without transitional games.

Khimki — Pari Nizhny Novgorod

Even in winter, it seemed that Khimki was doomed to take off due to financial problems and the scandal surrounding the detention of their investor Tufan Sadygov. But in the spring, they steadily gain points, especially not allowing themselves to lose to direct competitors in the struggle for survival. So in the last round they successfully took advantage of the Paris NN crisis.

In the 22nd minute, Lucas Vera opened the scoring with a penalty, and towards the end of the meeting, Butta Magomedov doubled the advantage of the Moscow Region club, which rose to 10th place and broke away by four points from the transition zone, sending Pari Nizhny Novgorod into it.

—We lost three matches in a row because we missed and didn't score," Alexander Koksharov, Paris NN striker, commented on the situation to Izvestia. — It's hard to say why this is happening. We miss some of them because of our mistakes, but in general, I can't name one reason for the failures. It's not my business, it's my business to play. The coaches will sort out the reasons and explain to us what needs to be fixed. And the job of the players is to follow the instructions of the coaches. In any case, we still have a chance to fix everything. There are eight league matches ahead, which is potentially 24 points. But you can't lose matches like against Khimki. We will do everything to improve for the next game.

The 22nd round will end on Monday, when Tolyatti Akron will host Rostov in Samara.