Sports weekend with Izvestia

Football

The Russian Championship. Dynamo (Moscow) — Zenit, Spartak — CSKA

Two top matches will take place on Saturday in the 26th round of the Russian Premier League. In the afternoon, Dynamo Moscow, which is fifth, will host Zenit St. Petersburg, which is in second place. For a club from the Northern Capital to win the championship for the seventh time in a row, it is necessary to win most of the remaining games. But Dynamo also needs to win if they want to keep their chances of winning medals. Their competitors Spartak and CSKA will host the Moscow derby in the evening, the outcome of which will determine the prospects of both teams in the fight for the highest places.

April 26: 14:00, VTB Arena (Moscow); 19:30, Lukoil Arena (Moscow). Live broadcasts on Match TV and Match Premier

"In each of the matches we will fight for our points"

Dynamo Makhachkala football player Ilya Kirsh — about the struggle for survival in the RPL, the victory over Spartak and a trip with the Russian youth national team to Colombia

Hockey

Gagarin Cup. The semi-finals. The first match. Lokomotiv — Salavat Yulaev

The penultimate stage of the KHL playoffs starts at the end of this week with a match between Lokomotiv Yaroslavl and Salavat Yulaev Ufa. Both teams only ended difficult quarterfinal series on Wednesday, where, following the results of the seventh match, the Railwaymen defeated the Omsk Avangard, and the club from Bashkortostan prevailed over Spartak Moscow. The second semi-final between Traktor Chelyabinsk and Dynamo Moscow will begin on Monday. As before, both series will go up to four wins for one of the teams.

April 27, 16:30, Arena 2000 (Yaroslavl). Live broadcasts on Match TV, KHL TV, KHL Prime and Kinopoisk

"Childhood dream is to play in the NHL"

Danila Yurov, the Gagarin Cup winner with Metallurg, talks about the decision to sign a contract with Minnesota, communication with Kaprizov and departure from Avangard

Tennis

Masters and WTA-1000 tournaments in Madrid

The regular millennials of the season take place over two weeks in the Spanish capital. They are traditionally the second-highest in world tennis after the Grand Slam. The winners will receive 1,000 points each in their ATP and WTA rankings. The first quarterfinalists will be determined next weekend based on the results of the third and fourth round matches. A large group of Russian representatives is fighting for the trophies. In the women's WTA-1000, Anna Blinkova, Veronika Kudermetova, Anastasia Potapova and Ekaterina Alexandrova reached the second round, and Mirra Andreeva, Diana Schneider, Lyudmila Samsonova and Anna Kalinskaya will definitely compete in the third round. Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov will start in the men's Masters on Friday from the second round.

April 25-27, 11:00 – 22:30, Caja Mahika Stadium (Madrid, Spain). Live broadcasts on the ATP and WTA websites

Title dispute: will Rublev be able to repeat last year's success in Madrid

Russian tennis players have traditionally performed well at tournaments in the Spanish capital

Basketball

VTB United League. Quarterfinals. Second and third matches

One of the series of the first round of the VTB Basketball United League playoffs may end this weekend. This will happen if Zenit St. Petersburg beats Parma Perm in Sunday's third match. So far, the club from the Northern Capital leads 2:0. In another confrontation, it will definitely come to the fourth match, as the score in the series of Krasnodar "Lokomotiv-Kuban" and Yekaterinburg "Uralmash" is 1:1. On Sunday in Yekaterinburg they will play the third match, and at the beginning of next week — the fourth. So far, only one game has been played in two more episodes. With the score 1-0, CSKA Moscow leads Pari Nizhny Novgorod, and Kazan UNICS leads Avtodor Saratov. The second matches of the series will be held on Friday in Moscow and Kazan.

April 25: 19:00, Basket Hall (Kazan); 19:30, Megasport (Moscow). April 27: 14:00, Uralochka Palace of Game Sports (Yekaterinburg); 17:00, Viktor Lebedev Molot Stadium (Perm). Live broadcasts on Match TV and Match! The game"

A trip to the world: the winner of the ECL will receive a place in the FIBA Masters 2026

The leadership of the Russian tournament managed to do almost the impossible in a difficult geopolitical situation.

Hockey

The Stanley Cup. The first round. Third and fourth matches

The 1/8 finals of the NHL playoffs will continue this weekend. Some episodes may end by the beginning of next week. For example, Alexander Ovechkin's Washington Capitals lead 2-0 against Ivan Demidov's Montreal Canadiens and will advance if they win the next two away games. Also, with a 2-0 advantage, the Winnipeg Jets will go to visit the St. Louis Blues, the Carolina Hurricanes to the New Jersey Devils, the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Ottawa Senators, and the Los Angeles Kings to the Edmonton Oilers. The Florida Panthers can also join them if they win the second game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday night. The other two series will go on longer — in the confrontation between the Minnesota Wild and the Vegas Golden Knights, the score is 1-1, and the Dallas Stars are leading 2-1 in the fight with the Colorado Avalanche.

April 25: 1:30, Amali Arena (Tampa, USA); 2:00, Canadian Tire Center (Ottawa, Canada); 4:00, Excel Energy Center (Saint Paul, USA); 4:30, Enterprise Center (St. Louis, USA). April 26: 2:00, Bell Center (Montreal, Canada); 3:00, Prudential Center (Newark, USA); 5:00, Rogers Place (Edmonton, Canada); 20:00, American Bank Arena (Sunrise, USA); 23:00, Excel Energy Center (Saint Paul, USA). April 27: 2:00, Canadian Tire Center (Ottawa, Canada); 4:30, Ball Arena (Denver, USA); 20:00, Enterprise Center (St. Louis, USA); 22:30, Prudential Center (Newark, USA). April 28, 1:30 a.m., Bell Center (Montreal, Canada); 4:30 a.m., Rogers Place (Edmonton, Canada).

"It's great that we live in the Ovechkin era"

Defender of "Carolina" Dmitry Orlov — about the game and friendship with the "Great Eight", as well as his plans