Group portrait: who reached the quarterfinals of the "RPL Way"

In the Russian Football Cup, all the quarterfinal pairs of the "RPL Paths" playoffs were determined. In November, we will have two top two—legged confrontations - the Moscow derby of Spartak with Lokomotiv and the battle of Zenit St. Petersburg with Dynamo Moscow. In addition, CSKA will face Dynamo Makhachkala, and Krasnodar will face Orenburg. Also, following the results of the final sixth round of the group stage, four participants of the "Path of the Regions" from the RPL became known to us — these are the third-place winners in their groups Kazan "Rubin", Samara "Wings of the Soviets", Rostov and Kaliningrad "Baltika".

The last participant of the "RPL Way"

This season, by the last round of the group stage, seven of the eight participants of the "RPL Path" playoffs became known. Only in Group B did Dynamo Moscow and Krylia Sovetov Samara claim second place until the very end. The teams scored the same number of points, so on Wednesday evening in the capital, the winner advanced to the playoffs at Zenit, and the loser went to the Path of the Regions.

Considering how poorly things are going for both teams in the championship, it was important for each of them to rehabilitate themselves in the Cup. Nevertheless, the head coaches of both teams did not change themselves, releasing reserve teams on the field.

The young striker Ulvi Babayev took advantage of the chance to prove himself. Already in the 23rd minute, he opened the scoring with a pass from Konstantin Tyukavin. The hosts controlled the course of the game, and at the end of the first hour of the meeting Daniil Fomin doubled their advantage. And in the remaining half hour, Krylia were finished off by Babayev, who hit the Samaritans' goal twice more and scored a hat-trick. The 4-0 victory brought Dynamo the second place in the group and the confrontation with Zenit. The second match of the round in the group will be held on Thursday between the two southern teams, but it has no tournament significance, since Krasnodar has already secured the first place, and Sochi has lost the chance to rise above the fourth.

"Of course, it was important for us to go further in the RPL Path," Dynamo Moscow midfielder Daniil Fomin told Izvestia. — In general, we have a period now when it is absolutely necessary to achieve victories in any match, any tournament. I think we played a good game against Krylia and deserved to win.

Who's on whom

The balance of power in groups C and B before the last round gave the public a chance to get a super-principled Spartak and CSKA derby in the quarterfinals. To do this, it was necessary for the red and white to remain in second place, and the army men in first. The first condition could be fulfilled, since Dynamo Makhachkala was in the lead in Group C, three points ahead of Spartak.

It was enough for the Dagestani club not to lose in regular time on Tuesday to stay at the top. He took the lead quickly enough in the first half, but Marquinhos soon equalized from a free kick. And after the break, two more Spartak goals led to a 3-1 victory and a first-place finish.

They could only get to CSKA if the Army men themselves had lost points at home on the same day in a match with Tolyatti Akron. In this case, Lokomotiv could get ahead of the red and blue in the event of an away victory over Kaliningrad Baltika. Akron, in turn, was in a standoff with Baltika for third place and continued participation in the Path of the Regions tournament.

That's why he gave the fight to CSKA. Although both teams started with non-core lineups. In particular, Akron's striker Artem Dzyuba was not included in the application. The Army team took the lead in the first half, but in the middle of the second, the Tolyatti team equalized from the penalty spot.

And then CSKA released some of the main players, including Matvey Kislyak and Danil Krugovoy. They decided the outcome of the meeting: Kislyak scored the second goal, and Krugovoy gave an assist to Allerandro, who sent the third ball into the visitors' net. The club from the Samara region responded with just another penalty goal.

As a result, CSKA won 3-2 and secured the first place and an exit to Dynamo Makhachkala, while Akron did not rise from the last and was eliminated from the tournament. Therefore, the Baltika —Lokomotiv match scheduled for Thursday has no tournament significance. Loko is the second and will play in the "RPL Paths" with Spartak. Baltika is embarking on the "Path of the Regions".

"We deserved to win against Akron, playing with maximum efficiency and using our chances," CSKA forward Artyom Shumansky shared his opinion with Izvestia. — I would like to thank the fans who gave us great support at the stadium and helped us. Was it important to avoid the Spartak derby in the quarterfinals? We didn't look at which opponent we might face next. To be honest, before the match with Akron, I personally did not even know how Spartak finished the match in Makhachkala and from where they left the group. We were only thinking about our game. It was important to win against Akron and finish the group stage in first place. And who to play next — Spartak or Makhachkala — makes no difference to us. It's important for us to go through round after round and win the Cup.

Also on Wednesday, the team that took the third place after Spartak and Dynamo Makhachkala was determined in Group C. In the match for entry into the "Path of the Regions", Rostov beat Pari Nizhny Novgorod (4:1).

In Group A, Zenit St. Petersburg defeated Orenburg at home (6:0), but the match did not affect the position of the teams. Zenit secured the first place in advance and was waiting for its quarterfinal opponent, Dynamo Moscow, to be determined. Orenburg finished second in the round before the finish and got to Krasnodar.

But the issue of the third place was also postponed until the last moment. Kazan's Rubin and Grozny's Akhmat gave the audience a real intrigue. The Chechen club led 2-0 in the first half, but by the middle of the second, the team from the capital of Tatarstan came out ahead 3:2. Grozny managed to eventually equalize and bring the matter to a penalty shootout, but Kazan turned out to be stronger there (4:3), who finished third.

The first matches of the RPL Path quarterfinals will be held on November 4-6, and the return matches will be held on November 25-27. Next week, the Path of the Regions will host four sixth-round matches with the participation of representatives of the lower leagues. Seven teams of the first league have reached this stage, and the main sensation of the tournament is the Kuban Holding amateur team from the village of Pavlovskaya in the Krasnodar Territory.

On October 29, she will play an away match against Torpedo Moscow. A day earlier, Chelyabinsk will receive KAMAZ trucks from Naberezhnye Chelny. On October 30, Ufa will play at home with Neftekhimik Nizhnekamsk, and Fakel Voronezh will play with Arsenal Tula.

The winners of these matches will meet with the representatives of the Russian Premier League, who took third place in the group stage, Rubin, Krylia Sovetov, Rostov and Baltika.