Three from Baltika: the defeat of Spartak and the leadership of Lokomotiv

Kaliningrad "Baltika" continues to create sensations at the start of the new Russian Football Championship. Following an away draw with Dynamo Moscow (1-1), Andrei Talalaev's team successfully played an away match in the capital again, defeating Spartak with a score of 3:0. Meanwhile, another rather unexpected result happened in the south, where Moscow's Lokomotiv achieved an away victory over the reigning champion Krasnodar (2:1). And now the "railwaymen" are the sole leaders. Zenit could have caught up with them, but missed the two-goal advantage in the match with Rubin Kazan.

Spartak – Baltika

Baltika returned to the RPL after a year in the First League. Last season, she secured the first place in the FNL ahead of schedule. And she started playing in the elite just as confidently, taking points in Moscow from two top clubs. First, the Kaliningrad team spoiled the debut of Valery Karpin at the head of Dynamo by playing a draw with his team. However, even after such a result, the players and club leaders said they were unhappy with the outcome, as they were closer to victory in the game.

And in Saturday's match against Spartak, Baltika went even further. She was helped in part by an early red and white penalty - Anton Zabolotny received a direct red card in the 11th minute for a foul on Mingiyan Beveyev. This did not help the visitors to open the scoring in the first half, but it allowed them to act more confidently ahead, and Dejan Stankovic's wards created almost nothing in attack.

Immediately after the break, Vladislav Saus scored the first goal against the hosts. And at the end of the first hour of the game, Spartak had a second penalty, which Marquinhos received for the second yellow card. This completely paralyzed the ability of the red-whites to win back, and towards the end of the meeting, goals from Chinonso Offor and Nikolai Titkov finished off the favorite, who, after a minimal home victory over Dynamo Makhachkala (1-0), suffers a fiasco at home and again raises questions about the chances of competing for medals in the new championship.

"We could have won against Spartak even without removing Zabolotny"

Baltika football player Sergey Varatynov — about the defeat of the red and white away, the chances to compete for a place in the top 10 of the RPL and the bankruptcy of Khimki

Baltika is in the group of leaders with four points. In the coming rounds, she will have to play several matches with less powerful clubs. And already act from the position of the favorite.

"Of course, we are happy with the start of the season, everything is going according to plan, but there are still many matches ahead that simply won't happen," Ravil Izmailov, CEO of Baltika, told Izvestia. — The main task for the team is to win every match. Therefore, we should not feel dizzy from success. There are 28 rounds ahead, and many more things will not be as pleasant and rosy as they are now. We understand this well. In the meantime, we are happy about the victory over Spartak. The guys played a very good match. Of course, the early removal of Zabolotny affected the game, but it was absolutely relevant — Beveev received a very hard blow, as a result of which he had to be changed in the first half. But our team took advantage of the numerical majority and won with a good game. Now we need to take the next matches just as seriously and avoid a bullying attitude.

Krasnodar – Lokomotiv

After its historic spring success in the form of its first victory in the championship, Krasnodar retained the entire main squad, and also strengthened well. And the first test of the ability to defend the title was last Saturday, when Lokomotiv came to visit the bulls.

Both teams showed the best results in the first round, winning 3-0 — Krasnodar prevailed against Pari Nizhny Novgorod, and Lokomotiv defeated Sochi at home. And so the trip to the champion turned out to be a success for the "railwaymen" thanks to the double of their young leader Alexei Batrakov. In the first half, he converted a penalty kick earned by Dmitry Vorobyov. And towards the end of the second, he scored from the game.

In the last seconds of the match, Krasnodar narrowed the gap in the score, but failed to do more. Lokomotiv is still going without losing points. And besides him, no one can boast of it. The Railwaymen are single-handedly in the lead in the championship.

Dynamo (Moscow) – Rostov

At the end of February, Valery Karpin left the post of head coach of Rostov and became the head of Dynamo Moscow in mid-June. And a month later, his former charges came to visit him. Karpin first became the head of Rostov at the end of 2017 and led it for more than three and a half years.

In July 2021, he became the head coach of the Russian national team on terms of combining with club work, but two weeks later, after two defeats in the championship, he left Rostov, where almost all of his assistants remained, most of whom also joined the national team headquarters. In March 2022, when all teams, including the national team, were suspended from international competitions, Karpin returned to Rostov, once again combining this job with work in the national team.

This went on for almost three years, until in February he left Rostov, citing the need to focus on the national team. By June, this need had disappeared, and Karpin received another post at Dynamo, which, according to resources, can afford to claim gold.

"We set a goal to get into the top ten of the RPL according to the results of the championship"

Ravil Izmailov, CEO of Baltika, talks about the tasks for the season, the away draw with Dynamo and a possible summer boost

Back in February, before Karpin, the long-term leader of the Don club, midfielder Danil Glebov, moved there from Rostov. And in the summer, another key player from Rostov was added there — defender Maxim Osipenko. In addition, Dynamo were able to sign an effective striker Ivan Sergeev.

He scored the only goal in the match against Rostov, bringing the blue and white victory with a score of 1.:0. The first one under Karpin. Rostov, which lost a number of leaders in the offseason in the person of Osipenko and striker Nikolai Komlichenko, who left for Lokomotiv, has not scored a single point so far. But both defeats came from top opponents on the road — the yellow and blue had previously lost to Zenit.

"I think we played well against Dynamo,— said Rostov midfielder Alexei Mironov in a conversation with Izvestia. — But there is a share of some nefart. We had chances, but we were a little unlucky to score against the opponent. I think a little more luck will come and we will start to score points.

CSKA Moscow – Akhmat

In the offseason, CSKA unexpectedly lost its head coach, Marko Nikolic, who decided to join the Greek AEK after winning the Russian Cup and the bronze medals of the Russian Championship with the army. Fabio Celestini, who replaced the Serb, started with a victory in the Russian Super Cup.

But the start of the championship was unsuccessful for him. In the first round, the red-blues drew away with Orenburg (0:0), which was relegated to the First League last season and remained in the RPL only because of the suspension of Torpedo Moscow, whose leaders were accused of bribing referees.

The decision to return Orenburg to the RPL was made by the RFU a week before the start of the championship. Therefore, for the most part, the team is now playing with the squad that was formed under the FNL, but was able to take points away from CSKA.

The Army team also had problems in the home game of the second round with Akhmat Grozny. Brian Mansinha, who joined the Chechen club from Orenburg, opened the scoring in the first half. But just before the break, Danil Krugovoy's double turned the tide of the meeting. After the break, CSKA confidently brought the meeting to victory, and Akhmat did not score a single point after two rounds.

— It's hard to say what happened to us at the end of the first half. It's probably a loss of concentration," Akhmat defender Rizvan Utsiev told Izvestia. — Before that, we seemed to play well, scored a goal, and had some more good chances at someone else's goal. And it was a shame we missed those two goals. We could have fought for points. But there is no panic in the team. Yes, we lost two matches at the start. But the most important thing is that we have a game. And with this game, we will start gaining points soon.

Four more matches also took place in the last second round. Zenit St. Petersburg drew away with Rubin Kazan (2-2), losing a two-goal advantage during the match. Samara Krylia Sovetov pulled out a 2-0 victory over Pari Nizhny Novgorod at home in the end. Sochi was defeated on its own field by Tolyatti Akron (0:4). And Orenburg drew with Dynamo Makhachkala (1:1) at home.