Conquer Baltika: CSKA faces a difficult match with its closest competitor

The upcoming 10th round of the Russian Football Championship is not replete with bright confrontations. But there is one special match between the two inhabitants of the top three, which a few months ago few people would have perceived as central. The unexpectedly high third place of Baltika led to the fact that its departure to the second-placed CSKA Moscow will become the main event of the weekend in the RPL.

CSKA – Baltika

Just four months ago, Baltika returned from the first league to the RPL. Considering the margin with which she won the tournament in the FNL, the position in the middle of the standings for the tenth round of the Premier League would not surprise anyone. But Andrey Talalaev's team exceeded all expectations. After nine rounds, they have not lost even once. And this is not the simplest calendar at the start.

In the first two rounds, Baltika successfully played two away matches in Moscow. In them, she first drew with Dynamo (1:1), and then defeated Spartak (3:0). In the fifth round in Kaliningrad, the capital's Lokomotiv lost the first points in this championship (1:1) — moreover, Baltika was closer to victory, having created many more scoring chances. At the end of the week before last, Zenit barely got away with 0:0.

As a result, Kaliningrad is in third place, only two points behind the leading Krasnodar. And one from the second-place CSKA.

In June, the Army team unexpectedly lost head coach Marko Nikolic, who decided to join the Greek AEK after winning the Russian Cup and the bronze medal of the championship. But Fabio Celestini, who replaced him, didn't get any worse.

The Red and blue started the season with a victory in the Russian Super Cup, and they hardly lose points in the championship. In the summer transfer window, they have been reinforced by a group of high-quality foreign players and are seriously determined to compete for gold.

Interestingly, in the middle of last week, the teams already met in Moscow as part of the Russian Cup. Then Baltika escaped defeat in regular time by equalizing the score just before the final whistle (1-1). And then she won after a very long penalty shootout (10:9). Before that, they played a cup match in Kaliningrad in their group, where CSKA won 2-0.

"It's going to be a very combative and unpredictable game," Dmitry Bulykin, a former striker of the Russian national team, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — The Army team is very good this season, they are steadily gaining points, winning victories and may well compete for gold. But sometimes they have difficulties with militant and organized teams. Baltika is just one of those and can take points away from the favorite again.

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Lokomotiv – Rubin

This week, the Kazan club signed a contract with the award-winning midfielder Daler Kuzyaev. One of the heroes of the 2018 World Cup, in which the Russian national team reached the quarterfinals, remained without a club after his spring departure from the French Le Havre, where he spent the previous two seasons. The 32-year-old has won the Russian Championship five times with Zenit.

And now he will try to help Rubin compete for medals, which is two points behind the top three and four behind the leader. In turn, Lokomotiv is level on points with Baltika. Like the Kaliningrad team, the Railwaymen are undefeated in the championship, but this fact has a different connotation. The fact is that Mikhail Galaktionov's team started the tournament with four wins in a row, and then drew five times. Moreover, they lost points three times, missing victories in the last minutes.

Thus, instead of going to the first place, Loko is in the fourth. To overcome this trend, he needs to beat a very organized Rubin at home.

"Given how things have been going for Lokomotiv in recent rounds, it may well lose to Rubin," Nikolai Naumov, former president of Railwaymen, told Izvestia. — Kazan has an excellent team with a great performer ahead — Daku. And now there is a reinforcement in the middle of the field in the person of Kuzyaev. And their head coach Rashid Rakhimov has always been able to build a defense — Rubin also has excellent defensive discipline. And according to the condition that Loko has had in the last month, a draw will be a success for him.

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Rostov – Krasnodar

Back in early September, the Donskoy club was in the relegation zone, but an unexpected home victory over CSKA (1-0) and an away draw with Baltika (0-0) allowed the team to strengthen its position and rise to the middle of the table. Now Rostov will try to take away points from its principal southern rival. Krasnodar will in no case be allowed to do this, since after the home defeat in the last round from Zenit (0:2), the reigning champion and leader let the competitors get too close to him.

"It will be an equal match, where a lot depends on mistakes and performance," Maxim Demenko, a former Krasnodar and Rostov midfielder, told Izvestia. — This is what let down our leader and champion in the match against Zenit, where it was possible to achieve at least a draw, but Murad Musayev's team failed to realize several killer moments in the attack. Now they need to avoid repeating these mistakes in the match against Rostov, but judging by what the Don team has shown in recent rounds, Krasnodar simply will not be in this confrontation.

There will also be five more matches in the upcoming round. Samara Krylia Sovetov will host Dynamo Moscow. Spartak will play at home against Pari Nizhny Novgorod. Zenit will face Orenburg at home. Akhmat Grozny is waiting for Akron Togliatti, and Dynamo Makhachkala is waiting for Sochi.