We found a way out: half of the participants of the playoffs were determined in the Russian Cup

According to the results of the penultimate fifth round of the group stage of the Russian Cup, several more participants of the RPL Path playoffs were determined. Zenit St. Petersburg, Krasnodar and Dynamo Makhachkala were joined by Orenburg, Spartak Moscow, Lokomotiv and CSKA.

Group A

Zenit St. Petersburg won the first four matches in the group, and that was enough to secure first place ahead of schedule. Therefore, the second blue-white-blue squad came out for the away match against Rubin Kazan. But that didn't stop them from winning. At the very beginning of the match, Luciano Gondu opened the scoring, and this minimal advantage of the club from the Northern Capital remained until the very end — 1-0.

This result gave the participants of the second group match a good chance to qualify for the RPL Path playoffs. Since the arrival of Stanislav Cherchesov as head coach, Akhmat Grozny has not lost a single match in the championship — this series has already been seven meetings in a row. But he didn't manage to improve the result in the Cup. However, it is possible that the Chechen club did not have a goal to continue bleeding from the nose, judging by the fact that it did not play most of the matches with the main squad.

This led to a defeat in the last home match against Orenburg. The score was equal for more than an hour, but in the 70th minute Stanislav Poroikov managed to hit the gate of Grozny. As a result, his team won 1-0. This allowed Orenburg to secure the second place in the group and advance to the RPL Paths playoffs one round before the finish.

Now the only intrigue in this quartet for the last round is the fight for third place and getting into the "Path of the Regions" playoffs. Everything will be decided in Kazan, where Rubin will host Akhmat. So far, the club from the capital of Tatarstan is going higher, ahead of the opponent by one point.

— It is clear that Zenit was more relaxed on the field, because the players were not pressured by the result, but they were motivated by the opportunity to show that they were not trusted in the championship for nothing, — Anatoly Byshovets, the former head coach of the St. Petersburg club, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — In turn, Rubin's immediate reserve is worse than Zenit's. And the difference in the level of the players affected. One is Luciano Gondu, who was at the base last season and scored regularly, which is worth it. We can also mention Evgeny Latyshon, who was the main goalkeeper of the team for a whole year and only last summer lost the competition to Denis Adamov. The quality of these players affected the match in Kazan. Therefore, it is logical that Zenit dominates the group, and Orenburg is naturally the second, as it won or drew in face-to-face meetings with Rubin and Akhmat.

Group B

In this group, after four rounds, the situation was extremely confusing — perhaps only the last place of Sochi did not raise any big questions. Otherwise, even the leading Krasnodar could not guarantee themselves entry into the playoffs of the "RPL Path".

And he could have problems following the match against Dynamo Moscow, where both teams did not release all the main players. However, Krasnodar had a wider rotation, so it was more difficult for them to create chances ahead. It was impossible to talk about the superiority that the Bulls showed in the summer in the away game of the first round of the group stage, defeating the blue and white with a score of 4:0.

Now everything was much more complicated. Nevertheless, the match went without scoring goals in regular time. And Krasnodar won in the penalty shootout — 4:2. And secured the first place in the group, avoiding a meeting with Zenit — it is with the teams of group A that the winners of Group B will have to play in the first round of the RPL Paths playoffs. Thus, the southern club gets to Orenburg in the quarterfinals.

Either Dynamo Moscow or Krylia Sovetov Samara will play against Zenit. They will decide the fate of the second place on the blue and white home field on October 22 in the last round of the group stage. After Krylia drew at home with Sochi in regular time (3:3) and won on penalties (5:4), they equaled Dynamo on points. And now the winner of the face-to-face meeting finishes higher.

—Krasnodar has secured the first place in the group," Sergei Silkin, former Dynamo head coach, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — His reserve performed well in most matches, and those guys from the base who strengthened the team in cup matches helped to achieve results in difficult situations like the last game against Dynamo. Krasnodar has a better game.: what is the basis is that the staff clearly understands the requirements of the coach. And it's easier for them to adjust at the moment of rotation. Dynamo, in turn, had a very difficult start both in the league and in the Cup. Recently, it seems to have increased, but the failures of the summer, like the home defeat from Krasnodar, led to the fact that now they need to resolve the issue of second place in a face-to-face meeting with the Wings.

Group C

Spartak, to the surprise of many, comes to the last round of the group stage only in second place. He is inferior to Dynamo Makhachkala, whose budget is several times less than that of the red and white. Moreover, on Wednesday, following the results of the away match with Paris Nizhny Novgorod, Deyan Stankovich's wards could lose their chances of leading the group altogether.

Nizhny Novgorod played arguably their best match of the season and at least deserved a draw and a penalty shootout. But they were always unlucky. In the first half, Alexey Shpilevsky's team scored first, but the referee did not count the goal, because when watching the VAR, he saw a violation of the rules of their player in his penalty area before the effective attack of the hosts. As a result, instead of scoring, Paris NN received a penalty, from which Levi Garcia opened the scoring.

10 minutes later, Juan Boselli equalized from a free kick. Nizhny Novgorod played on equal terms with Spartak for most of the match. But we got hooked towards the end of the meeting. This led to the removal of Sven Karic in the 83rd minute for the second yellow card. And in the very last compensated minute, Jedson Fernandes scored the winning goal and brought Spartak three points.

"We played well in the first half, but unfortunately not very well in the second," Vitaly Karasev, General Director of Pari NN, told Izvestia. — Spartak made a number of substitutions, and the game turned around. The deletion also affected the final result.

Now the red and white are one point behind Dynamo Makhachkala, who will play at home with Rostov on Thursday. If the Dagestani team wins in regular time, it will secure the first place in the group. Spartak, meanwhile, will definitely not miss the second place.

Group D

The winner of the Moscow derby between Lokomotiv and CSKA was supposed to secure entry into the playoffs of the "RPL Path". The teams, as usual, rotated the squad for the Cup, but at the same time the Army released several solid foundation players — among them Moises, Milan Gayic and Matvey Kislyak. Considering that goalkeeper Vladislav Torop had already accustomed us to successful cup matches, and defender Matvey Lukin had recently been at the base of the championship games, the Army team were considered favorites.

Nevertheless, Loko managed to achieve a draw in regular time (0-0), but lost in a penalty shootout (2:4). In parallel, in this group, Kaliningrad "Baltika" defeated Tolyatti "Akron" at home, which provided two Moscow clubs with the first two places and an exit to the playoffs of the "RPL Path".

"It turned out to be a pretty vivid fighting game," Nikolai Naumov, former president of Lokomotiv, told Izvestia. — The only thing I didn't like was the large number of errors in the broadcasts performed by both teams, especially the Railwaymen — their coaching staff wouldn't solve this problem in any way. In general, it's an equal game and a well—deserved draw, but the penalty shootout is a lottery in which CSKA was more lucky this time.

Let's remind, the first two teams of each of the four groups enter the RPL Path playoffs. The third-place teams will be placed in another bracket of the Paths of the Regions tournament, where representatives of the first and second leagues will compete. The last round of the RPL Paths group stage will be held on October 21-23.