Departure flight: Krasnodar defeated CSKA
Krasnodar football players knocked CSKA Moscow out of the "RPL Path" of the Russian Cup. Despite losing the first match (1:3), the Bulls rehabilitated themselves in front of the fans at home and defeated the Army team 4-0. Their next opponent in the cup will be determined on March 18 in the evening, following the results of the Spartak and Dynamo Moscow derby. Dynamo won the first match 5-2. The loser will follow CSKA to the Path of the Regions, where two meetings will also take place this week: Zenit St. Petersburg will host Dynamo Makhachkala, and Krylia Sovetov Samara will play at home with Lokomotiv Moscow.
Krasnodar — CSKA
Against the background of the failures in the Russian championship, it was especially important for CSKA to consolidate the success of the first spring match of the Russian Cup. After a promising winter transfer campaign, when the Red and Blue acquired Lokomotiv captain Dmitry Barinov, Zenit striker Luciano Gonda, Krasnodar midfielder Danila Kozlov and Sporting Lisbon defender Mateus Reis, it seemed that Fabio Celestini's wards were becoming one of the favorites in the fight for the championship.
But in the end, the Army team lost all three RPL matches in March — Akhmat Grozny (0:1) and Baltika Kaliningrad (0:1) away and Dynamo Moscow (1:4) at home. This led to the fact that the gap from the leading Krasnodar increased to 10 points. It's very difficult to win back in the remaining nine rounds.
Against this background, the only reason for optimism for the red and blue was only a home victory over Krasnodar in the first match of the RPL Path semi-final with a score of 3:1. The team flew to Krasnodar to keep the advantage there in the return game and somehow rehabilitate themselves for the March failures.
In the "RPL Path", the playoffs are held in the format of two-legged confrontations. The winners of the semifinals advance to the final of the RPL Path, the penultimate stage of the tournament. The losers go to the "Path of the Regions". It quickly became clear that it would not be easy for CSKA to maintain its advantage over Krasnodar. The Bulls had an overwhelming advantage throughout the first half, almost not letting the opponent out of their half of the field.
This led to a goal by Douglas Augusto in the 21st minute. Before the break, Krasnodar could have scored more, equalizing the score in the two-legged confrontation. But CSKA was saved by goalkeeper Vladislav Torop. A rare attack by the guests led to a corner at the Bulls' goal, during which Mateus Reis fought with Valentin Paltsev in the penalty area and hit him in the face with his elbow, for which he received a red card.
The Army team was outnumbered and had to stay in this position for the whole half. But at the beginning of the second half, Joao Batchi doubled the advantage of the hosts. The score was 2-0, and that meant at least a penalty shootout. But soon this prospect lost its relevance — in the 58th minute, John Cordoba scored the third goal, taking his team further. In the 64th minute, the intrigue was killed by CSKA defender Moises, who received a second penalty for his team. Three minutes later, Butchy did a double and finally buried his opponent.
Spartak — Dynamo (Moscow)
The crushing victory of Dynamo in the first match with a score of 5:2 left almost no chance for Spartak players to advance further in the "RPL Path". Moreover, in general, at the March distance, blue and white look preferable to red and white in the game. Following the Cup match, they scored another crushing victory in the Moscow derby — 4-1 over CSKA in the championship. Even earlier, in the first spring round of the Russian Premier League, there was a 4-0 home defeat of the Samara Wings of the Soviets.
Only last week, Dynamo was not very productive, but still won a hard-fought victory over Rostov (1-0). Now, Rolan Gusev's wards, who were previously in the middle of the table, are gradually approaching the top five — the gap from fifth-placed CSKA is six points, and Spartak is five points behind sixth-placed Spartak.
Nevertheless, the key task for the spring is to win the Russian Cup. The gap from third place in the championship is 11 points, so you can't count on winning prizes after the summer and autumn failures under the previous head coach Valeria Karpin. And for the new coach of the team, Rolan Gusev, a Cup triumph is the main chance to save the season for the club.
Spartak appointed Spaniard Carlos Carcedo as the new head coach this winter. He had victories in the championship over the last-placed Sochi (3:2) and Tolyatti Akron (4:3), which is located in the middle of the table. But the successes were very strenuous, and last weekend's defeat by Zenit (0:2) called into question the chances of the red-whites catching up with the top three.
Therefore, the Cup is also becoming a key tournament for them. But the defeat from Dynamo in the first game leaves almost no chance to continue the fight in the "RPL Way". And in the "Path of the Regions" the struggle will already go on until the first defeat. The loser of this derby will face the winner of the Zenit—Dynamo pair (Makhachkala). The return match between Spartak and Dynamo (Moscow) will begin on March 18 at 20:45.
"The cup comes first for us, but let's not forget about the championship," Dynamo Moscow midfielder Alexander Kutitsky told Izvestia. — We need to improve our position in the standings. Therefore, we will try our best both in the Cup and in the championship. In any case, we are very happy that we won against Spartak with a big score in the Cup, but the second semi-final is ahead, nothing in this confrontation is over. We need to tune in to every next game. If we work like we do now, everything will be fine.
Zenit — Dynamo (Makhachkala)
The St. Petersburg club is barely gaining points after the winter break. In the championship, he only snatched a home victory over Baltika (1-0) in the end, then sensationally lost away to Orenburg (1-2) and, with a very mediocre game, defeated Spartak on his field (2-0). Nevertheless, Sergei Semak's team is in second place in the RPL, only one point behind Krasnodar.
In the Russian Cup, they flew out of the "RPL Path" from Dynamo Moscow back in November." (1:3; 1:0) and the "Path of the Regions" now performs without the right to make mistakes. At the beginning of March, they had a hard time winning this tournament away from the same Baltika (1-0). And now they will host Dynamo Makhachkala at home.
The Dagestan club has been playing in the RPL for the second season, having the smallest budget in the elite. Last year, this did not prevent him from finishing 11th and avoiding relegation without transitional matches. In the current championship, with limited resources, he also has a good chance of retaining his registration in the Premier League. But a series of setbacks at the end of the first part of the season led to Hasanbi Bijiyev, the head coach, leaving his post in December, under whom Dynamo joined the RPL and stayed there in the first season.
He was replaced by Vadim Evseev, who has repeatedly proved his ability to solve problems of retaining in the top echelon with low-budget clubs. Earlier, he saved Perm Amkar, Ufa and Voronezh Fakel from relegation. In the spring, under his leadership, the Dagestani team won two victories in three championship matches — they managed to beat Rubin Kazan (2:1) and Orenburg (1:0) at home. The only misfire was in the away meeting with Samara "Wings of the Soviets" (0:2).
In the Russian Cup, Makhachkala residents were able to get out of the group from second place and get to the quarterfinals of the "RPL Path" (the first two out of four teams go there, the third places go to the "Path of the Regions", where they start with games against clubs from lower leagues), where even under Bidzhiev they almost knocked out CSKA — won 1:0 held a 1-1 draw at home and away until the very end, but conceded in the last minutes (1:2), and then lost in a penalty shootout (4:5).
In the "Path of the Regions" in March, already under Yevseyev, Dynamo won 2-0 away from Rostov (2-0). And now he's going to St. Petersburg, where he's going to try to knock out one of his favorites from the tournament. The match starts on March 18 at 18:15.
Krylia Sovetov — Lokomotiv
The teams started the spring in the championship unsuccessfully. Loko scored four points out of nine in three matches. And in the last round, he was defeated away by Rubin Kazan (0:3). This does not prevent the "railwaymen" from going in third place, but the gap from the leading Krasnodar is five points.
Krylia won one match with two defeats. Because of this, they dropped to 14th place in the standings. This is a transitional match zone. The gap from the direct relegation zone is only one point. Samaritans won the National Cup 2-0 at home against Orenburg in March. It was not without difficulty that Loko got the better of Arsenal Tula, the mid-tier of the first league (2:1). Their face-to-face match will be held on March 19. It starts at 18:30 Moscow time.
"Given the current state of Lokomotiv, it's not at all clear what to expect from it in Samara," Nikolai Naumov, former president of Railwaymen, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — The team looks very weak after the break, but it is above the class of "Wings", and the Samaritans also do not shine with any bright game. Therefore, if both clubs come out with the main teams, Loko will most likely win. He came out almost completely against Arsenal and barely won. If the same thing happens in Samara, then, most likely, there will also be a victory, but it will be very difficult to recover before the championship game, where now it is also impossible to allow misfires.
Recall that in April, the final of two matches will be held in the "RPL Path". In the Path of the Regions, four teams will play two stages of the finals, each match will be a one-match match. The winners of the RPL Path and the Path of the Regions will host the Russian Cup Superfinal at the end of May, which will determine the winner of the tournament.
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