Bullish draw: The RPL leaders' match ended without a win

This spring's main RPL match has maintained parity in the fight to win the Russian championship. In the last 24th round, the leaders Zenit and Krasnodar drew 1-1 and continued the race for gold, having approximately equal chances of success. It is also worth noting the sensational home defeat of CSKA against Sochi, which is last in the table (0:1). At the same time, the competitors of the army — Lokomotiv and Spartak, as well as Kaliningrad Baltika, also lost points, having drawn their matches, and as a result did not come off strongly in the fight for bronze.

Zenit — Krasnodar

The meeting in St. Petersburg took place four days after the tough cup matches. Krasnodar drew away with Dynamo Moscow (0:0) in the first game of the final of the "RPL Path". On May 6, he will host the blue and white in the return home game. Zenit lost to Spartak in the semifinals of the Path of the Regions at its stadium (0:0, 6 on penalties:7) and flew out of the Cup.

Zenit and Krasnodar approached the championship match without serious personnel losses, except for the disqualification of the Bulls' main midfielder Alexander Chernikov. A year ago, the teams also met in the Northern Capital at the height of the championship race in the 24th round. That April, the St. Petersburg team won outrageously (4:1), and it seemed to many that Krasnodar was mentally not ready to win the RPL.

But in the end, over the remaining six rounds, the club achieved its first title in its history. This year, Murad Musayev's team approached the decisive battle for gold with more confidence. Although Zenit had the advantage in the first half, and in the 27th minute it materialized into a goal by Wendel. But soon the guests began to gradually regain the initiative.

It bore fruit in the second half — Lucas Olasa equalized the score in the 69th minute. 10 minutes later, Krasnodar also gained a numerical advantage when Pedro was removed from the field for hitting Eduard Spertsyan in the shin with cleats. But the reigning champion could not take advantage of this. Nevertheless, he managed to achieve a draw in the away game with a competitor and maintain the lead in the RPL, ahead of Zenit by one point.

"The game of two equal opponents with a natural result was generally equal," Anatoly Byshovets, former Zenit head coach, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — Peter had the first half, he had the advantage and scored a goal. Krasnodar looked better after the break and deservedly equalized the score. It is difficult to single out the aspects in which one or the other team was stronger, so it was a draw. The rivals have equal chances for the championship: Krasnodar has a more structured game, but Zenit has a better depth of squad. We will find out which of these will be decisive in the remaining rounds.

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Lokomotiv — Dynamo (Makhachkala)

Back in early March, Loko was not far behind Krasnodar and Zenit and could really claim gold. But in the last five rounds, the club has won only one match and now has to think about how to stay in third place. The last match with Dynamo Makhachkala continued a series of failures for the Railwaymen.

The Dagestani team is fighting for survival and clinging to the chance to score points in every match. The visit to Cherkizovo could have been a triumph for Vadim Evseev's team: in the middle of the second half, they opened the scoring with a penalty. But they couldn't keep the victory, allowing Loko to equalize in the end.

Nevertheless, the final result of 1:1 can be considered a success by the guests. They are in 11th place outside the transition zone, but the gap from it is only one point. And they are separated from the relegation zone by only three points. Lokomotiv is still third, one point ahead of Baltika and three ahead of CSKA and Spartak.

"Of course, we are unhappy with the result," Nikita Glushkov, midfielder of Dynamo Makhachkala, told Izvestia. — When you miss a victory at the end of a game, it's hard to be happy. But it is what it is. It's good that we were able to draw with Loko, one of the leaders of our championship. If we also play in the remaining games, we will have a very good chance of staying in the RPL.

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The first two teams of the Russian championship will play the decisive match of the season

CSKA Moscow — Sochi

Few people expected success from Sochi, given the hopelessness of the team's situation. Before leaving for CSKA, she had a series of six defeats in a row. Overall, the southern club scored one point in the previous nine meetings. And for the entire championship before last weekend, Sochi scored only two victories.

CSKA is actively failing this spring, but it has won victories over the teams from the bottom of the table, albeit with a creak. This was the case in the previous two rounds, when the Army team prevailed at home over Dynamo Makhachkala (3:1) and away over Akron Togliatti (2:1). Fabio Celestini's players had problems only in games with the leaders and the average players.

However, in the game against Sochi, the army team quickly began to have difficulties. Already in the 11th minute, Martin Kramaric opened the scoring from the penalty spot. The guests had a high-quality first half and could have scored more. After the break, Igor Osinkin's team pressed themselves against the goal, CSKA had the advantage, but Sochi goalkeeper Alexander Degtev acted very reliably and eventually brought his team victory.

However, it will still be difficult for her to escape from relegation — she is nine points behind the transition zone, which is almost impossible to win back in the remaining six rounds. CSKA is still fifth.

"We won due to the fact that everyone in our team made every effort to do this, and everyone helped each other on the field,— Sochi midfielder Kirill Zaika said in a conversation with Izvestia. — Hence the result. Previously, this was not enough. And with CSKA, we got back a little bit. Do I believe in the possibility of avoiding relegation? Sure. Otherwise, it makes no sense to enter the field. The main thing is to play the same way in the remaining matches, and then we'll see.

There were four more matches over the weekend. Samara Krylia Sovetov drew at home with Akhmat Grozny (2:2). Rubin Kazan could not beat Orenburg on their own field (0:0). Baltika shared points with Pari Nizhny Novgorod (2:2) at home, and Spartak drew with Rostov (1:1) away. The tour will end on April 13 with a match in Samara, where Akron will host Dynamo Moscow.