Drowned in the Baltic Sea: Krasnodar lost the leadership in the RPL

Krasnodar's players lost the lead in the Russian championship five matches before the finish. In the 25th round, they drew at home with Baltika Kaliningrad (2:2) and are now one point behind Zenit, who with great difficulty achieved a victory away from Dynamo Makhachkala (1:0). Lokomotiv, which occupies the third place, has strengthened its position in the fight for the bronze medal thanks to an away victory over Orenburg (1-0). At the same time, his main pursuers remain Baltika and Spartak, which joined it, which won a home victory over Akhmat Grozny (3:1).

Krasnodar — Baltika

After an away draw with Zenit (1-1) a round earlier, Krasnodar seriously declared its status as the favorite of the championship race. This status had to be consolidated in a home meeting with the main sensation of the season, Baltika, which is fighting for the bronze medals.

The game against Krasnodar was the last for the Kaliningrad team, which was subject to the four-match suspension of head coach Andrei Talalaev, received from the RFU KDK for a brawl at the end of the March match with CSKA (1-0).

At the same time, the coach was not with the team even in training last week, as he dropped out for medical reasons and underwent surgery. It is not yet clear whether he will return to work before the upcoming tours. But in his absence, Baltika, in their usual style, forced the fight on the leader and the reigning champion.

This led to Mingiyan Beveev scoring a goal against Krasnodar at the end of the first half. In the middle of the second half, Juan Boselli managed to equalize the score. But seven minutes later, near the penalty area of the hosts, Vitor Tormen got under pressure from an opponent and unsuccessfully knocked the ball straight into Maxim Petrov, from whom he bounced first into the post and then over the Bulls goal line.

Diego Costa could have equalized in the remaining time, but the ball hit the post after his shot. Nevertheless, Jubal, who came out in stoppage time in the second half, managed to equalize the score a minute after appearing on the field and save Krasnodar from defeat. But not from losing the first place. Baltika retains the fourth place, but the gap from the third has grown to three points.

— Krasnodar can be happy with this draw, which already does not speak in favor of the team that claims the second championship in a row, — Dmitry Bulykin, a former striker of the Russian national team, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — The Bulls barely got away at home at the end of the match. In my opinion, they are stronger than Baltika in the game, but they relaxed during the game, and the Kaliningrad club seized its chance, due to its traditional dedication, squeezed two goals out of the situation, even if the opponent's defender helped them more with the second one. And in general, Baltika may be unhappy with the missed victory. Krasnodar has put itself in a difficult situation, but the fight against Zenit continues, it's too early to call someone the favorite in this championship race, and everything will most likely be determined only in the last round.

Dynamo (Makhachkala) — Zenit

Once again, as a month ago in the Russian Cup (0:1), the Dagestan club showed its traditional fighting qualities and organization of the game, but almost fell short of achieving a positive result with Zenit, which claimed gold.

In the first half, Dynamo, fighting for survival in the RPL, played on equal terms with the blue-white-blues and achieved a natural goalless draw by halftime. Until the middle of the second half, Vadim Evseev's team continued to hold the zeros at their own goal, but pressed closer and closer to their penalty area.

As a result, in the 71st minute of the game, the referee awarded a penalty to the home team, but David Wolf deflected Alexander Sobolev's shot. Nevertheless, Zenit took the lead very soon when Nikita Glushkov cut the ball into his own net after Daniil Kondakov's shot. In the remaining time, Sergei Semak's team held the advantage and, after Krasnodar's misfire, took the lead. Makhachkala residents remain in 11th place - the gap from the direct relegation zone is only three points.

—Zenit had difficulties playing offensively, which has already become a trend for them this season, especially in matches against rivals such as Dynamo Makhachkala," Anatoly Byshovets, the former head coach of the St. Petersburg club, said in a conversation with Izvestia. — The Dagestani club, as usual, defended very well and held back the opponent, but still the lack of skill affected and led to such mistakes as playing with his hand in his penalty area during a penalty and an own goal. Zenit was putting the squeeze on the opponent in the class, but so far its prospects in the championship race with Krasnodar are not completely obvious — Semak's team's game is very unstable.

Orenburg — Lokomotiv

Lokomotiv had won only one championship in the previous five rounds, almost lost their chances of winning the championship and jeopardized their position in third place. Now he went to visit Orenburg, which is in the penultimate, 15th place, which is struggling to get out of the direct relegation zone.

He managed to put up a tough resistance to the "railwaymen" — in the first half, Loko could not do anything in attack. But after the break, Mikhail Galaktionov's team improved, and in the 70th minute Alexey Batrakov opened the scoring. There were no more goals until the final whistle. Lokomotiv remains third and is ahead of Baltika and Spartak by three points.

"It wasn't an easy, tight game, but the class of the stronger team affected," Nikolai Naumov, former president of Lokomotiv, told Izvestia. — Orenburg defended very well, pressed, imposed their game on the opponent, but Loko withstood, and then scored due to Batrakov's individual skill. But the quality of the Railwaymen's game still leaves much to be desired.

Spartak — Akhmat

This spring, the Grozny club became one of the strongest teams in the RPL based on results and play, but Spartak quickly killed the intrigue in the match. Although Akhmat was closer to opening the scoring in the first 20 minutes, he did not take advantage of his chances, and Spartak realized the first opportunities.

During the second 20 minutes of the match, the hosts scored three times — Ezequiel Barco, Christopher Martins and Jedson Fernandes scored. Before the break, Maxim Samorodov won back one goal, but Grozny did not have enough for more until the end of the game. Spartak has equaled Baltika and is three points behind Lokomotiv.

There were also five more matches in the last round. CSKA Moscow played a 1-1 draw with Krylia Sovetov Samara and dropped to sixth place. Kazan "Rubin" drew at home with Tolyatti "Akron" (1:1). Dynamo Moscow failed to beat Pari Nizhny Novgorod on the road (1:1). Sochi, which is last, won its second away victory in a row — this time it defeated Rostov (1-0). Sochi residents reduced the gap from the saving 14th place to seven points.