No wonder they "bullied": Krasnodar regained its leadership in the RPL

Krasnodar's players have regained their leadership in the Russian Football Championship. On the evening of April 23, they snatched a 2-1 away victory over Spartak and beat Zenit, taking advantage of its misfire in the away match with Lokomotiv (1-1). Meanwhile, the next round, the 27th, starts on April 25. Four rounds before the finish, serious intrigue persists in the fight for gold, the race for bronze and at the bottom of the standings, where seven teams at once risk being eliminated from the RPL.

The race for the championship

At the end of last week, Krasnodar drew 1-1 at home with Baltika and passed Zenit ahead, but three days later they received a chance from the St. Petersburg club to return to first place, as the blue-white-blues could not win away from Lokomotiv. The next day, Krasnodar played away against Spartak, which was trying to catch up with the Railwaymen in the fight for third place.

In the first half, the game was very sluggish, with no chances on either side, but with a slight territorial advantage of Spartak. This led to the fact that closer to the break, after a cross from the corner and a series of rebounds, Christopher Martins sent the ball into the Krasnodar goal. But the Bulls responded quickly enough: at the very end of the first half, they already got the right to a corner, as a result of which the ball hit Nail Umyarov in the penalty area, and the referee awarded a penalty, realized by Eduard Spertsyan.

In the second half, a sluggish game with no chances started again. Once again, the most interesting thing happened at the end. In the 85th minute, after another cross from the corner, Jubal sent the ball into the Spartak net. Soon, the red and white almost responded with a goal, but Ruslan Litvinov shot just past the goal from the goalkeeper's line.

Krasnodar won and is one point ahead of Zenit four rounds before the end. Now, in the 27th round, the two contenders for the championship will face home matches against very unyielding teams from the North Caucasus. On April 26, Krasnodar will face Dynamo Makhachkala, and Zenit will face Akhmat.

"We were able to snatch victory from Spartak due to our character and mentality," Krasnodar striker Moses Kobnan shared his opinion with Izvestia. — We have shown more than once that we can win such difficult matches for us. We are glad that we have succeeded now. We are glad that we have returned to the first place, but there are still difficult games ahead, so we cannot calm down in any way.

The Bronze Medal race

Loko could have won the match against Zenit, but they missed two chances in the middle of the second half, and at the end of the game they did not score a penalty. If successful, he still had a theoretical chance to return to the fight for the championship. But in the end, the maximum that the "railwaymen" achieved in this draw was to maintain the status of the favorite in the race for third place.

The team is still five points ahead of sixth-placed CSKA, which cannot get out of the crisis. Last year, on the 26th round, the Army team drew at home with Rostov (1-1) and have fewer and fewer chances to finish the championship in the top three.

Another contender for the bronze medal, Baltika, drew 1-1 with Akhmat and is still three points behind third place. Spartak, after losing to Krasnodar, moved away from Loko by four points and remained in fifth place.

Next weekend, in the 27th round, the Railwaymen will visit the Wings of the Soviets, Spartak will meet on the road with Pari Nizhny Novgorod, and Baltika will host Akron at the beginning of next week.

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

In other games, Zenit put the squeeze on Makhachkala, Spartak dealt with Akhmat, and the matches on the banks of the Volga ended with the same score.

The struggle for survival

At the bottom of the table, the last seven teams cannot be calm about maintaining their registration in the RPL for next season.

With four rounds to go, the distance between Akron, which is in 11th place, and Pari Nizhny Novgorod, which is in 15th place, is only two points. Dynamo Makhachkala, Orenburg and Krylia Sovetov are located between them. At the same time, Sochi, which is coming last, is gradually catching up with them all.

This team was more than 10 points behind the competitors in early April. After 23 rounds, she scored only nine points in the current championship. And she scored the same amount in the last three rounds, beating CSKA (1-0) and Rostov (1-0) away and Krylia (2-1) at home.

Sochi is now only five points behind the transition zone. In the 27th round, they will face Dynamo Moscow.

Last year, on the 26th round, two more bright matches took place between the teams fighting for survival. Orenburg scored a strong-willed victory at home over Paris NN (2:1), and Akron drew with Dynamo Makhachkala (1:1). In addition, Rostov, which is in tenth place, may also not feel completely calm. It is only four points above the transition zone and five points above the relegation zone.

"We are glad that we are now moving outside the transition zone and are firmly in the top ten," Rostov midfielder Kirill Shchetinin said in a conversation with Izvestia. — We are calmly looking to the future and will do everything to maintain our current position. We played well in the first half against CSKA, but then after the break the opponent was stronger. Unfortunately, in most matches this spring, we only play well in one of the two halves. If we fix this and show our best football throughout the game, we will score enough points in the remaining rounds to safely stay in the RPL.

In the 27th round, Rostov will play at home with Orenburg, Rubin Kazan will host CSKA.