army team took the upper hand in the penalty shootout over Krasnodar

CSKA added the second most valuable prize of the season to the silver of the domestic championship. He won his eighth Cup of Russia in a very difficult superfinal at Luzhniki, in which, losing after the first half, his opponent Krasnodar equalized in the second, and then managed to hold out until the penalty shootout. In it, everything was decided by the exploits of the famous army goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.

Comparing matches that crowned the European and domestic seasons last weekend with a difference of a day is, of course, a risky business. But still, something, undoubtedly, made the Sunday superfinal of the Russian Cup related to with Saturday’s Champions League final and the victory of Manchester City over Inter.

Both Moscow and Istanbul saw the triumph of justice in its purest form – when something much more solid prevails, not momentary courage, flavored with a portion of luck.

CSKA, which managed to absorb and comprehend the ideas of its coach Vladimir Fedotov, was insanely good almost all spring, playing almost all spring at the level of the Russian football flagship Zenit. And his rise literally shouted that the army team had worked out for a valuable prize. They eventually got it, regaining the Cup of Russia after a ten-year break, although they were forced to gnaw it out with their teeth.

Of course, the fact that both teams that made it to it hated to close themselves gave a special charm to this superfinal. And they were not going to change themselves on such an important evening – they played merrily, not trying to stuff their half with traps and wait until someone fell into one of them.

CSKA, more stable, more solid, or something, the whole season, which brought him the silver of the Russian championship, for a long time looked more interesting and sharper than Krasnodar, which for months could not find the perfect balance and finished sixth in the championship, at a distance from the army team and had already lost them in the Russian Cup in the starting round of the play-offs, after which he nevertheless made it to the decisive match thanks to the new format, which left Krasnodar in business in the Way of Regions. Very curious, for example, was a simple-looking, but impeccably timed wall by Konstantin Kuchaev and Jesus Medina. Kuchaev after it found himself right in front of goalkeeper Stanislav Agkatsev and decided to shoot on the move. The ball landed on his leg not too well, and Agkatsev showed a decent reaction, apparently reassuring those Krasnodar fans who were either alerted or simply shocked by his appearance at the gate. In the end, the first number of the club is Matvey Safonov, a player of the Russian national team, a goalkeeper with a name. But he is in the reserve, in fact, in the shoes of an ordinary fan, and Agkatsev is suddenly on the field of the main stadium of the country, although the experience, especially the experience of big meetings, he cried a cat.

But after this army attack, Krasnodar revived. And now Juan Batchi, rather unpleasantly for army goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, was spinning the ball into a corner. And soon Akinfeev had to insure at the “ribbon” Ivan Oblyakov.

The goal, nevertheless missed by Krasnodar, was stupid: a typical goal, the nature of which is more likely not in the lack of class, but in the weakness of the nervous system.

Kuchaev, tireless like a seasoned marathon runner, once again got the ball in the penalty area, but it seems that he ran into an insurmountable obstacle near its border in the person of Eduard Spertsyan. The picture did not promise anything terrible for Krasnodar residents. But for some reason, Olakunle Olusegun rolled under Kuchaev from behind, and the referee Vladislav Bezborodov, despite the protests of something that canceled, in his opinion, a foul that had seen the coach of Krasnodar Vladimir Ivich, appointed a penalty kick converted by Fedor Chalov.

CSKA luck added more confidence. Krasnodar disruption had some time to digest. But towards the end of the first half, they again looked like a team ready to fight with the Moscow grandee, and Spertsyan’s shot almost hit the target.

Krasnodar bounced back immediately after the break. His attack seemed to have already choked, but the interception in midfield gave him a second wind. Everything turned to a chic cross from the point of view of accuracy on the left of Christian Ramirez, who flew over the head of Villan Roshi to land on the head of John Cordoba, who sent the ball into the net.

Krasnodar, raising their spirits, for some time tormented CSKA with their raids, forcing them to think that for some reason they had more strength left.

But in the end, having regrouped, the army team, after replacing Anton Zabolotny, regained their formal advantage in possession of the ball and at some point even tightly overlaid someone else’s penalty area. Not to say that the fate of Krasnodar constantly hung by a thin thread, but at times it was not easy for him.

CSKA did everything to avoid a penalty shoot-out, but it all ended with it – a shootout from the penalty mark, which turned the most famous army player into an unconditional hero of the superfinal. They were almost killed by Moises, who fired at the crossbar. But Igor Akinfeev, who appeared in the role of catching up, pulled CSKA up on the edge of the pit. First, he parried a difficult corner shot from Juan Batchy, and then guessed where Olakunle Olusegun would aim, returning the cup to his team and preventing Krasnodar from finally winning the first trophy in club history. But, strictly speaking, on this day, whatever one may say, the Krasnodar opponent deserved the trophy more.

Alexey Dospekhov