FC Krasnodar missed the victory over the newly-baked champion of Russia; PFC Sochi defeated one of the leaders of the tournament

Bet on the Russian Cup

In almost every season, the same story happens with Krasnodar. In the spring, the team mediocrely loses points. Either loses, leading in the course of the match in the account, or misses the victory. Often a defeat or a draw happens right seconds before the final whistle. This is what is happening this season. And the match of the twenty-seventh round of the championship of Russia in this regard is very indicative.

The duel in St. Petersburg meant nothing to Zenit. Previously, the Blue-White-Blues won the fifth championship in a row. In total, this title was the tenth for the St. Petersburg club. Why did Krasnodar need a victory? From a tournament point of view, it did not decide anything, but the last time the Bulls defeated the St. Petersburg team was already five years ago – on April 7, 2018. It was a matter of honor to break this unpleasant series.

“Krasnodar”, going to the game with “Zenith”, clearly kept the Cup of Russia in mind. Therefore, four days before the final of the Path of Regions, Vladimir Ivic gave rest to two leaders of the attack – John Cordoba and Eduard Spertsyan. Zenit entered this game with almost the main squad – the central defenders Rodrigao and Robert Renan did not take part in this game. The hosts played in the championship form – golden color.

Pitertsy immediately began to act as the winners of the championship of Russia. An excellent pace was taken, the hosts put great pressure. “Krasnodar” did not press close to its gates, football immediately became open. The Bulls clearly lacked Cordoba and Spertsyan. Moses Kobnan and Ilzat Akhmetov, who are nominally midfielders, acted at the forefront of their attack.

Zenit acted more actively and scored in the fifteenth minute. Wendel on the right passed to the penalty line, where Malcolm shot into the near corner. The Bulls tried to get out of the pressure, but in the first half they did little. Ivic’s team lost a lot of the ball, he simply did not reach the attackers. Only at the end of the first half, the “citizens” began to get something in the attack, there were approaches to the goal of Mikhail Kerzhakov. The first blow to the goal of Zenit was delivered by Akhmetov only in the 32nd minute of the match. The distance was decent, and Kerzhakov coped with the blow. The first half ended with a minimal advantage for the hosts.

After the break, Krasnodar improved noticeably. Zenit, it seemed, gave the initiative to the opponent. Counterattacks from the hosts did not work. The Citizens took advantage of the situation and equalized the score. In the 51st minute, Akhmetov and Mihailo Banyats played through a short corner pass, after which the Serb made a couple of false swings, beat Claudinho, dragged the ball along the penalty line and hit the far post perfectly.

After the first goal, Krasnodar added even more and after eight minutes took the lead. The usual throw from the depth of the field into the penalty area of ​​”Zenith” led to a panic in the defense of the hosts, the ball was on the leg of Alexei Ionov, who shot past Kerzhakov into the corner of the goal.

Only then “Zenith” woke up again. The hosts rushed to recoup, but it was not easy to do. Krasnodar successfully destroyed the entire attacking pressure of the enemy, controlled the ball for a long time and, what can I say, wasted time. Semak decided to correct the situation with substitutions. Until the third added minute of the match, Zenit could not deliver a single shot on target. Krasnodar defended well, Matvey Safonov saved the team more than once. But Krasnodar failed to bring the advantage to the end of the match.

As in the championship match against Spartak, Semak’s team was able to score a goal in the last minutes of the meeting. First, Douglas dos Santos gently threw to the goalkeeper’s line, Safonov hit the ball with his fists, the goalkeeper collided with Alexander Erokhin. Meanwhile, the projectile bounced on the head of Mateo Cassierra – the Colombian sent him into an empty net. Krasnodar protested, convinced the chief referee Dmitry Safyan that the goal was scored in violation of the rules, but the referee did not change his decision – 2: 2.

The draw did not change the alignment in the standings for Krasnodar. Ivic’s team is in sixth place with 43 points. Most likely, this position objectively reflects the level of football that the Black-and-Greens currently show: they play no better, but no worse than the rest.

It is clear that now the entire bet will be made by the bulls on the game with the Urals in the Russian Cup. It will take place in Krasnodar on the seventeenth of May. The victory will give Ivic’s team a ticket to the superfinal of the tournament, which, by the way, may take place not at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, as previously planned, but at the VTB Arena in Moscow, the Nizhny Novgorod Arena or the Fisht stadium in Sochi . This was recently reported by one sports publication. Allegedly, the organizers fear that the main Colosseum of the country, which can accommodate more than 76 thousand spectators, will not be able to fill up in the final. “Krasnodar” is of little concern. It is important for him to get the first ever trophy.

Won without a leader

Sochi played in the 27th round at home with Rostov. For the team of Dmitry Khokhlov, the meeting meant little. The guests also have a chance to compete for the silver of the championship of Russia, so the victory was very important for them.

The game began cautiously. The teams seemed to look at each other. Nevertheless, by the tenth minute of the match, the guests struck three shots on target. The most dangerous of them was in the seventh minute, when Khoren Bayramyan passed Alexei Mironov at speed to the edge of the penalty area, the attacking midfielder picked up the ball, ran forward and lightly hit the bottom. Denis Adamov coped with this blow.

At first, Rostov outplayed the opponent. The “Yellow-Blues” acted more mobile, well found free zones in the defense of the “resorts”. The owners were not taken aback and began to correct their shortcomings. Gradually, the Sochi residents began to get more scoring chances. And they have more possession of the ball. In the 32nd minute, Nikita Burmistrov had a good shot on goal after a great discount by Georgy Melkadze. But the midfielder hit from outside the penalty area. Sergei Pesyakov hit the ball away.

By the break, Sochi had the initiative, and the statistics of shots on goal were better than those of the opponent. True, Rostovites hit the target more often. Bars really missed the last blow.

After the break, the hosts added even more power. And “Rostov” for some reason began to make mistakes. Guests often lost the ball. And then there’s forward Nikolai Komlichenko was injured in the 48th minute. After a collision with Vanya Drkusic, the forward left the field ahead of schedule. This is a serious loss for the Karpin team at the end of the race for second place in the Russian championship. It would seem that the advantage of Sochi will only grow, but they will also lose their main player – Christian Noboa. The Ecuadorian was injured and, although on his own, left the field ahead of schedule.

All these changes affected the game. The scoring chances have almost disappeared. Sochi acted dangerously only with set pieces. This gave hope to Rostov, who in the second half often hit on goal and on target. Nevertheless, everything went to a draw. But in the 89th minute, Artem Makarchuk threw the ball into the penalty area at Vladislav Sarveli, the striker threw a projectile to the front line, and then shot into the goalkeeper’s area, where Timofey Shipunov already shot into the corner of the goal. The result is 0:1.

The victory allowed Sochi to take ninth place in the standings with 37 points. Khokhlov’s team again outstripped the capital’s Lokomotiv, which they lost in the last round. In general, Sochi residents do not need anything this season. They will not win high places, they will not sink into the joint zone. Play for fun!