Football club “Krasnodar” lost in the penalty shootout of the superfinal of the Cup of Russia

Safonov lost to Agkatsev

The 2022/23 Russian Cup superfinal match was held between Krasnodar and CSKA at the Luzhniki Stadium on June 11. For the Bulls, this was the second final in this tournament. In 2014, the team led by Oleg Kononov in Kaspiysk lost to Rostov with a score of 0:0 (5:6).

The bulls prepared well for the meeting in the capital. The club organized eight buses for fans. True, one of them got into an accident at the entrance to Moscow, but everything turned out well. In Luzhniki, Krasnodar fans gathered decently, they supported the team almost on a par with the opponent. For those who stayed to watch football at home, a football festival was organized at the club’s stadium, the crown of which was the broadcast of the match.

Initially, there were fears in the Russian Football Union that the 76,000-strong Luzhniki could not be filled. But already the day before the match, more than half of the tickets were sold. Yes, some of them were given to children from football schools who could watch the game with their parents, but in the end, 53,425 spectators came to the super final. An excellent result for a traditionally less popular tournament and in the era of Fan ID.

Perhaps the main intrigue before the match was the choice of the Krasnodar goalkeeper. Matvey Safonov, who is nominally the first number of the bulls, has recently made many ridiculous mistakes. The less experienced Stanislav Agkatsev, on the contrary, played reliably. In the 28th and 29th rounds of the Russian championship, he defended to zero – one of these games was against CSKA. At the pre-match press conference, Vladimir Ivic decided to keep the intrigue, saying that he was counting on both goalkeepers. As a result, the coach put Agkatsev. Safonov, along with another young goalkeeper, Nikita Kokarev, remained on the bench. In the absence of the captain on the field, the undisputed leader of the current line-up of the Bulls, Eduard Spertsyan, received the armband.

Krasnodar approached this match in optimal condition. John Cordoba and Olakunle Olusegun, irreplaceable this season, began to play on the field from the very first minutes. Sergey Petrov acted in defense – the only one from the current squad who was on the team during the first final of the Russian Cup in 2014, but did not take part in the match then – Junior Alonso, Christian Ramirez. Despite the fact that Kayo came to the game, his place in defense was taken by a young pupil Georgy Harutyunyan. Alexey Ionov, Joao Batchi, the aforementioned Spertsyan and Kevin Lenini acted in the middle of the field and in the attack line. Krasnodar also had someone to strengthen the game. Ilzat Akhmetov, Sergey Volkov, Alexander Chernikov started the match on the bench, but took the field in the second half.

The meeting of the team began cautiously. There were no dangerous moments for a long time – only approaches. At the same time, CSKA had a slight playing advantage. Both teams received good support from the fans in the stands. Perhaps the “army” it was a little stronger.

The first dangerous moment arose for the “red-blue” on the twentieth minute of the meeting. Konstantin Kuchaev played wall-to-wall with Jesus Medina, ended up with the ball on the corner of the goalkeeper’s area, hit low. Agkatsev coped with this threat. Fedor Chalov could have played successfully on finishing moves, but Alonso prevented him from doing so. Four minutes later, Chalov dangerously hit on goal, but the bulls’ goalkeeper beat him to the side.

The game took place more on the half of the Krasnodar field. Ivic’s team was forced to rely only on counterattacks. In the 30th minute of the match, Kuchaev broke through with the ball to the right flank, ran to the edge of the penalty area, where he was knocked down by Olusegun. Vladislav Bezborodov immediately pointed to the point. Chalov struck from the penalty spot to the bottom right corner, Agkatsev did not guess the direction of the blow.

After the game, Ivic said that there was no penalty, in fact, he accused the referee of bias. The Serbian mentor hinted at the possible dishonest work of the referees at the pre-match conference. After the goal, the coach continued to argue with the reserve referee, to prove that there was no penalty. But most likely, Bezborodov figured it out correctly in this episode.

After the account was opened, the game accelerated. It is clear that the “bulls” ran to recoup. Dangerous moment they happened only in the 45th minute of the match. Spertsyan shot well from a free-kick, but the ball flew just close to the post.

During the break, Ivic released Ilzat Akhmetov, a former army man, on the field, removing Ionov, who also played at CSKA once, from the field. In the fiftieth minute, Ramirez sent a pass into the penalty area, where Cordoba struck with a header. The blow came out unaccented, but the ball flew into the net. Igor Akinfeev did not react to this threat and conceded a goal – 1: 1.

The game became even more lively, but there were no more moments in it. In the 66th minute, Agkatsev unsuccessfully passed the ball – Chalov got the ball. The striker passed into the penalty area to Anton Zabolotny – he shot on goal. If it were not for Lenini, who was in the way of the ball, the “soldiers” would have celebrated the goal.

Another good moment for CSKA came in the 85th minute. First, Akinfeev launched an attack, Igor Diveev made a discount to the gate, where Chalov beat from a half-leaf. The ball flew past Agkatsev, but missed the far corner of the goal.

Another penalty

It felt like the game went by quickly. According to the new regulations of the Cup of Russia, if two halves end in a draw, a penalty shoot-out is awarded without extra time. It seemed that Ivic would change the goalkeeper for penalties. Safonov took part in such series more than once during the games of the Russian Cup and invariably emerged victorious. But Ivich entrusted Agkatsev with finishing the job.

Punching penalties fell on the gates where the fans of Krasnodar were. Nevertheless, they did not provoke the “army men” and somehow interfere with them.

The first beat was Chalov, who rolled the ball into the corner from the bottom. Spertsyan replied to this. At first, Akinfeev pulled his shot, but the captain of Krasnodar immediately pointed out to Bezborodov that the goalkeeper went over the line. The referee demanded that the penalty be taken. This time, it was not possible to beat Spertsyan. Further, Diveev powerfully struck under the crossbar. Akhmetov answered this blow – he struck from the bottom without a chance for Akinfeev.

The first miss happened to CSKA. Moises was preparing for a penalty for a long time, but in the end he hit the crossbar. Krasnodar got a chance for a trophy. In addition, Cordoba’s next shot was confident and effective. Agkatsev could well stop the blow of Milan Gaich. The ball from the Serb went through the hands of the Krasnodar goalkeeper, but still flew into the goal. And then Akinfeev dragged Batchi’s blow, thereby leveling the score – 3: 3. Then Alonso successfully struck, Jorge Carrascal answered his blow almost without a run-up. Then Ramirez struck on horseback, the ball from the hands of Akinfeev flew into the top nine. Zabolotny powerfully hit the corner of the goal. Olusegun gave a misfire. The Nigerian shot well into the left corner, but Akinfeev guessed the direction of the blow and hit the ball – 1: 1 (5: 6) – CSKA’s victory.

After the match, Spertsyan referred to the bias of the referee. Someone recalled that a penalty shoot-out is luck. It was difficult to blame Krasnodar in this game, the team did their best, bounced back during the match. You can not blame the coach, who took into account all the prevailing circumstances before this meeting. Probably, it was just that CSKA was objectively stronger than the “citizens”. After all, before that, the “bulls” played with the army team four times in the season – two in the Russian championship and two in the cup, while losing twice and drawing once. They were able to win only in the second leg of the quarterfinals (“The Way” of the Russian Premier League) of the Russian Cup. From a tournament point of view, she did not decide anything.

It remains a mystery whether the owner of Krasnodar Sergey Galitsky attended the match. The players admitted that they did not see him on the day of the game, in the locker room, according to them, he also did not go after the match. The president has a rather specific opinion about the club’s trophies. He has repeatedly said that it does not matter to him how many cups the team wins. What matters is how she plays. Obviously, while the game “townspeople” should be improved and improved.