“Krasnodar” beat “Sochi” with a score of 2:0 and became the leader of the championship of Russia

The sole leader of the Russian championship with six points was Krasnodar, which in the second round match beat Sochi at home – 2:0. The first victories were won by Lokomotiv and CSKA. The red-greens put out “Torch” – 4:1, and the red-blues killed “Akhmat” in a kind of penalty shootout – 3:2.

According to the results of the first round, it was impossible not to note the unexpectedly weak performance of the Moscow clubs, which, by tradition, are considered the main competitors of Zenit in the fight for the championship. Recall that Dynamo and CSKA lost, and Lokomotiv barely escaped defeat, pulling out a draw. And even the victorious “Spartak” walked on the razor’s edge at the start of the championship. Moreover, Dynamo misfired in the second match as well, failing to defeat Krylya Sovetov, although they were leading 3:1.

Lokomotiv and CSKA have already shown in the Russian Cup that everything seems to be in order. But in the championship, difficult away meetings with Fakel and Akhmat awaited them. The railroad workers, who were visiting Voronezh, immediately made it clear that they did not agree with less than three points. Actually, this was evidenced by their attack-focused squad, which included even Wilson Isidore, who used to play the role of a joker and, taking into account last season, scored eight times in a row after coming on as a substitute.

Tactics guests quickly brought them the desired result. An active debut was embodied in the goal of Artem Dziuba, who ambushed the rebound from the crossbar after Rifat Zhemaletdinov’s shot and finished off the ball with his head into the net. True, the Muscovites calmed down on this, while Fakel, on the contrary, sharply added aggression and forced them to fight back. Voronezh were very persistent and leveled the score from a corner, when Evgeny Markov closed the serve of Nikita Motspan with his foot. Moreover, Lokomotiv was lucky that the hosts did not use other chances, and the first half ended in a 1-1 draw.

In the second half, the attacking game of the wards of Mikhail Galaktionov did not improve, so Izidor and Zhemaletdinov went to rest. And almost immediately, Nair Tiknizyan fired at the railroad workers, who picked up the ownerless ball after a set piece and drove it into the bottom corner. The goal turned out to be not entirely logical, but a counterattack grew out of it with the participation of Maxim Glushenkov and Sergey Pinyaev, who punished Fakel, who had opened up and exposed the rear, for being too open in a positional attack. In the end, Vasily Cherov could still return the intrigue, but did not score in a 100% situation, but Tiknizyan did it, after which Lokomotiv calmly brought the match to a victory – 4:1. In addition, thanks to the best goal difference, he led the group of teams with four points each.

CSKA in Grozny again failed to put up the optimal line-up. In addition to the fact that the army team suffered serious losses in the center of defense, in addition, the defensive midfielder Sasha Zdelar was out of action. On the other hand, the opponent also experienced tangible personnel difficulties. And most importantly, already in the first minutes, Akhmat not only remained in the minority after the removal of Marat Bystrov, who knocked the ball out of an empty goal with his hand, but also conceded from the penalty spot, which was clearly executed by Fedor Chalov. However, the guests themselves soon fouled in their own penalty area, and Mohamed Konate deprived them of their advantage, as well as the illusion that the outcome of this match was predetermined.

The hosts looked really good with ten men, but their defender Andrey Semyonov brought the second penalty, which was also converted by Chalov. However, immediately another 11-meter was assigned to the gates of Igor Akinfeev. Ivan Oleinikov, who earned it, did not score, but the referee Vladislav Bezborodov again intervened in the course of the match. With a belated hint from VAR, he reviewed the episode with the violation of Milan Gaich at Oleinikov and presented the army team with a direct red card instead of a yellow one, and also allowed the Grozny team to beat the penalty. At the same time, they changed the striker, and Konate, following Chalov, scored a double.

Four penalties, but in fact five, and two removals per half, of course, raised many questions for the referee. It seems that the teams are emotionally burnt out somewhere from such an abundance of tests that have fallen on them. In the ten-on-ten format, they had almost no scoring opportunities, but Bezborodov and VAR set up another penalty, and Chalov scored flawlessly from the spot for the third time. Towards the end of the meeting, the referee also removed the captain of Akhmat Semenov from the field, so that CSKA won 3:2.

Meanwhile, in Krasnodar, a match was held for the intermediate leadership in the Premier League, which was claimed by both the hosts and the guests, who had three points in their luggage. In addition, it was in its own way a principled Krasnodar derby. Sochi rebooted this off-season and even without Christian Noboa began to demonstrate football similar to the one that allowed the team to soar to second place in the championship before last. And yet, Krasnodar played better, scoring a goal in injury time of the first and second halves. First Kayo scored after a corner, and then John Cordoba single-handedly rammed the Sochi defense. 2:0 — and Krasnodar topped the standings with six points.

Alexander Ilyin