“Krasnodar” did not rise on the “Wings” – Newspaper Kommersant No. 183 (7384) dated 10/04/2022

The match “Krylya Sovetov” – “Krasnodar” ended the 11th round of the championship of Russia. In case of victory, the guests could catch up with CSKA and enter the top three, but they did not use this opportunity, drawing – 0:0. Now Krasnodar has 21 points and they are fifth in the standings.

After “Rostov” conceded Zenit, Krasnodar had a chance to push its southern neighbor from third place and equalize in points with second-placed CSKA, but it could not be called very high. Yes, Krylya Sovetov, who opposed the Kuban team, do not perform well in the current championship and took only 10 points in 10 rounds, being in the 11th line, but how dangerous the current team of Igor Osinkin can be, it recently showed in a cup match with “Zenith”. It was Samarans who inflicted the first defeat of the season on the leader of the Premier League, even if he put up an experimental squad.

Moreover, the bookmakers were betting that Krasnodar, which had twice as many points as Wings, most likely would not win in Samara.

Perhaps they also took into account the factor of an uncomfortable opponent, because in the last championship both times Osinkin’s wards celebrated success, as well as the disqualification of striker John Cordoba, who recently helped the black-and-greens defeat Paris Nizhny Novgorod in the Russian Cup. And in general, Krasnodar’s application somehow thinned out, judging by which their head coach Alexander Storozhuk had practically no reserves to adjust the game in case “if something goes wrong”.

Already in the debut of the match at the gates of the guests was very anxious. Defender Glenn Bale immediately tested their goalkeeper Matvey Safonov with a dangerous shot from outside the penalty area, and soon 17-year-old Sergey Pinyaev almost drew a masterpiece, swinging two opponents and spinning the ball into the dead zone for the goalkeeper, who did not even move. “Krasnodar” rescued the crossbar. Then Pinyaev still made a sharp canopy on Roman Yezhov, but the Kuban team fought back and, on the whole, gradually knocked down the starting impulse of the hosts. True, they themselves did not demonstrate anything intelligible in the attack. And “Wings” organized a counterattack, which led to the standard, which was treacherously executed by the same Pinyaev. Safonov barely reached for the ball and even, as they say, kissed the post – fortunately, without serious consequences.

Krasnodar nevertheless also created a scoring chance, and a killer one at that, when they brought the explosive Olakunle Olusegun one on one with Ivan Lomaev. The Nigerian decided to hit on the technique, and the goalkeeper of Samarans easily read it. But again, Pinyaev flashed his technique, beating two guardians at speed and completing the breakthrough with a biting blow, but in that episode the Samara junior earned only a corner. Krylya Sovetov looked better in the first half, however, they did not squeeze anything out of their playing advantage. In addition, they lost one of the team’s leading players, Yuri Gorshkov, due to an injury.

After the break, the hosts continued to bend their line and pressed Krasnodar to the goal, but it still did not bend. Samarans striker Maksim Glushenkov tried to provoke a penalty kick by falling in the fight against Kaio, and even seemed to attract the attention of VAR. It is difficult to say what recommendations Judge Aleksey Sukhoi received, but, having reviewed the incident in a replay, he did not see any violation. Other attempts to soak the account were also in vain. Nikita Kryvtsov and Mikhailo Banyats could score among the guests, whose shots were parried by Lomaev. Even Bale almost scored an own goal when he passed back to his goalkeeper without looking.

And then Safonov made two amazing saves. First, he dragged a difficult ball from Alexander Chirkovich, after which he showed miracles of reaction when Roman Evgeniev closed the free-kick with his head

In the second case, the “Wings” were in some millimeters from a goal. After the final whistle, the Samara team did not hide their annoyance at the goalless draw and took it out on Sukhoi. Krasnodar, it seems, was satisfied with this result, although they scored only one point and failed to climb into the top three.

Alexander Ilyin