Krasnodar lost at home to Zenit – 1:2

In the 24th round of the Russian Football Championship, a match between the main contenders for gold medals took place, in which Krasnodar lost at home to Zenit – 1:2. The club from St. Petersburg scored 47 points, and is now in the lead with a four-point lead over the Kuban team. The derby between Lokomotiv and CSKA ended in a draw (3:3), and Spartak lost to Sochi – 0:1.

Of course, the match between the championship leaders was the main event of the 24th round, in which the fate of the title had not yet been decided, but on the result of which much depended in the fight for it. “Zenith” before this confrontation was ahead “Krasnodar” by only one point, but at the same time, the victory provided the St. Petersburgers with a fairly comfortable lead in the gold race. Meanwhile, due to disqualification, they were missing a very important player – midfielder Wendel, through whom the entire game is built. In addition, the Kuban team had an important home field advantage.

However, Zenit had another Brazilian, 18-year-old Pedro, who made the difference in the previous championship match with Baltika, and earlier in the cup match with Spartak. Krasnodar coach Murad Musaev even specially placed the fast Olakunle Olusegun, who usually acts in front, under him. Nevertheless, it was Pedro who should have opened the scoring in the debut, when he collected the rebound from goalkeeper Matvey Safonov in the center of the hosts’ penalty area. Nothing stopped him from hitting the almost empty goal, but he managed to launch the ball into the stands behind them.

In addition, Pedro soon made what turned out to be an effective loss in his own half of the field. This led to the fact that Krasnodar left back Lukas Olasa organized and completed a counterattack, accurately shooting from the rebound after Zenit centerback Nuraly Alip also made an unsuccessful header. The goal clearly inspired Musaev’s men, who had no problems with their mood anyway, and Olusegun almost took advantage of Vilmar Barrios’ mistake. The Nigerian’s shot from outside the penalty area was parried with some difficulty by goalkeeper Mikhail Kerzhakov. Eduard Spertsyan also shot dangerously from the set-piece, and Kadi Borzhis forced Kerzhakov to react. In the first half, apart from Pedro’s brilliant chance, the visitors created almost nothing else and generally behaved somewhat nervously. Claudinho was especially excited, which was probably due primarily to his dissatisfaction with the quality of football.

Zenit’s game really didn’t go well. In particular, the championship’s top scorer Mateo Cassierra disappeared somewhere, but immediately after the break he reminded the Krasnodar defenders of himself. Junior Alonso, who had lost his vigilance, allowed him to calmly receive the ball, turn around and deliver a twisting shot into the far corner, which the magnificent Safonov was unable to parry. The St. Petersburg Colombian scored his 16th goal and was five ahead of Krasnodar’s John Cordoba. Immediately, Cassierra could add an assist to himself when he brought Andrei Mostovoy to the goal. The Russian ruined that episode by hitting Safonov, but Arthur later thanked Cassierra for another good pass. The Brazilian easily cleared Kadi’s interference on his swing and spun the ball into the goalkeeper’s dead zone. In principle, the head coach of the guests, Sergei Semak, with one substitution of Alip for Arthur, turned it around and won this match.

Krasnodar did not have such an Arthur in its reserves, and its leading players Cordoba and Spertsyan did not show their best qualities. In addition, in the end, the hosts sent off Vitor Tormena, who received a second yellow card. Just before the final whistle, Kerzhakov got a little carried away when he collided with Alonso at the exit of the gate, but there were no consequences, although the Kuban team demanded a penalty. Zenit won 2:1 and is already in the lead with a four-point advantage over its closest pursuer.

There was another big match in this round, in which contenders for third place competed – Lokomotiv and CSKA. Before the derby, the army team lost not only the disqualified Willian Rocha, but also the ill Igor Diveev, thereby being left without two main central defenders. Despite this, Vladimir Fedotov’s team defended in an organized manner and competed on equal terms with the railway workers. And it was Ivan Oblyakov who missed a 100% chance, missing the empty goal after a corner kick and a miss by Lokomotiv goalkeeper Ilya Lantratov. And yet, shortly before the break, the guests of the Russian Railways Arena conceded, and it was not so much the defenders who made a mistake as goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, who did not expect that Ilya Samoshnikov would throw the ball down his collar from outside the penalty area.

In the second half, Tamerlan Musaev quickly restored equality by heading in Abbosbek Faizullaev’s cross. However, the army team could not hold back Maxim Glushenkov, who had previously assisted Samoshnikov, and now distinguished himself. And the Lokomotiv striker did not rest on this, earning the third point according to the “goal plus pass” system. Glushenkov gave such a pass to Lucas Fason that he just had to not spoil anything. The Brazilian defender was alone under the opponent’s goal and did not miss. Anton Zabolotny restored the red-blues’ hope for a positive result by finishing the ball into the net after Faizullaev’s shot and Lantratov’s save, and Ilya Agapov realized it thanks to Musaev’s convenient discount after a corner. Moreover, the army team could have snatched all three points, or Zabolotny to be more precise. And so a beautiful 3:3 draw was recorded, after which CSKA and Lokomotiv had 37 points each.

Meanwhile “Spartacus” missed the opportunity to be in the top three for at least a short time and was defeated by the last place “Sochi” – 0:1. The only goal was scored by Yahya Attiyat-Allah. After four draws, the Black Sea team won their first victory under the leadership of Spanish specialist Robert Moreno, scored 18 points and moved up one place. True, then “Baltika” in Grozny unexpectedly inflicted a complete defeat on “Akhmat” – 7:1. With 20 points, the Kaliningraders soared to 13th position in the table, jumping over Sochi, Ural and Akhmat in one fell swoop.

Alexander Ilyin