Krasnodar lost the lead in the Premier League to Zenit after losing to Ural – 1:3

Krasnodar, which had been the leader in the Russian championship for a long time, failed to retain first place, suffering an unexpected defeat from Ural – 1:3. Thus, 32 points remained in his asset, while Zenit scored one point more.

Before the match in Yekaterinburg, Krasnodar found itself slightly behind in the championship race with Zenit, which the day before confidently beat Sochi and came out on top with 33 points. But, given that Ural had not won for ten rounds, there was virtually no doubt that the Kuban team would also take their toll and restore the lead. Another thing is that all series end someday.

The guests did not seem to have any problems with their mood, which seems to be impossible in principle with such a serious and even stern coach as Vladimir Ivich. How his team is charged to fight was immediately demonstrated by defensive midfielder Alexander Chernikov, who already in the second minute cut down Ibrahima Cisse and, in fact, put the Ural midfielder out of action.

And the fact that Krasnodar’s game, to put it mildly, did not look good and was too monotonous, was not at all surprising.

The Serbian specialist has a style based primarily on strict discipline and pragmatism. Ivic’s team did not perform spectacularly and did not even insist on possession of the ball, but nevertheless seized the opportunity and opened the scoring. The nimble Olakunle Olusegun slipped into the penalty area and made a pass to John Cordoba, who, in his usual manner, pushed through his marker and delivered a precise header. The Colombian scored the eighth goal and became the second scorer of the current championship after his compatriot Mateo Cassierra from Zenit.

However, the Krasnodar team failed to cling to this result. The hosts very quickly came back, converting a corner when Emmerson crossed Nikita Krivtsov. In addition, at the end of the first half, another unpleasant incident occurred for the guests, when goalkeeper Matvey Safonov and central defender Vitor Tormena collided with each other’s heads. It took a long time to revive them and bandage them, but in the end they still had to be replaced. It is difficult to say how much these losses influenced the further course of events, but after the break something happened to Ivic’s team. Besides the fact that absolutely nothing went right for her in attack, she fell apart in defense. Even Junior Alonso, who cemented it, made blunders unusual for himself.

It so happened that the Paraguayan defender lost sight of Andrei Yegorychev, who jumped out one on one with Safonov’s replacement Stanislav Agkatsev. The attacking midfielder of Ural skillfully dealt with the goalkeeper and sent the ball into the empty goal. And closer to the final whistle, Alonso lost a race to Alexey Kashtanov, and a little earlier he had unsuccessfully tried to keep him in an artificial offside position. The striker ran to the penalty area and simply shot with force. The Ekaterinburg team won their first victory since August 19, which can easily be classified as a sensation. At the same time, the Kuban team could have conceded more and got off easy, losing 1:3.

However, in any case, Krasnodar suffered a very painful defeat, depriving it of its leadership in the championship.

Sergei Galitsky’s club has consistently led the Premier League since the fourth round, and its advantage over Zenit reached seven points. Now the St. Petersburg team is one point ahead.

Such a difference probably doesn’t mean anything yet, but it’s obvious that Krasnodar is losing the initiative in the championship race and at the same time giving chances to their pursuers, because Dynamo is four points behind them.

At the end of the 16th round, another interesting confrontation took place, in which Rubin took on Fakel. The fact is that both teams had fairly long unbeaten streaks. For the Voronezh team it was six matches, and for the Kazan team it was five, which they also played to zero. Rubin was generally hot on the heels of CSKA and Lokomotiv, which had 25 points each, and caught up with them. Rashid Rakhimov’s players again kept a clean sheet and won 1:0 thanks to a goal from Ruslan Bezrukov. According to additional indicators, they even surpassed Lokomotiv and rose to seventh place.

Alexander Ilyin