Lokomotiv beat Orenburg, CSKA defeated Nizhny Novgorod, and Rubin lost to Fakel.
At the group stage of the Fonbet Russian Football Cup, three matches of the fifth round took place. Lokomotiv, which has not yet lost a single point, beat Orenburg - 2:1. CSKA defeated Nizhny Novgorod - 2:0, and Rubin lost to Fakel - 0:1. The Nizhny Novgorod team and even the victorious Voronezh team finished the fight for the trophy ahead of schedule.
By the fifth round of the preliminary round of the “Path of the Russian Premier League”, only Orenburg among the outsiders retained practical, rather than theoretical, chances of reaching the playoffs. “Krylya Sovetov” had already dropped out of the fight for the Russian Cup, and “Nizhny Novgorod” and “Fakel” were in a hopeless situation, since their gap from third place was five and six points, respectively. The South Ural team, despite the lack of points, still competed with Khimki.
Is it true, "Lokomotiv"who is doing great both in the championship and in the cup tournament, "Orenburg" was not a competitor. The Muscovites confidently led Group B, showing the maximum result, and were not going to stop, especially since they have no problems with roster rotation. And striker Timur Suleymanov was in a crazy mood and scored three doubles in a row at the group stage.
Although now, it seems, the whole team of Mikhail Galaktionov is on a roll. It took her more than eight minutes to open the scoring in the match with Orenburg. Edgar Sevikyan on the right flank easily dealt one-on-one with visiting defender Kazymdzhan Karatash, burst into the penalty area and rolled the ball from the front line to Sergei Pinyaev, who, by the way, recently ran back an entire game against Spartak in the championship. Sevikyan on the right, Pinyaev on the left, and Vladislav Sarveli in the role of a free artist continued to torment the Orenburg residents. The same Sarveli almost scored a beautiful goal, which did not happen only thanks to goalkeeper Bogdan Moskvichev.
However, at some point the railway workers finally hit the brakes and calmly finished out the first half. During the break, Galaktionov apparently cheered up his players, and as soon as the meeting resumed, they went on the attack again. Two times in a row, his teammates brought Sevikyan to the goal, but after Suleymanov’s cross, he shot above the target, and was a little short of Pinyaev’s pass. But Pinyaev himself scored a double in the 55th minute when, having played a one-two with Nikita Saltykov, he jumped out to Moskvichev and sent the ball into the net.
The head coach of Lokomotiv immediately replaced the hero of the match to the applause of the stands with Artem Karpukas, who soon made a scoring error. It was his loss in the center of the field that led to Said Sakharkhizan reducing the difference with a pass from Justin Cuero. But then the hosts acted in an extremely disciplined manner and, without incident, brought the matter to the fifth victory in a row - 2:1. With 15 points, the red-greens guaranteed themselves first place in the group. And Orenburg now can only hope for Rostov, which will meet with Khimki on Wednesday. If the Moscow Region club loses in regular time, then the Orenburg team will still be able to compete with it for a third spot in the play-offs.
"Nizhny Novgorod" in order to qualify for promotion from group C, it was necessary to win CSKA at home and Krasnodar away. However, even the first condition of this complex task seemed impossible. With the army team, who announced the eminent newcomer Miralem Pjanic for the first time, the Nizhny Novgorod team still resisted, and goalkeeper Vladislav Torop simply saved the guests in the opening after a shot by Vladislav Karapuzov. In addition, Nikita Ermakov, a student of the red and blue, forgave his former team in the first half. Before the break, CSKA scored only with Kristijan Bistrovich hitting the crossbar, but in the second half the Croatian took better aim and made a clear shot from outside the penalty area. And then Kirill Glebov outright won the distance race against the Nizhny Novgorod defenders and pushed the ball into the goal, getting close to goalkeeper Vadim Lukyanov. The hosts did not convert a single chance. The Muscovites released Pyanich for the end, and his debut in Russian football could well have been an assist. The ex-Juventus and Barcelona midfielder seemed to be using technique, with which he was completely fine, but still not strong enough, and Lukyanov managed. CSKA won 2:0 and moved up to first place with 11 points, while Krasnodar, which was in the lead with nine points, has a match with Akhmat ahead. Well, Nizhny has actually completed its cup campaign.
The first victory in the current Russian Cup was won by "Torch"which defeated on the road "Ruby" - 1:0. Four days ago, these teams met in Voronezh as part of the championship and played 0:0, and now in Kazan everything was decided by Vladimir Ilyin’s penalty goal, which was awarded after the ball accidentally bounced into the outstretched hand of Igor Vuyachich. However, “Fakel” has already completely lost the opportunity to leave last place in Group D, even if a miracle happens and it wins in regulation time in the final match with “Zenith”. The fact is that in case of a hypothetical equality of points with Rubin, which has six points after five rounds, the Kazan club will have an advantage in personal meetings, which previously beat the Voronezh team on their field 2:0.
