“Lokomotiv” played a draw with “Sochi” in Moscow, and “Spartak” lost to “Fakel”

At the finish of the 20th round of the Russian Championship, two unexpected results were recorded. Lokomotiv in Moscow drew with Sochi – 2:2, and Spartak lost at home to Fakel – 0:2. As a result, CSKA was ahead of both of them.

Unlike the derby with Dynamo in the first round after the winter break, the home match with Sochi, which was in last place, seemingly should not have caused any problems for Lokomotiv. And many rushed to put three points into the capital’s club’s treasury in advance. In addition, the head coach of the red-greens, Mikhail Galaktionov, made quite serious organizational conclusions after a painful defeat from Dynamo, when his players frankly failed the first half. He made four changes to the starting lineup, including removing such authoritative players as Artem Dzyuba and Anton Miranchuk.

Now the railwaymen tried to enter the game without any hesitation and opened the scoring in the second minute. True, for this goal they could have separately thanked Sochi goalkeeper Nikolai Zabolotny, who presented the ball to Maxim Glushenkov. He deflected his shot, but right at Rifat Zhemaletdinov, and he spectacularly volleyed into the goal. However, just as quickly the hosts lost their advantage, missing Martin Kramaric, who, having received a vertical pass from Aleksandar Jukic, entered the penalty area and crossed to Artur Yusupov. All he had to do was hit an almost empty target. Moreover, the guests also ruined the three-on-one approach when Kramaric chose the wrong direction of attack.

In principle, the first half was a draw, but Glushenkov fired at Lokomotiv before the break. Having placed Marcelo Alves in the fifth spot, the striker powerfully fired into the top nine.

However, in the opening of the second half of the match, Marcelo entered someone else’s penalty area for a corner and headed into the same goal as Glushenkov. And having conceded, the Muscovites immediately found themselves in the minority when the referee showed a second yellow card to Artem Karpukas. In this situation, their chances of winning dropped completely, but Sochi received a straight red card from Sergio Cordova, who waved off Evgeniy Morozov. Both teams had scoring chances in equal numbers, although the railway workers attacked more often and more dangerously, and Sergei Pinyaev even scored, but only with his hand. The hero of the match could have been Glushenkov, who was put one-on-one with Zabolotny in the last seconds, but defender Vanya Drkusic managed to save the goalkeeper.

Having played 2:2 with an outsider, Lokomotiv missed two points and failed to overtake CSKA. The army team, with the same 32 points, ranks higher in additional indicators. However, their neighbor Spartak, which had 31 points, lost altogether in the 20th round.

The red-whites hosted the Fakel, not at their Lukoil Arena due to the unsatisfactory condition of the lawn, but at Luzhniki. However, they were again missing Quincy Promes, who was stuck in the UAE under house arrest and awaiting a court decision on a traffic charge. Already by tradition, the Spartak team had a very difficult time in the confrontation with the stubborn Voronezh team, who imposed a tough fight on literally every meter of the field. The nominal hosts created an opportunity from a corner when the ball ricocheted against the crossbar, and then they suffered more than they played, trying to get out from under the opponent’s total pressure.

Sometimes the guests covered Spartak right in its penalty area and that’s how they earned a penalty. Christopher Martins took a risky dribble near his own goal, made a turnover under pressure from Ilnur Alshin and stepped on his foot.

Evgeniy Markov converted the penalty kick, and Fakel confidently retained the advantage until the break. The Muscovites, after a decent match with Zenit in the previous round, showed that they still lack stability. Some other Spartak played with the Voronezh club.

In the second half, Guillermo Abascal’s team seemed to look better, but as soon as something started to emerge in front of them, especially with the participation of new striker Manfred Ugalde, another accident occurred. The blue-and-whites organized a counterattack on the left flank with a cross from Ruslan Magal, and Danil Prutsev, as he fell, cut the ball into his own goal. Abascal introduced all possible reserves into the game, however, apart from the onslaught with constant crosses into the penalty area, the red and whites could not come up with anything. Thus, Fakel defeated Spartak for the second time in the current championship with a score of 2:0, which probably can’t even be considered a sensation.

Alexander Ilyin