Premier League leader Krasnodar escaped defeat in the match with Baltika

In the 12th round of the Russian Football Championship, Krasnodar, which was in first place, failed to defeat Baltika, which was struggling for survival, 2:2. Rubin and CSKA, as well as Lokomotiv and Dynamo, played in a draw (0:0).

The two-week pause in the Russian championship for matches of national teams did not benefit all clubs. So, CSKA had a very hard time getting into the game with “Ruby” on the road and even missed an early goal. The army team was lucky that VAR detected a violation of the rules on the part of the Kazan team at an early stage of the scoring attack – and therefore the referees canceled the goal. And in a couple of episodes of the first half, the hosts did not have enough luck and skill to still take the lead.

Gradually, the red and blue relieved the tension in their own penalty area, but they hardly created any in the other’s. In the middle of the second half of the meeting, they managed to score – however, also an illegitimate goal, which was canceled due to offside. Only towards the end the visitors organized a series of dangerous moments when Milan Gaich, Moises and Ivan Oblyakov could score. Although Rubin also had the opportunity to get the victory when Joel Fameye mysteriously did not hit the ball, finding himself eye to eye with goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev.

As a result, the rivals parted ways – 0:0. CSKA has generally become the most “peaceful” team in the Russian Premier League, having achieved a draw for the sixth time during the current championship. Moreover, taking into account the Russian Cup, Muscovites have recently drawn nine out of ten matches.

In the derby “Locomotive”—“Dynamo” The railway workers looked better after the pause, who were also helped by the walls of their native Russian Railways Arena. Sergei Pinyaev and Maxim Glushenkov regularly tormented the visiting defense with their jerks and individual technical actions. Artem Dzyuba was also active. And for the blue and white, goalkeeper Igor Leshchuk stood out, parrying several shots, including a rather difficult one from Dziuba under the bar. However, in this match, the opponents could not overcome the dull zeros.

In the second half, Dynamo was saved by the crossbar after Ilya Samoshnikov, performing a cross, twisted the ball into the woodwork. Then Dziuba narrowly missed the penalty, forcing Roberto Fernandez to foul as he entered the penalty area. And Lokomotiv defender Alexander Silyanov somehow miraculously missed the empty target, closing Dmitry Barinov’s discount to the far post when taking a corner. And the same Dzyuba missed in a very comfortable situation for himself, having outright won the horse fight against Fernandez.

Dynamo gained sharpness in attack only with the replacement of Konstantin Tyukavin. Another reserve, Denis Makarov, brought him one on one with goalkeeper Ilya Lantratov, and he had to contrive to avert this threat. Tyukavin also had a promising moment, and in addition, he scored a potential scoring pass to Bitelo, whose shot was blocked by central defender Evgeniy Morozov. You can also note Vyacheslav Grulev’s shot next to the “nine”.

Already at the end of the match’s stoppage time, Barinov powerfully hit the goal, but Leshchuk made another save. A 0:0 draw allowed Lokomotiv to get ahead of Zenit in terms of additional indicators with 20 points and take third place. At the same time, the St. Petersburg team has a game with Krylia Sovetov ahead. Dynamo, like CSKA, scored 18 points and surpassed it thanks to the victory in the head-to-head match, ending up in fifth place. By the way, Marcel Lička’s team caught up with the army team in terms of the number of draws.

Meanwhile, the championship leader “Krasnodar” experienced difficulties in the first match after a long pause, even though he was up against a tournament outsider “Baltika”. The Kubans seemed to easily open the scoring through the efforts of John Cordoba, who responded to Juan Basha’s cross. However, the Kaliningraders who performed at home soon won back. Guillermo Soto opened up the visitors’ defense on the right flank, and his pass into the penalty area led to Maxim Kuzmin’s goal. Then Alexander Osipov hit the post, jumping to serve from the corner flag. But Angelo Henriques put the ball into the net, pushing Krasnodar defender Sergei Petrov into the second floor. Moreover, the Chilean had his face bleeding, but returned to the field.

The hosts generally demonstrated the highest level of dedication and determination to win. They played the first half simply brilliantly and deservedly won. But in the previous round, Krasnodar was losing 0:2 at the break, but nevertheless turned the tide of the match with Rostov and won 3:2. Now his situation could have been aggravated by Gideon Guzina, when only the fantastic reaction of goalkeeper Matvey Safonov saved the guests from conceding a third goal.

It is unknown what would have happened with a difference of minus two, and Vladimir Ivich’s team “ate” the minimal gap. Eduard Spertsyan converted the penalty, which he earned. The Kuban team again avoided their first defeat in the championship and still lost two points, drawing 2:2. Although Cordoba, as with Rostov, tried to snatch victory before the final whistle, his header was parried by Baltika goalkeeper Evgeniy Latyshonok. Thus, Krasnodar now has 28 points, and the pursuing Krylya Sovetov and Zenit got a chance to get a little closer to the leader.

Alexander Ilyin