Thanks to a draw with Zenit, Krasnodar won the first round of the Russian Championship

The central match of the 15th round of the Russian Football Championship between Zenit and Krasnodar ended in a draw – 1:1. Thus, the club from the capital of Kuban became the first in the first round, maintaining a two-point lead over the St. Petersburg team. “Krylya Sovetov”, having beaten “Ural” – 3:1, again climbed into the top three, and CSKA, accordingly, dropped out of it, achieving a draw in the match with “Fakel” – 1:1.

The main match of the first round took place in St. Petersburg, in which the main contenders for the championship met. Distance between the leader “Krasnodar” and those who pursued him “Zenith” was only two points. Both teams appeared with almost optimal compositions, so nothing prevented them from finding out who was stronger at the moment.

Among other things, it was a confrontation between the most reliable Premier League clubs in terms of defensive play, and at the same time, probably the brightest strikers of the current championship – Colombians Mateo Cassierra and John Cordoba.

It is not surprising that the guardians paid increased attention to both, and in general for a long time the battle of the championship leaders was of an emphatically cautious nature. Both of them destroyed much better than they created, and even playmakers like Claudinho or Eduard Spertsyan did more of the grunt work. Nobody gave anyone any room to maneuver or fiddle with the ball. The opponents immediately went head to head and did not hesitate to foul, constantly slowing down the tempo, which caused the entertainment value of this high-profile match to suffer.

Only standard provisions presented relative danger. So, after a corner kick, Claudinho made a good charge from outside the penalty area, and the visitors’ central defender, Junior Alonso, headed the ball away. Krasnodar played a similar standard even more sharply, but Alexander Chernikov’s shot was blocked by Zenit centerback Rodrigao, and Olakunle Olusegun completely missed the rebound. At the same time, Cassierra and Cordoba were as invisible as goalkeepers Mikhail Kerzhakov and Matvey Safonov. Before leaving for the break, the opponents finally exchanged scoring chances from the game. The second striker of the St. Petersburg team, Ivan Sergeev, hit Alonso’s teammate Vitor Tormen. Spertsyan lacked a little accuracy when Juan Bashi crossed for him.

In the second half, the goalkeepers also had work to do. True, Olusegun spun the ball straight into Kerzhakov’s hands, while Safonov had to react to Claudinho’s low shot while falling.

And in the 63rd minute, Cordoba finally opened the Zenit defense, escaping Rodrigao. He failed to hit Kerzhakov, but Spertsyan was the first to finish. The hosts’ goalkeeper saved the team again, but the Armenian national team midfielder pushed the ball into the goal on the second attempt, despite the resistance of Strahini Erakovic.

However, the Krasnodar team could not cling to this result. The championship’s top scorer, Cassierra, finally found an opportunity to score his 12th goal when he got ahead of Tormena and hit his head like a hammer. Moreover, it was not Claudinho or Wendel who gave him the pass, but defensive midfielder Vilmar Barrios, who very rarely acts as an assistant. Cassierra got really excited and tried to score a double, but he kicked just short of the post. But in the end, the Colombian limped and asked for a replacement.

Sergeev had also left the field earlier, but for Zenit Wilson Izidor and especially Andrei Mostovoy actively entered the game, who could have brought the hosts victory. He burst into the penalty area from the left flank and hit the ball so powerfully that Safonov had no chance, and only the sideline saved the Kuban team. “Krasnodar” defended a draw (1:1) and thus became the winner of the first round with 32 points. Petersburgers now have 30 points.

Meanwhile, they rose to third place with 25 points “Wings of Soviets”who overcame the houses “Ural” – 3:1.

Benjamin Garre, Vladislav Shitov and Vladimir Pisarsky scored from the penalty spot for the Samara team, with another penalty missed by Fernando Costanza. In addition, the Ekaterinburg team finished the game with ten men after Yuri Gazinsky was sent off.

Completed the first round with 25 points and CSKA, who missed out on victory in Voronezh literally a minute before the final whistle. Before the match with “Torch” The army team suffered another personnel loss, losing central defender Moises and striker Anton Zabolotny due to disqualification, and they had only five field players on the bench. But it was Zabolotny’s replacement, Viktor Davila, who opened the scoring with a brilliant shot from outside the penalty area on a counterattack. The guests defended it for a long time and seemed confident, but the Voronezh team saved themselves thanks to a goal from Sergei Bozhin, who headed in Khyzyr Appaev’s cross. A draw (1:1) allowed CSKA to extend its unbeaten streak to ten meetings, and Fakel to six.

“Locomotive” without disqualified captain Dmitry Barinov, inflicted a fifth defeat in a row on his field “Akhmatu”. In the first half, the railway workers hit the post twice, and goalkeeper Georgy Shelia kept the Grozny team in the game. But after the break, the situation changed, and the hosts no longer had an advantage, and the post helped their goalkeeper Ilya Lantratov.

Moreover, the guests earned a penalty when Maxim Nenakhov brought down Ivan Oleynikov in the penalty area, and Mohamed Konate took it accurately. And yet the Muscovites were able to improve, scoring two goals towards the end of the match. Maxim Glushenkov from a difficult position sent the ball into the net from a pass from Nair Tiknizyan, and immediately Timur Suleymanov, assisted by Ilya Samoshnikov, hit Shelia’s goal. Right at the end, Tiknizyan received a second yellow card, and Shelia ran to someone else’s penalty area and even took part in a potential scoring attack. Nevertheless, Lokomotiv won 2:1 and is still in fifth place with 24 points.

Alexander Ilyin