The opening matches in the Russian Football Championship were held by Zenit, CSKA and Lokomotiv

The opening matches in the Russian Football Championship were held by Zenit, CSKA and Lokomotiv, which are included in the group of contenders for gold medals. The army team was unexpectedly defeated by the Urals – 1:2. The railroad workers also lost points, having drawn with Rubin – 2:2. The Petersburgers, even without Malcolm, defeated Paris Nizhny Novgorod – 2:0.

The undisputed champion of Russia for the last five seasons and the main favorite of the national championship that started, Zenit, like a year ago, met in the first round with the team of Sergei Yuran. Only then it was Khimki, and now it is Nizhny Novgorod. Moreover, Khimki under the leadership of Yuran took away two points from the St. Petersburg club.

And the Nizhny Novgorod team had chances for a positive result after systemic changes took place in the Zenit squad. Indeed, in addition to Daler Kuzyaev, who left for Le Havre, and not planning to play for the St. Petersburg Vendel, Malcolm was not in him. The best scorer of the last championship was announced for the match with Nizhny as a substitute, but his participation in the game was not expected due to a very likely transfer to the Saudi Al-Hilal. Zenit was not going to risk the health of the Brazilian, so he could only provide moral support to his teammates.

Malcolm’s position was taken by Zelimkhan Bakaev, and already in the first minute Mateo Cassierra hit the crossbar with his head pass. The guests had a significant advantage, but, apart from the Colombian’s strike, nothing concrete was learned from this in the first half. The hosts rarely snapped, although Nikolai Kalinsky had a good moment, unexpectedly born from an ordinary outburst. He tried to score beautifully, with the outside of the foot, but the technique failed.

At the beginning of the second half, Cassierra again reminded himself of himself, whose passage to the front line could not be completed by Claudinho. And then Bakaev aggravated, having made an interception near someone else’s penalty area and forcing defender Viktor Alexandrov to foul. Referee Sergei Ivanov presented the violator with a yellow card, however, according to the VAR team, this was a foul of the last hope. As a result, the yellow turned into a straight red and the removal from the field. Zenit got the majority and converted it almost immediately. Wilmar Barrios threw the ball into the penalty area, Bakaev took it, and Cassierra sent it to the goal. In the end, he scored a double, demonstrating that everything was in order with his heading, and the champions won 2-0.

CSKA, which showed in a recent match for the Super Cup that it is not for nothing that they are considered one of the main competitors of Zenit in the new championship, met at the start with the same opponent as last year. True, then it was in Moscow, but now the army team came to visit the Urals. By the way, last season they played as many as six times, including in the finals of the RPL Way of the Russian Cup. Head coach of Yekaterinburg Viktor Goncharenko created a lot of problems for his former club, but still the red-blues successfully coped with them.

Meanwhile, before the current match, both teams faced personnel problems. CSKA did not have central defender Igor Diveev injured in the Super Bowl, as well as midfielders Ivan Oblyakov and Jorge Carrascal. Well, for Ural, the most tangible was the loss of two leading performers in the attack – Eric Bikfalvi and Ray Vlut.

For about 15 minutes, the opponents swayed, and then the army team opened the right flank of the hosts’ defense, and Moises rolled the ball under the blow of Fedor Chalov. The striker struck in touch, but in the near corner, which was blocked by goalkeeper Ilya Pomazun. This episode shook Goncharenko’s wards, they switched the game to half of the guests and opened the scoring from a corner. Alexander Yushin spun the ball almost into the net, and Ural’s newcomer Timur Ayupov headed him into the net.

True, no matter how good the serve was, a collective mistake by the defenders and CSKA goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev led to the goal. And soon another central defender, Willian Rocha, was out of action for the Muscovites, who had to be replaced by 17-year-old debutant Mikhail Ryadno. And this situation was almost taken advantage of by the same Ayupov, who was again assisted by Yushin. But CSKA also had a great moment, when Anton Zabolotny extremely unsuccessfully turned his head after Victor Mendez’s pass to the line of the goalkeeper’s area. However, the end of the first half still remained with the Urals, and Yushin could put the army team in an even more difficult position.

In the debut of the second half, CSKA still conceded the second goal. Substitute Portuguese rookie “Ural” Kiki forced Maxim Mukhin to make a mistake in the penalty area, who played along with his hand in the fight against him, and after the video review referee Alexei Amelin appointed a penalty. Daniel Mishkic confidently dealt with Akinfeev, but the guests quickly reduced the difference. This time, Kiki scored with a minus sign when, in the turmoil at his goal, he threw the ball at Zabolotny, who was rehabilitated for an unfortunate miss in the first half. But in general, CSKA looked much worse than in the Super Bowl with Zenit, and he could not avoid defeat – 1:2.

Particular attention was riveted to the start of Lokomotiv, which became the best team in the Premier League in the spring segment of the last championship, which, however, did not allow them to rise above eighth place in the final standings due to the terrible first part of the season. But after that shock spring, now they are talking about railway workers again as contenders not just for medals, but for the championship. And in the first round they got the mysterious Rubin, once a two-time champion of Russia, the owner of the Cup and the Super Cup of the country, who flew out of the top division and returned to the elite a year later.

It seems that the railroad really did not really know what to expect from the Kazan team, who organized an assist attack in the third minute. Ilya Rozhkov loaded the ball deep into the penalty area from the left, and striker Mirlind Daku, acquired in the off-season, easily won the upper hand against the central defender of Muscovites Lukas Fason. The hosts of the RZD Arena restored equality in the middle of the first half, when Sergey Pinyaev on the flank left Alexander Martynovich out of work and gave a pass to Nair Tiknizyan, who scored with a rebound from Igor Vuyachich. Then Pinyaev also pointed Maxim Glushenkov at the goal, but he ruined the 100% moment. However, Joel Fameye could have put the guests ahead when he ran “one to zero”, but goalkeeper Ilya Lantratov rescued Lokomotiv.

After the break, the railroad increased the pressure, but Rubin resisted and, moreover, achieved success on its own. Fameye easily removed Style on the backswing and delivered an irresistible blow from close range. It should also be noted the transfer to Daku, who scored the second score. And then Kazan played reliably on the score, but until the 87th minute, when Wilson Isidore once again played the role of a joker for Lokomotiv. Moreover, the Frenchman’s goal was prepared by former Rubin football player Ilya Samoshnikov, who also left the bench. The result was a fighting draw 2:2.

Alexander Ilyin