Krytsyuk injury and the return of Ramirez
After the victory of Zenit over Fenerbahce, Russian fans were waiting for a successful match from Krasnodar, who went to visit Bayer after a goalless draw in a home game. Of course, in such a situation, the Leverkusen players were the favorites of the confrontation, especially at the weekend they won the fourth consecutive victory in the Bundesliga.
True in that game with “Fortuna” from Düsseldorf, midfielder Karim Bellarabi was injured. In addition to him, the brothers Lars and Sven Bender, Panagiotis Retsos and Yoel Pohyanpalo could not help the team in the game with the Russian team.
In the “Krasnodar”, firstly, there were no losses, and secondly, defender Christian Ramirez and midfielder Yuri Gazinsky, who were so lacking in Murad Musayev’s team in the first match with Bayer, returned to the squad. In this case, the latter did not hit the base, but was present on the bench.
But the striker of the Krasnodar club Ari did not have time to recover from the damage and again did not come on the field. In addition, the participation in the match of the main goalkeeper Stanislav Krytsyuk, who had muscle problems, was in question. As a result, the 28-year-old Russian really could not take part in the game, but his place was taken not by an experienced Andrei Sinitsin, but by a young alumnus of the club, Matvey Safonov.
Unrealized moments and Safonov's save
Let the "Bayer" and was the nominal favorite of the confrontation, "Krasnodar" in the first half, in no way inferior to the opponent. Yes, the Leverkusen players more often owned the ball and, if they lost, organized high pressure on someone else's side of the field, but Musaev’s charges turned out to be fully prepared for this.
As in the first match, they did not allow opponents to calmly launch attacks and regularly forced them to make mistakes. And even more so the difference between the teams did not catch the eye.
Moreover, the Southerners again did not realize a few absolute moments. Already at the very beginning of the meeting, Ivan Ignatiev could not close the chamber of Victor Klasson, being in a few meters from the front gate.
And in the second half of the half, the Swede himself already missed two great chances. First, his head-kick in an incredible throw pulled out Lukas Gradecki, and just before the break, the midfielder jumped one on one with the goalkeeper, but sent the ball exactly to his chest.
Unfortunately, as in Krasnodar, the players of the Russian team were ruined by poor implementation. And this is despite the fact that the ball conceded in his field could have made the Bayer position incredibly difficult.
However, leverkuzentsy also created at the gate of young Safonov at least one moment with the prefix "super." In the middle of the inning, Lukas Alario, after a lumbago shot from the left, hit the point blank, but Matvey managed to react to a shot from a forward almost not taken. In general, the goalkeeper of “Krasnodar” was doing well and only panicked once, knocking the ball over the side after a partner’s discount.
The rest of the team acted approximately on equal terms and at the same time showed beautiful and fast football, which the audience could not but like.
Miracle of Suleimanov
In the second half, the game calmed down somewhat, as the value of the goal increased too much, and the players were well aware that any mistake in their half of the field could be fatal.
After the break, “Bayer”, as in the first match, took the ball under control and made a signature “tiki-taku” in a free-kick from Krasnodar. But the Southerners were ready for this and, in principle, did not allow the opponent to create truly dangerous moments.
The only one hundred percent chance the hosts missed 20 minutes before the final whistle, when the ball after hitting Alario and ricocheting from the foot of Uros Spach seemed to fly exactly into the net, but hitting the crossbar, went back to the field.
In the middle of the half, both head coaches made substitutions aimed at strengthening the center of the field. Musaev threw Gazinski into the battle, and Peter Bosch threw Julian Baumgartlinger. Experts mentally prepared for the extra time.
However, the mentor "Krasnodar" thought not only about the preservation of a tally bill, but also about the possibility still snatch victory in regulation time. To do this, in the 70th minute, the joker of the team Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov entered the field. The 19-year-old striker is no stranger to hitting decisive goals, he entered the game this time as well.
As a result, a real miracle happened in the end of the match. Mauricio Pereira earned a standard right next to someone else's penalty, but he didn’t beat himself, as both the fans and rivals had expected, and gave up this right to a pupil of Krasnodar. And Shapi struck the gate very tightly with a barbell with a brilliant blow over the “wall”.
To score twice (and there were no other options to reach the 1/8 finals of the Europa League), Bayer had five minutes, plus extra time, and the Leverkuzen players did not postpone the matter indefinitely. Literally in a couple of minutes they managed to earn a corner, after the filing of which the ball flew to Charles Arangis, and he ferried the projectile into the net - 1: 1.
The excitement of the Krasnodar fans that occurred during the remaining time of the match is unlikely to be remembered. The ball literally tossed around the penalty southerners. “Bayer” earned one corner after another, and in the last minutes even goalkeeper Leverkuzentsev Gradetski came running to score.
But Musayev’s wards survived and, following Zenit, deservedly advanced to the next round of the tournament. At the same time, the Southerners once again demonstrated beautiful football, which is not ashamed to play in Europe. One can only hope that both domestic teams will manage to break through in it as far as possible.