Rostov without losses and uncompromising Maccabi
Following Dynamo and Krasnodar on Thursday, Rostov began its path in European competitions.
The yellow-blues have not played on the international stage since 2017, when they sensationally reached the 1/8 finals of the Europa League.
If four years ago the team flew to the second most important European Cup from the Champions League, now it had to start fighting from the third qualifying round of the tournament.
And the first rival of Valery Karpin's charges was Maccabi from Haifa, who took second place in the Israeli championship last season.
On the way to the third qualifying round, this team overcame the resistance of Bosnian Zheleznichar (3: 1) and Kazakhstani Kairat (2: 1) with ex-CSKA forward Wagner Love in the squad.
“Rostov” approached the start of the European competition without losses.
Even central defender Dmitry Chistyakov recovered from a severe head injury.
True, Karpin left him on the bench, and in the center of defense he relied on the proven duet of Dennis Hadzhikadunich and Maxim Osipenko.
On the flanks they were supported by Evgeny Chernov and Alexey Kozlov.
The midfield line was made by Roman Eremenko, Matias Normann and Daniil Glebov.
On the flanks of the attack, Aleksey Ionov and Khoren Bayramyan were located, and Eldor Shomurodov predictably found himself at the forefront of the attack.
Finally, Sergei Pesyakov took his place at the last line.
Our squad for the game 📝 pic.twitter.com/f2Xja3ptQf
- Football Club Rostov (@rostovfc) September 24, 2020
Powerful start of the hosts and strong-willed play of guests
Rostov started the game actively and immediately seized the initiative.
The hosts had a lot of possession of the ball and tried to enter someone else's penalty area through the right flank, which was controlled by Ionov.
Starting activity quickly led to a goal scored.
Already in the ninth minute, Norman found Shomurodov with a brilliant transfer into the penalty area, and he beat his opponent and shot into the far corner with one touch.
This goal was the first for a native of Uzbekistan in more than six months.
The striker scored for the last time at the end of February.
Then he upset "Akhmat" in the RPL match.
However, the goal scored negatively affected Rostov.
Karpin's wards, apparently, believed in an easy victory and gave the ball to the opponent.
Maccabi instantly punished the yellow-blues for being relaxed.
In the 20th minute, Chernov allowed Ernest Mabuka to handle the ball on the right flank and execute a perfect serve into the penalty area.
In the same place, Osipenko and Khadzhikadunich did not follow Nikita Rukavitsa, who sent the ball under the crossbar with his head in the fall.
It is curious that the native of the Ukrainian city of Nikolaev scores in all matches this season.
He has already scored four goals in two meetings of the Israeli championship and two goals in two matches of the Europa League.
The incident somewhat sobered Rostov, and the team again took the ball under their control.
However, it did not often come to shots on goal by Josh Cohen.
During the first half, the hosts scored only one shot on target, which became the goal.
At the same time, Shomurodov fought superbly and won almost all the duels on the second floor.
Very often Bayramyan collected rebounds behind him, but his activity was clearly not enough.
Ionov on the right flank was not too noticeable.
It was Khoren who created one of Rostov's most dangerous moments in the first half.
He beat two opponents on the left flank, entered the penalty area and shot into the far corner, but one of the Maccabi players got in the way of the ball.
Faded play and lack of moments
Unfortunately, in the second half, things went much worse for Rostov.
The game for the hosts went wrong completely, and the ball stopped holding.
The guests, on the other hand, created several dangerous moments.
For example, after a cutting pass from a partner, Mitten went one-on-one with Pesyakov, but failed to outplay him.
Sergei kicked the Australian kick into the far corner.
The goalkeeper was in place after a long-range strike from one of the opponents.
However, Karpin's wards did not heed the alarm bells.
In the 60th minute, Maccabi carried out a simple attack in several passes through the center, and Mohammad-Abu Fani calmly spun the ball into the far corner from the semicircle of the penalty area.
Pesyakov failed to save his team.
Now “Rostov” had to score, but the team's play in attack was not going well at all.
In addition, it was striking that the forces left the leaders of the team: Eremenko, Ionov and Shomurodov.
In the hope of refreshing the squad, Karpin threw Kento Hashimoto and Dmitry Poloz into the battle.
However, a few minutes after this, the yellow-blue ones were let down by Glebov.
Danil in the central circle in the fight for the ball crashed into the opponent's leg with spikes and received a direct red card.
However, the judge Peter Ardeleanu could have done less harshly, given that the blow of the Russian fell on a tangent.
Left in the minority, the Rostov players finally disappeared into the field.
The Israeli team calmly controlled the ball and the course of the game.
At the same time, there was no hint of nervousness in the actions of the guests.
Ten minutes before the final whistle, Karpin released David Toshevski on the field instead of the inert Shomurodov, but this did not help either.
The young Macedonian had only a few casualties.
In the end, "Rostov" was remembered for only one blow.
In the 86th minute, Hajikadunich shot higher after a corner kick.
For the final assault, the yellow-blue forces were no longer enough, and Maccabi calmly brought matters to victory.
Russia, after Dynamo, lost Rostov. The new season of European cups began disastrously for domestic football. The only thing that brightens up the situation is Krasnodar's victory over PAOK in the Champions League. In the Europa League, Russia will be represented only by CSKA, which made its way directly to the group stage of the tournament.