Nikolic's "Interesting Idea"

On the eve of the meeting with Bayern, the head coach of Lokomotiv decided to radically change the squad.

If the goalkeeper and defensive lines remained intact, then the middle and attacking lines appeared in a different form.

Compared to the failed match with Rotor, four new players appeared at the base.

On the left flank of the midfield, Anton Miranchuk is located, and in the attack - Fedor Smolov and Ze Luis.

Nevertheless, the most curious was the appearance at the base of Vladislav Ignatiev.

In recent years, the Russian has mainly played as a right-back, but in the game against Bayern he was in the place of a right-handed midfielder - over Dmitry Zhivoglyadov.

As Marko Nikolic himself admitted, this became part of his "interesting idea" to contain the current winner of the Champions League.

Hans-Dieter Flick has not been without changes.

True, in the case of the Munich team, it was more like a regular rotation of the composition.

Lucas Hernandez, Niklas Zule and Benjamin Pavar appeared in the defense, and Corentin Tolisso came out in the middle line instead of Douglas Costa.

At the same time, Serge Gnabry remained on the bench.

The German (€ 90 million - € 84.25 million), estimated most of all the composition of Lokomotiv, had had a coronavirus, so he was in an imperfect condition.

❗️ Daniil Kulikov will be in the starting lineup instead of Stanislav Magkeev, who was slightly injured in the pre-match warm-up. # UCL |

#LokoBavariahttps: //t.co/SkIft6GL5F

- Lokomotiv (@fclokomotiv) October 27, 2020

Pavar's productivity

At the end of the first 45 minutes, one could say that Nikolic's plan was more or less working.

The doubled right flank of the defense really contributed to the fact that Bayern practically did not create sharpness in this area.

Kingsley Coman, who was located there, although actively participated in attacking actions, regularly came across a duet in the person of Ignatiev and Zhivoglyadov.

And Thomas Müller, wandering around the field, over time began to migrate more and more to the right edge.

Nevertheless, if on the right of the railway workers everything was reliably covered, then on the left there were often failures.

The Germans acted cunningly: they started attacks on the left edge and forced Maciej Rybus to move closer to the center, after which they abruptly transferred the ball to the right.

As a result, the Pole time after time could not keep up with Pavar and allowed him not only to deliver dangerous shots on goal, but also to give accurate passes to the penalty area.

Not surprisingly, it was the Frenchman who acted as an assistant in the episode with the goal.

The reigning world champion was left without guardianship and dropped the ball into the goalkeeper's room, and Leon Goretska struck his head irresistibly.

As a result, Pavar finished the first half as one of the guests' best footballers.

So, he shared the first place in the number of shots on goal with Robert Lewandowski and Leon Goretskaya (all - two), and together with Muller was in the lead in the number of key passes (both - two).

Loss of Chorluka

At the end of the first half, it began to seem that in the second, the hosts' problems in defense could become even more serious.

The reason for this was the injury of Vedran Chorluka, received during the fight with Kimmich.

The center-back pulled the back of the thigh and was forced to leave the field.

The remaining minutes were played by ten men, and during the break Slobodan Rajkovic took the Croat's place.

By and large, the Champions League second round match could be called the debut for a Serb.

Previously, he only once appeared on the field with Lokomotiv and spent only one minute in the game against Zenit.

In this regard, Raikovich's exit could well turn into a fiasco, but in reality it turned out differently.

Yes, in the 57th minute he almost brought a goal into his own goal, but then he acted quite well.

As a result, Slobodan did not lose a single single combat and never allowed himself to be beaten one on one.

Lokomotiv counterattacks

As for the attacking actions, the Muscovites had enough chances to excel after counter-attacks.

Even in the first half, Fyodor Smolov and Daniil Kulikov could upset Manuel Neuer, but the first shot straight into the goalkeeper's hands, and the second missed the target.

However, in the second half, Bayern loosened their grip even more, as a result of which Lokomotiv's forays became much sharper.

It is noteworthy that Ze Luis became the key figure in the attacking game of the railroad workers, acting as the addressee for long-distance passes and casts.

During the entire match, the former Spartak forward won nine riding martial arts (four against the closest pursuer, Murilo), which can be called an excellent result.

And this is against the grenadier Zyule and the jumping Alaba.

Nevertheless, in the episode with the goal scored, Ze Luis demonstrated that he was able not only to fight on the second floor, but also to disperse attacks.

The African received a pass from Zhivoglyadov on the right edge, dashed 20 meters and shot into the center of the penalty area.

Anton Miranchuk got rid of the guardianship and shot through the goal.

Neuer was powerless.

In the remaining 20 minutes, Ze Luis could well have made an assistant double and strengthened his title of the main character of the meeting.

This time, the tireless striker burst into the penalty area on the left flank and could make a pass to the lonely Rifat Zhemaletdinov, but decided to hit himself and missed.

A minute later, Miranchuk did not convert one-on-one.

Champion class

In the course of the entire second half, Bayern’s actions were either tired or unwilling to spend extra energy to strengthen the score.

Not without bad luck.

First, Kingsley Coman was unable to hit the goal from 11 meters, and then the referee Istvan Kovacs appointed and immediately canceled the penalty kick to the home goal.

The Romanian referee saw a foul on Robert Lewandowski, but the video assistants suggested that the Munich team had broken the rules a little earlier.

With the course of the second half, the creation of chances was given to the Germans with more and more difficulty, but in the end the class of performers affected.

Flick's team scored in an episode that hardly boded a goal.

Kimmich found himself in the operational space a meter from the gate and struck effectively from the air.

Krykhovyak and Raikovich did not have time to cover the German, and the ball was exactly in the far corner.