The first victory in the derby for five years and Popov's debut goal: “Rostov” beat “Krasnodar” and reached the semifinals of the Russian Cup

Difficult start of the season for Krasnodar and Eremenko at the start

The resumption of the season turned out to be extremely difficult for Krasnodar. No sooner had the Southerners held two hardest fights of the Europa League with Bayer, as it was time to resume the season in the domestic arena.

Back on Thursday, Murad Musaev’s players played in Leverkusen, and on Sunday they were to enter the Rostov Arena pitch to compete for a ticket to the Cup semi-final of the country. It is not surprising that the club until the end was trying to achieve a transfer of the match to a later date, for example, on the 28th. However, the RFU refused to transfer. “Rostov” also spoke out against it, which on Sunday was counting on serious support from its own fans.

Additionally, he complicated the life of Krasnodar and the outcome of the first match. Southerners were at home with a score of 2-0, but as a result they allowed the team of Valery Karpin to recoup. Thus, the advantage at the expense of balls on the road was on the side of “Rostov”, and “Krasnodar” had to win on the road, or to achieve an even more effective draw.

For Rostovites, the home meeting was an opportunity to beat an opponent in regular time for the first time in almost five years. In this case, the most memorable match in the history of the southern derby took place all in the same 2014-m. Opponents met in the final of the Russian Cup, and Rostov was stronger in the penalty shootout. "Krasnodar" then missed the opportunity to win the first trophy in history.

As for the starting line-ups, then frankly surprised the fans Musaev. It seemed that after a hard trip to Germany, the coach would give some rest to one of his players, but as a result, in the roster of southerners compared to the previous match, only one change was made - newcomer Victor Olsson took Yuri Gazinsky. At the same time, Dmitry Skopintsev remained on the bench, who moved from Rostov to Krasnodar just a few days ago.

In turn, Karpin threw two recruits at once into battle: Skopintsev's position on the left flank of the defense was taken by Yevgeny Chernov, and Roman Eremenko was located in the center of the field.

Active start and boring sequel

The game began at high enough speeds despite the fact that the teams only rolled into the season. At the first minute, Alexei Ionov almost ran away to a rendezvous with a defender after an unsuccessful opponent discount, but Matvey Safonov was the first on the ball.

Krasnodar responded with dangerous attacks from Ivan Ignatiev and Viktor Klasson. The Swede turned out to be in the owners' penalty area almost completely alone, but the projectile flew above the crossbar after its strike hit.

Unfortunately, after just 15 minutes after the referee's starting whistle, the pace dropped quite sharply, and the teams began to do what they can do best. “Rostov” habitually locked himself in defense and built a real fortress at his own penalty box. Dennis Hadzhikadnich, Ragnar Sigurdsson and Arseny Logashov acted almost unmistakably in the center of defense.

It is noteworthy that in the winter the team was left without two main defenders at once: the injured Maciej Vilyush and the transferred Sverir Ingasson to PAOK. But despite these losses, the players who replaced them played as if they were playing at the base not the first match.

The defense of the hosts acted so harmoniously that after the impact of Classon, Krasnodar did not have a single moment. Moreover, the team did not even get to someone else's penalty, and Ignatiev was securely closed. "Rostov" did not leave a meter of free space to the south for quick attacks, unlike Bayer.

Perhaps the only unpleasant moment for Rostov was the trauma of Alexander Zuev. From the first minutes the midfielder acted with great desire and participated in a number of hard joints, for one of which he even received a yellow card. As a result, just before the break, the ex-Spartak asked for a replacement.

Zero shots on target from Krasnodar

In the second half, “Rostov” continued to act competently in defense and, in fact, to control the course of the game. Moreover, the wards of Karpin became much more active in pressing on another side of the field and began to meet the opponent with a ball higher.

All this prevented the players of “Krasnodar” from starting attacks and ahead the team still did not succeed. Is that after the hour of the game a rare moment missed Wanderson. The Brazilian after throwing into the penalty area was in a fairly promising position in someone else's penalty, but struck by.

Desperate to break the masters' defenses, Musaev threw fresh Olsson and Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov into battle. It was on the 19-year-old joker that particular hopes were placed on saving the confrontation.

With the entry of the young midfielder, “Krasnodar” really played more actively and in the end managed to even squeeze an opponent to someone else's goal. The player himself was marked by an inaccurate strike from the penalty and a pair of beautiful tricks.

But when it seemed that the Southerners could put a squeeze on an opponent, “Rostov” ran to the counterattack and scored the only goal. Eldor Shomurodov dragged the ball to someone else's punishment and gave the transfer to team newcomer Ivelin Popov. The Bulgarian on the backswing removed the defender flying in the subcategory and shot right on target.

So Karpin's charges beat Krasnodar for the first time in five years in regular time and also made their way to the Russian Cup semi-finals for the first time in five years.