Before the 12th round of the Russian Premier League, CSKA went in first place in the standings, ahead of the whole group of four closest pursuers by two points. Directly on the day of the match with Rostov, which is just part of this quartet, the army team lost their leadership. They were replaced by Lokomotiv and Zenit, who recovered from games in the Champions League and defeated Arsenal with Ural.
CSKA players were not so lucky with the schedule - they had to enter the VEB Arena field, cold and covered with wet snow, on the third day after the defeat from Espanyol, which sucked up both physical and psychological forces. In addition, the second consecutive failure in the Europa League almost turned into another loss in the composition.
The media reported that defenders Igor Diveev and Hurdud Magnusson earned minor injuries, and they will miss the match with Rostov. For the army, this would be a disaster - they have too much loss in defense. But still the worst prognosis did not materialize. Diveev entered the starting lineup against Valery Karpin's wards, and the Icelandic defender was in stock.
“Rostov” had no problems with the composition initially, but at the last moment it became known about the loss of Roman Eremenko. The former CSKA player flew to Moscow, but felt unwell and did not even get into the application for the game. With such weather, which was more like late November, it was really dangerous for him to enter the field. After that, one could only guess how fans of the army would react to the appearance of Eremenko - they hardly forgot how last year he unexpectedly switched to Spartak, after which he ended up in Rostov. This match was supposed to be the first for him against the former team, which had been waiting for him for two years after disqualification.
But the stands responded to another event related to the club. Fans with the help of chants and banners expressed their support for CSKA head coach Viktor Goncharenko, who was criticized after an unsuccessful start in the Europa League. But still, it was much more important for the fans that in the Russian championship the winning streak of the army team was five games.
The match began under the dictation of the army. Already at the 24th second, Fedor Chalov gently threw the ball and hit the crossbar, for which goalkeeper Yegor Baburin was not ready. In the next ten minutes, CSKA players continued to take the initiative, but they created something similar to the dangerous moments only from the free-kicks and corners.
It was not easy for Rostov to go out of defense, but they met their standards more reliably. First, Ivelin Popov forced Igor Akinfeev to knock the ball out with his fists, and then he played a tricky corner on the far post, where Khoren Bayramyan ran into the free zone. At the 11th minute, the guests opened an account. It is interesting that it was the pressure of the Rostov midfielder that led Popov to hit from the corner flag.
A quick goal forced the Rostovites to retreat, and Bayramyan and Alexei Ionov could be more often seen in defense than in attack. CSKA, and before that did not shine in the attack, did not do anything useful to immediately recoup.
The game returned to center field, and there the army team was also uncomfortable. Rostov intercepted the ball and quickly ran forward. Eldor Shomurodov hung Bayramyan on the move, who rocked Cedric Gogua and then shot Akinfeev’s gate. Midfielder for the first time in his career designed a double and strengthened the advantage of his team.
Sanctions on the part of Goncharenko immediately followed - during a break instead of Gogua above Lucas Santos, and Charliya and Diveev formed a duet of central defenders. Ivan Oblyakov had to move to the left flank, and Konstantin Kuchaev - to the center of midfield. There was no rebuilding in the attack, CSKA's coaching staff expected her to adapt to the guests herself.
But measures to strengthen the defense were a failure. In the second half, the army penalty area constantly had huge spaces into which Shomurodov and Bayramyan ran into. They did not realize two one-on-one exits with Akinfeev - the goalkeeper of CSKA went perfectly under the blows. But the Uzbek striker learned a lesson, and the next attack after the transfer of Bayramyan, he implemented more cunningly. At the 61st minute, Shomurodov scored his tenth goal for the season and caught up with the newly-appeared striker of the Russian national team Alexander Sobolev in the scorer race. Akinfeev then twice saved his team’s gate - there could be no complaints about his game.
Only in the second half of the second half, CSKA began to attack in the way the team should do, trying to score points. Only Baburin, having seen enough of his vis-a-vis saves, he himself began to play confidently in the goal. Santos caused him especially big problems, but still he was not a clean forward and could well be mistaken after an excellent pass by Ilzat Akhmetov, who brought the Brazilian to an empty net.
Ten minutes before the end of the match, the attacking impulses of the home team ran out. They began to wait for the largest home defeat of the army in the last eight years to become real. The last time they lost with a difference of three or more goals in their stadium in September 2011 in a match with Dynamo. But the defeat still did not take place - in compensated time Fedor Chalov earned a penalty and allowed Nicola Vlašić to break through after his two misses. Horvath struck just under the crossbar and scored a goal of prestige.
“Rostov” beat CSKA in the standings and caught up with Lokomotiv and Zenit on points. With St. Petersburg, Karpin’s wards will play in the next round after a break for the matches of the national teams. CSKA will try to rebuild in an away match with a difficult “Ufa”.