Unexpected rotation from Kuznetsov and Musaev’s problems
Both Krasnodar and Spartak were not in the best condition for the full-time match. Southerners suffered four defeats in the last five matches in all tournaments, and the red and white were left without head coach Oleg Kononov. Many fans did not rule out that in the event of another failure of Krasnodar, Murad Musaev could repeat his fate. “Spartak” was brought to Moscow by Kononov’s assistant Sergei Kuznetsov.
It seemed that he would not make too big rearrangements in the roster, but in fact, the acting officer redrew the team roster quite strongly compared to the previous match with Orenburg. Partly this had to be done due to injuries: Roman Zobnin and Zelimkhan Bakayev missed the meeting. The place of the first in the supporting zone was taken by Alex Kral, and the second on the right flank of the attack - Jordan Larsson.
Kuznetsov left several leaders on the bench for tactical reasons. But at the start Nail Umyarov, Artyom Rebrov and Dzhano Ananidze came out, and Lorenzo Melgarejo, who last played the attack in the Kuban’s attack, unexpectedly took the place at the tip of the attack. Musaev had his own problems. In particular, due to disqualification, he could not enter the field of Tonni de Villena. The southerners coaching staff expectedly threw Ruslan Kambolov into battle.
Quick goal and problems in the defense of Spartak
Despite the loss of a key football player, Krasnodar started the match very actively and opened an account in the third minute. After the filing of Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov from the corner, Alex Kral did not follow Marcus Berg, and he first dropped the ball to the ground, and the second sent him into the net over Rebrov who flew to the interception.
Having missed, “Spartak” was forced to go forward and open, which was only to the advantage of “Krasnodar”. Musaev’s wards could soon score the second. Ari and Berg easily passed the entire Spartak defense in a couple of gears, but the Swede did not get into the far corner. Spartak responded with a blow to Melgarejo in the crossbar after an excellent cross from Nikolai Rasskazov from the right flank.
And soon, Krasnodar still scored the second goal. The hosts played an excellent combination near someone else's penalty area, and Ari passed right to absolutely free Sergey Petrov. The defender had enough time to calmly take the ball, look around and accurately punch into the far corner. At the same time, Suleimanov took Andrei Yeshchenko in this situation, but Reziuan Mirzov simply did not finalize his defense.
The position of Spartak became almost critical, but the red-white hands did not let go and continued to attack. From time to time, the guests watched a good game, and the fans, who arrived in Krasnodar in large numbers, actively drove their favorites forward. Ananidze was responsible for organizing the attacks, which sometimes reminded himself of some of the best times in some actions. Mirzov was very active on the left flank, but Larsson on the opposite edge was frankly lost.
However, it was the Swede who managed to reduce the backlog at the very end of the first half. After throwing Rasskazov into the penalty area from the right flank, Mirzov hung Uros Spaich in the air and made a discount on Larsson. Jordan could only send the ball into the net of Matvey Safonov at close range. So the intrigue in the match revived.
Lack of moments and a hot ending
In the second half, guests expectedly rushed to the attack, as they had nothing to lose, and the possibility of a comeback loomed ahead. However, the red and white did not set truly insoluble tasks before the defense of the opponent. Tall and powerful central defenders calmly coped with the lightweight Melgarejo, and Sergey Petrov on the flank controlled Mirzov's jerks. Ananidze, however, gradually began to lose strength, and 20 minutes before the final whistle, Kuznetsov replaced him with Guus Thiel.
But Krasnodar did not shine in the second half. It was felt that the southerners were afraid to remain without a major victory. In addition, the team’s reserve of forces was not so great, because it only on Thursday held the Europa League match with Getafe. And it was especially difficult for Berg, who in the second half made many unsuccessful actions and simply disappeared into the field. It is not surprising that the Swede eventually gave way to Daniil Utkin. Musaev in the end competently cemented the support zone with this replacement.
But Ari was quite active and quite successfully clung to the ball and handed out penetrating passes to partners. In particular, in one of the moments he threw Suleimanov into the breakthrough. Magomed-Shapi easily ran away from Yeshchenko, but instead of hitting the goal he made an unsuccessful transfer to Utkin.
But Cayo Panteleao, who during the break came to replace instead of Kambolov’s injured hip muscle, openly let the team down. First, he received one yellow card, and then the second - for the failure of the attack. Moreover, the judge Vitaly Meshkov at first did not notice a violation of the rules, but after prompting the assistant removed the Brazilian. Lorenzo had to leave the field due to an injury.
But after a few minutes the lineups came to an even level. George Dzhikia near the penalty box violated the rules on Dmitry Skopintsev and rushed to the victim with his fists. For this, the referee instantly “wrote out” two consecutive yellow cards to the defender. So “Spartak” on the eve of the match with “Ruby” was left without a captain.
The judge added five minutes to the main time of the meeting, but the red-and-white failed to create anything dangerous during this time. Thus, Krasnodar beat Spartak at home for the first time in five years and joined the group of leaders consisting of Zenit, Lokomotiv and Rostov. For the first time in 15 years, the Moscow team suffered the fifth consecutive defeat in the RPL and is located just two points from the zone of transitional matches.