The defeat near Madrid and the triumph in Barcelona: how Krasnodar and CSKA completed their performance in the Europa League

The major defeat of Krasnodar

To enter the playoffs, Krasnodar needed to win the fourth match in a row in the Europa League. Any other result in Spain left the “bulls” outside the spring stage. In case of equality of points, “Basel” and “Getafe” in any situation were higher. Krasnodar was inferior to both clubs according to the results of personal meetings.

The Russian team traveled to the Madrid suburbs - Getafe - with adventure. Due to adverse weather conditions in the homeland, the black-green ones made an unplanned bus voyage to Anapa Airport. As a result, wards of Murad Musaev flew out with an eight-hour delay. Pre-match training instead of Spain had to be carried out in the conditions of the Krasnodar fog.

Of course, such an emergency could adversely affect the physical condition of athletes, although for mid-December, Krasnodar was in good shape. In the last round of the Russian Premier League before the winter break, he looked good in the confrontation with Moscow CSKA. That's just the author of the only goal was not in the composition, because Ari received a red card in the fifth round.

In this situation, Musaev has spearheaded the attacks of Marcus Berg. Recently, the Swede has lost competition for a place at the base, however, at the most important moment of the European campaign, it was him who had the task of scoring the necessary “Krasnodar” goals. Looking ahead, it is worth saying that the Swede did not remember anything special.

It is noteworthy that even at a crucial moment, the mentor remained true to his method when choosing the main goalkeeper. If Matvey Safonov played in the Russian Championship, then Stanislav Kritsyuk held this post in the Europa League. As it turned out, a meeting with Getafe was no exception and a nominal goalkeeper took a place in the alignment.

The game began with half-empty stands. The stadium "Colosseum Alfonso Perez" was filled only closer to the middle of the first half. Already in the debut, the captain of the guests Alexander Martynovich got a yellow card for a foul near his penalty box, and on the 26th minute there was a skirmish on the field. Referee Daniel Siebert from Germany decided to share the punishment equally. “Mustard plaster” was awarded to Damian Suarez and Yuri Gazinsky.

Getafe footballers preferred to act rudely, which even before the break led to another showdown. It seemed that the team of Jose Bordalas tried to provoke rivals in retaliation with a dirty game, but they preferred not to react. Only Uros Spaich wound up. After another episode, the Serbian defender went to deal with Angel Rodriguez, but his ardor was cooled by a yellow card. A minute before this, the most dangerous moment of the first half happened. Kritsyuk almost organized tension in his own penalty area, but he himself helped out partners by a selfless leap at the feet of Jaime Mate.

At the beginning of the second 45-minute “Krasnodar” became more active and began to stay for a long time in the alien half. It seemed that the goal was brewing. But it rarely came to blows. The match at the Krasnodar magic wand Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov did not work out, as a result of which, after an hour, he was replaced by Younes Namli.

“Getafe” is not in vain considered the most dangerous team in Spain for the implementation of standard provisions, which the players confirmed in the 76th minute. After filing from a corner of the field, central defender Leandro Cabrera “shot” Kritsyuk from close range with his head. And two minutes later, the 37-year-old striker Jorge Molina, who replaced, stripped Krasnodar and all of Russia of the slightest chance of Eurospring. The final score with a well-aimed shot into the corner from an average distance was established by Kennedy, who was also starting a meeting in reserve.

To top it all off, Alexander Martynovich was driven out of the field for a second warning, and the guests were left without a captain. The hosts caught courage finished the match for fun and completed the disastrous performance of Russian teams in the international arena. Thus, Krasnodar followed the bad example of Zenit and ended the European campaign with a crushing defeat with a score of 0: 3.

The final chord of CSKA

If “Getafe” takes the fifth line in the Spanish Example, then “Espanyol” closes the standings. Nevertheless, the Catalans ahead of schedule took first place in their group in the Europa League. CSKA, in turn, lost real prospects long before the finish of the current stage. The match in Barcelona had no tournament significance.

The head coach of the "parrots" Pablo Machin before the match called the army team the strongest opponent of his team in the Europa League. Of course, in Spain, two red-blue wins over Real Madrid in the 2018/19 Champions League are still remembered, but the words of the specialist have become more likely a curtsy on duty. Today's Espanyol and CSKA look like teams of the same level, despite the different positions in their championships.

The absence of Igor Akinfeev, who was replaced by Ilya Pomazun, caught my eye. The young goalkeeper did not have to get bored, and already at the beginning of the meeting he saved the goal after a strike by Pablo Piatti. Then the army team responded with a series of points. Igor Diveev struck with a cannon shot from the penalty area, and Fedor Chalov fled to a rendezvous with Andres Prieto after a class pass by Nikola Vlasic. The forward had several options to continue the attack, but ingenuously struck the goalkeeper in the leg.

After the break, the game proceeded at an average pace, but the red-blue were still able to squeeze the Catalans and gain the upper hand. In the end, a whipping blow to the near corner from the left leg was successful for Vlašić. Guests could have developed success, but were inaccurate in the final stage. Nevertheless, the wards of Goncharenko won, which allowed them to save face and avoid setting an anti-record for Russian clubs in European competitions.