The battle for European competitions, an unexpected favorite and amazing statistics: what is interesting about the Spartak derby - CSKA in the Russian Cup

Spartak as a favorite and the cup character of CSKA

The importance of the upcoming derby for Spartak is difficult to overestimate. After all, we are talking not only about the battle for the next trophy, but also about the opportunity to break into the European competition. The disastrous performance in the autumn in the national championship led to the fact that the team almost lost the chances of getting into the top five at the end of the season. At the moment, the red-white gap from the Eurocup zone is ten points, and it will be incredibly difficult to eliminate it for the remaining third of the championship.

In the Cup, Tedesco’s wards have only three matches left to win. CSKA will enter the field a little less motivated, because they have almost guaranteed themselves participation in at least the Europa League. But this does not mean that the red-blue will not make every effort to win and upset a principled opponent.

“Spartak” in the event of failure risks for the first time in four years not to get into European competition. This misfire can hurt the club, because in this season the red and white were content to participate in the playoffs of the Europa League and failed to break into the group stage.

And to raise the price of their young leaders, speaking only in the domestic arena, the club will be difficult. And this means that in the foreseeable future, Spartak’s chances of making profitable transfers and replenishing its treasury will decrease.

The meeting is also important because the vast majority of previous battles for relegation with an irreconcilable opponent ended for the red and white on a minor note. In the Russian period, teams met four times in the Cup of the country, and in three cases the victory remained with the army team. Red and white managed to win only in the final of the Cup of Russia-1994, and even then in the penalty shootout.

The last match between the teams in this tournament was held in May 2011. Then the paths of the metropolitan groups crossed in the semifinals. And the rivals gave out one of the best derby in history. Most of the time ended in a draw - 3: 3, and in the penalty shootout CSKA turned out to be stronger. In the “Spartak” of the participants of that game there was no one left, and three are still playing for the red and blue: Igor Akinfeev, Kirill Nababkin and Alan Dzagoev.

Nevertheless, this time Spartak is still considered the favorite. Bookmakers and specialists are inclined to believe that the match will be effective, but the victory in it with a difference of one goal will be won by red and white. However, many do not exclude that the hosts will need extra time or a penalty for this. This is largely due to the fact that Tedesco wards resumed the season with a confident victory over Dynamo - 2-0, while Viktor Goncharenko's team almost lost to Ural - 1: 1.

Difficult choice of position for Zobnin and options in attack

Despite the victory over the blue and white, the composition of Spartak for the next derby still raises a number of questions. The main one concerns the position of the right-back. Last year, Tedesco suddenly decided not to use Nikolai Rasskazov and Andrei Yeshchenko at this place, but the universal Roman Zobnin. It got to the point that the head coach of the national team, Stanislav Cherchesov, was regularly asked whether he sees the player in this position in the national team.

But already at the Parimatch Premier Cup in Qatar, the German refused to experiment and returned Rasskazov to the defense flank. He spent almost the entire match with Dynamo, only in the end giving way to an experienced Eshenko. Let Nicholas acted imperfectly, but on the whole he coped with his work and earned a word of praise from Tedesco.

Zobnin with blue-white played one of the best matches in recent times and even scored a goal, which happens infrequently. And so Tedesco is unlikely to dare to experiment again and pull one of the leaders, especially in the absence of the injured Nail Umyarov. Guus Til at the position of the "eight" is not able to cope with the amount of work that Zobnin is doing.

But in the attack, red and white may well give the opponent a surprise. Last year, “Spartak” with the new coach played mainly with one striking forward, while the second striker, for example, Andre Schürrle, occupied a position on the flank.

However, in the game with Dynamo Tedesco released two attack players on the field at once - Alexander Sobolev and Esekiel Ponce. And both had a fairly high-quality meeting, although they could not score. It is noteworthy that the ball managed to successfully cling not only to a powerful Russian, but also to a much lighter Argentinean.

Although Sobolev and Ponce played together for the first time in their lives, their duet looked quite promising. At the same time, it is obvious that the players still do not have enough mutual understanding, which will come with time.

But you can expect Tedesco to bet on another pair of hitters in the derby. For example, he can pair with Sobolev a quick Jordan Larsson, capable of jerking tormenting the not always reliable defense of CSKA. It is also likely that the red and white will cost one striker, and on the left flank will come out technical Reziuan Mirzov. The midfielder, who twice upset Rostov at the Parimatch Premier Cup, will be happy to use the free zones that arise as a result of Mario Fernandez’s connections to the attacks.

Solving the problems of CSKA in defense and long benches

It is necessary to smash his head over the composition and Goncharenko. First of all, we are talking about a defense center. The year ended with a team with the trio Hördur Magnusson - Igor Diveev - Vadim Karpov. But they acted far from sinless and regularly made mistakes.

The match with Ural due to disqualification was missed by Diveyev, and the coaching staff returned to Viktor Vasin, who recovered from his injury. As a result, without an effective blot again it could not do. In the episode with a goal for Eric Bikfalvi did not keep track of Karpov.

The big question is whether he will now play in the derby, especially since the 17-year-old defender has never before opposed Spartak at the adult level. In the fall, he played largely on a non-alternative basis, but now Vasin and Nababkin are back in service. Yes, and Diveev on Wednesday will have the opportunity to enter the field. In this case, Goncharenko may prefer a more experienced player to a young footballer. But this decision will hide its risk, because it will become more difficult to confront the fast and technical Bakaev, Sobolev and Ponce.

And the supporting zone for the army team in the derby just needs to be strengthened so as not to give too much space to the opponent. Therefore, it is possible that the place of Ilzat Akhmetov in the center of the field will be occupied by a more defense-oriented Kristiyan Bistrovich.

At the same time it is striking that this time the teams can boast of fairly long benches. Personnel problems could be solved even by CSKA, which in the fall did without rotation. Now Goncharenko can safely afford to leave on the bench Bistrovich, Kuchaev, Nababkin, Biyola. And one should not forget about the Belarusian newcomer to the team Shkurin, who on Wednesday may make his debut in derby, like Karpov.

In turn, Spartak can count on Til, Larsson, Melgarejo, Guliyev and Mirzov. All these people were in reserve at the Dynamo derby, and, accordingly, are full of energy before the reporting meeting.