CSKA derby Spartak will take place on Tuesday, and the match of the fifth and sixth teams of the Russian championship hardly ever attracted such attention. Both teams are no longer shining the Champions League. And just participation in European competitions is in question. Apparently, the smallest audience in the history of this confrontation in the 21st century will gather in the stands. All this threatens to affect the surroundings, but does not affect the hype.

Together, having drawn zero draws in the 24th round, the red-white and red-blue expect to improve their tournament position and think only about victory, and the latter also want to interrupt a win-win series of seven matches. Based on the statements of the players, the action at the VEB Arena will resemble a real battle. So, the midfielder of the army team Nikola Vlašić promised to “give everything in and die on the field, but do everything” for three points.

After Sunday’s dismissal of Miodrag Bozovic from Wings of the Soviets, Domenico Tedesco and Viktor Goncharenko were the only foreign coaches in the RPL who worked with their clubs until the tournament was suspended due to coronavirus. A German with Italian roots has been working in Spartak for only eight months. Nevertheless, he already managed to serve the suspension and even gives comments to journalists in Russian.

The 34-year-old specialist captivates with an emotional demeanor on the edge (it is clear that he is not indifferent to the fate of the team entrusted to him) and the lack of criticism of the judges. So, after an insulting draw with Ufa in the 24th round, Tedesco did not complain about Vladislav Bezborodov because of the unscored goals of Alexander Sobolev, but accepted the result as it was recorded by the Arena Opening scoreboard after 90 minutes.

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Publication by FC S partak M Moscow (@fcsm_official) Jun 28, 2020 at 11:53 PDT

This is not to say that Tedesco at Spartak succeeds. It is noticeable that the mentor is still in search. After the resumption of the championship, the team plays unstably. If in the game with Arsenal his team failed the ending, then with Ufa, on the contrary, it was imprudent in the attack most of the time, and only in the last 15 minutes it got hot.

Compared with the period of Oleg Kononov, a significant improvement in the results with the new mentor did not happen. Perhaps a truly Tedesc team can only be considered in the next season - when the German holds a full-fledged training camp with players already familiar to him and gets the opportunity to increase his capabilities in attack, strengthening specific positions.

Goncharenko’s situation is even more confusing. Few people understood the coach’s behavior after the defeat of “Zenith” (0: 4), when the Belarusian did not appear at the press conference, and then, as they say, left the club. In CSKA, the incident was explained by the specialist’s malaise. After a short absence, he returned to Moscow and watched the match against Dynamo from the rostrum, which seemed no less strange. On the coaching bench, the mentor was replaced by Sergey Ovchinnikov.

The opinion was voiced that the former goalkeeper quite successfully coped with the assigned task. Without Viktor Vasin and Vadim Karpov, the army defense almost did not fail, and Igor Akinfeev held another “dry” match. Against this background, the number of those who wanted Goncharenko to remain at his post markedly decreased. According to rumors circulated on CSKA fan resources, the captain of the red-blue Akinfeev was not happy with the throwings of the head coach.

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Publication by PFC CSKA Moscow (@pfc_cska) Jun 28, 2020 at 2:23 PDT

According to one version, Goncharenko “got bored” after lowering the bar set by the leadership. If two years ago, CSKA fought for the league title with Lokomotiv, then this season risks even being left without the Europa League. The coach does not have to blame the situation. Experts regularly hint that the composition of CSKA in its level does not correspond to more ambitious goals.

Earlier, fans stood by the mountain behind Goncharenko, now more and more hearings are heard of the possible successors of the Belarusian, who has been working in office since December 2016. In the list of potential candidates, the surname of the Torpedo mentor Sergei Ignashevich also appears. Be that as it may, today Goncharenko is able to regain faith in herself. For success in a derby with the most principled rival, the army team will forgive a lot.

CSKA has more losses, “Spartak” they are more significant

CSKA have not defeated their archenemy since April 2019. Since then, the red-and-white won three meetings, and two of them even under Kononov: at the summer match Premier Cup on June 30, 2019 (3: 1) and in the championship on August 19 of the same year (2: 1). Tedesco defeated Goncharenko in their only match until this day. On March 4, 2020, Spartak was successful in the 1/4 finals of the Russian Cup (3: 2).

Due to disqualifications, the game will be missed by Alex Kral and Yaka Bijol. The loss of Spartak seems more significant. The role of the Czech midfielder in the midline of red and white cannot be overestimated. Kral quickly became his own in Spartak and with each match carries out an increasing amount of work - both draft and constructive.

And although he did not act very well with Ufa, Tedesco will definitely miss tuj against CSKA. The absence of Kral may be a chance for Ayaz Guliyev, previously removed from the base due to a disciplinary violation. On Monday, the media reported that in order to strengthen the support zone of the disgraced midfielder, they can rehabilitate.

Kral’s fourth warning, received in the match against Ufa, gave the conspiracy theorists the possibility of arbiter Bezborodov’s intrigues. Say, he is from St. Petersburg, and therefore deliberately knocked out a key player from Spartak’s derby. According to the famous judge Igor Fedotov, this could have been discussed more or less seriously if the teams had fought for first place. In this case, any such suspicions should be regarded as nonsense.

In May, Krall turned only 22. In addition to the third goalkeeper Artyom Rebrov and the minor defender Andrei Yeshchenko, none of the Spartak players crossed the 30-year mark. The most experienced starting lineup performers - defenders Samuel Gigot and George Djikia are now 26. In a word, the current Spartak is a very young team, and Tedesco is already actively attracting players born in the 21st century to matches. However, at the same time, the reputation of the “youth” team in the Russian championship has just CSKA, although five army men were born in 1990 or earlier. Of these, at least two - Akinfeev and Mario Fernandez - take to the field regularly.

One of the "old men", Alan Dzagoev, recently received another injury. Will not play with Spartak due to damage and Ilzat Akhmetov. On the contrary, the red-and-white will return to duty missed meeting with “Ufa” Jikia and Ayrton. In the opinion of the former player and coach of Spartak Andrei Tikhonov, the losses will definitely affect the game of CSKA. On the other hand, the expert considers the return of Goncharenko to be a plus for the army. The eight-time champion of Russia is convinced that his former club, at least, will not yield.

A negative result will most likely erase Spartak from the circle of applicants for trips to Europe from the RPL. Of course, Tedesco’s wards will have a loophole in the form of the Cup of Russia. In the semifinals, however, they are waiting for the “Zenith”, which will be difficult to pass on his field. If successful in the reporting meeting of the 25th round, Spartak will reduce the gap from CSKA to two points.

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Publication from Tinkoff RPL (@premierliga) Jun 28, 2020 at 10:44 PDT

The match was entrusted to the referee team led by Alexei Yeskov. This is one of the most experienced judges in Russia and a great friend of Bezborodov, about whom Spartak was left with not the best impressions. Eskov first worked in derby in 2012, having made a number of mistakes in favor of the army, in particular, mistakenly not counting the goal of Artem Dziuba.

Both teams under Eskov won more often. The last time a native of Stavropol faced Spartak on October 27, 2019, when the Tedesco team defeated Lokomotiv (3-0).