Fatal mistakes of Sorokin and Oblyakov, smart strikes by Kuchaev and Wanderson: how Krasnodar and CSKA drew in the RPL

Surprise from Goncharenko and Klasson's return to the base

Since Krasnodar entered the Premier League, the matches of the southerners against CSKA have become a real highlight of the tournament. Almost every meeting of these teams turned out to be unpredictable and, as a rule, effective.

So, in September last year, the army team beat Musaev's wards at home with a score of 3: 2. At the same time, in the first half, the red and blue scored three unanswered goals, but after the break they almost allowed the opponent to win back. The double as part of the guests was designed by Marcus Berg.

And the game of the second round was remembered by the referee scandal. Due to the long meetings between the judge Vasily Kazartsev and his assistants at VAR, the meeting lasted for 100 minutes, and Goncharenko, after the match ended in a draw, shouted at the referee.

At the same time, in the confrontation with Krasnodar, CSKA had only a small advantage: eight wins, six draws and six defeats.

The teams started the new season in the same way, gaining six points. Thus, victory was necessary for both teams in order not to let Zenit, Sochi and Spartak go into the lead.

On the eve of the next face-to-face meeting, the coaches did not do without personnel losses. Musaev, in addition to the injured Uros Spaich and Dmitry Stotsky, lost Kayo Panteleao, who received a red card in the previous round match with Ural. Yegor Sorokin, as expected, took his place in the center of defense.

Wanderson returned to the squad, but the injured Remy Cabella was again out of the application. But Victor Klasson got into the base. 

Goncharenko, finally, waited for Fyodor Chalov to recover and made a bet in attacking him. But all three newcomers to the team - Adolfo Gaich, Bruno Fuchs and Bakhtiyor Zainutdinov - remained in reserve. However, the fans did not wait for the release from the first minutes of the Kazakhstani and the Brazilian, who signed contracts with the club just the day before.

In this situation, given the severe injury of Kirill Nababkin and the mistakes of Viktor Vasin in the match of the previous round, Goncharenko decided for the first time in a long time to bet on the alignment with two central defenders. The defensive duet was made by Igor Diveev and Kherdur Magnusson.

CSKA advantage and Krasnodar's mistakes

The first half turned out to be extremely unsuccessful for Krasnodar. From the first minutes CSKA relied on high pressure and did not allow the opponent to calmly launch attacks. As a result, the central defenders of the hosts were forced to take the ball forward to Markus Berg. 

Despite all the efforts of the Swede, most often such removals ended in losses. Only Wanderson tried to drag the ball to someone else's penalty area through individual actions. But Klasson was almost invisible. Southerners made a large number of mistakes and could not get hold of the ball.

As a result, in the first half of the meeting, Krasnodar scored with only one shot on target, and even then it was not too dangerous. Christian Ramirez from the left edge of the penalty shot into the near corner in the hope of a mistake by Igor Akinfeev, but the experienced goalkeeper did not commit it. 

In turn, the army team regularly used free zones on the wrong side of the field and organized dangerous counterattacks. Nikola Vlašić, who has traditionally been the most prominent player in the team, was responsible for promoting the ball in most episodes. 

It is not surprising that it was the Croat who helped the guests to open an account in the 28th minute. Sorokin unsuccessfully threw the ball to the eighth number, and he instantly found Konstantin Kuchaev in the penalty area with an accurate pass.

The midfielder, without hesitation, struck hard into the far corner past Alexander Martynovich, who was trying to save Krasnodar in a desperate tackle. Thus, Kuchaev scored for the third goal at the start of the RPL season.

CSKA had other moments to strengthen their advantage. So, in the 18th minute, Chalov unexpectedly slightly struck the bottom into the far corner in the opposite direction to the goalkeeper. Matvey Safonov with great difficulty reached for the ball and transferred it to the corner.

A little later, at the last moment, Fedor was prevented from closing the chamber by Mario Fernandez from the right flank by Martynovich. In total, in the first half, the red and blue struck seven shots, three of which were on target. At the same time, Goncharenko's team more often owned the ball (60% to 40%), which is absolutely atypical for Krasnodar's home match. 

Debut of Zainutdinov and saves of Safonov

However, the second half turned out to be completely different. To begin with, Musaev made an important substitution. Instead of playing not the best match, Yuri Gazinsky, he released Tonny de Villene on the field. The defensive midfielder's exit from the Netherlands helped Krasnodar speed up when switching from defense to attack. 

The southerners, finally, began to pass traditional combinations near someone else's penalty area, followed by blows. 

Goncharenko responded with his castling. Already in the 54th minute, Zainudtinov made his debut with CSKA. Moreover, the midfielder from Kazakhstan replaced Chalov. Bakhtiyor went to the left flank of the midfield, and at the forefront of the attack alternately appeared Sigurdsson, then Kuchaev. 

In fact, this led to the complete disappearance of sharpness at the Safonov gate. Krasnodar finally took the ball under their control. In addition, after an hour of play, the guests noticeably sagged functionally.

However, the army team for the time being managed to restrain the opponent's attacks. Only Klasson missed a really dangerous moment, who hit the near corner from close range, but Akinfeev showed miracles of reaction and transferred the projectile to the barbell.

Nevertheless, the pressure on the CSKA goal was growing. 11 minutes before the end of regular time, the guests made a double substitution. The attacking players Gaich and Nayair Tiknizyan appeared on the field. 

Perhaps this move would have helped the red and blue to move the game away from their own goal, but literally in the next attack, Krasnodar leveled the score. After a corner, Oblyakov delivered the ball directly to Wanderson, who, from outside the penalty area, struck a non-beating blow into the far top corner. Akinfeev was unable to save his team in this episode. 

To the honor of the army, in the remaining time they pressed the opponent to the goal and could well snatch victory. However, Safonov acted above all praise on the last frontier of the southerners. Especially memorable was his double save in the 90th minute, when Matvey first deflected Vlasic's shot, and then coped with a powerful blow from Tiknizyan. 

Thus, the rivals parted with the world 1: 1. Along with Lokomotiv and Rubin, they are included in the group of teams that scored seven points after five rounds.