25 shots on goal and zero goals: how CSKA failed to beat Dynamo Zagreb in the Europa League

The last hope of Russian fans

The current European Cup week started very badly for the Russian teams.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Lokomotiv, Krasnodar and Zenit were defeated in the Champions League by Bayern, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund, respectively, with a total score of 1: 8.

Thus, all the hopes of the fans on Thursday were associated with CSKA, which at home held the second match of the Europa League group stage with Dynamo Zagreb.

At the same time, the army team also started in this tournament extremely unsuccessfully.

Last week, Viktor Goncharenko's wards on the road drew with the Austrian Wolfsberg, the cost of which Transfermarkt estimates only € 13.75 million (CSKA - € 138.2 million).

Dynamo also scored only a point in the first round, beating Feyenoord at home (0: 0).

True, the army team on Monday managed to rehabilitate itself in front of the fans.

In the RPL round 12 match, they defeated Arsenal (5: 1) and took second place in the standings.

Dynamo are confidently leading in the Croatian league and won their seventh victory in eight matches of the tournament this weekend.

Goncharenko, after the match with Arsenal, did not begin to carry out a serious rotation of the squad, and almost all those players who had won a victory over the Tula on Monday entered the field.

Is that the place of Alan Dzagoev in the support zone was taken by Konstantin Maradishvili. 

But the main thing is that Nikola Vlašić appeared on the pitch from the first minutes.

This match was special for him, because the footballer is a graduate of Dynamo's principal rival - Hajduk.

It was with this team that he began his adult career. 

Bad luck CSKA

The first half was completely dictated by the CSKA players.

The hosts took the ball under their control almost from the first minutes and began to carry out dangerous attacks.

Before the break, Goncharenko's wards struck 12 shots on goal, though only two of them were on target. 

The approaches of the red-blue can be enumerated for a long time.

The most active members of the team were Vlašić and Chidera Ejuke.

The Nigerian several times threatened other people's gates, but he lacked accuracy.

For example, in the 15th minute, the midfielder raided along the penalty area, but missed the near corner. 

Vlašić did not lag behind and did his best to upset the opponent.

The Croat started the match on the left flank, but closer to the break he went to the opposite edge, where he combined with Konstantin Kuchaev and Mario Fernandez.

At the end of the first half, Nikola had an excellent opportunity to open an account, but with a kick almost from the goalkeeper's line he missed a little into the far corner.

CSKA had an advantage and made beautiful combinations near someone else's penalty area, however, as in many matches of the last season, they lacked the last blow.

The same Fedor Chalov practically did not threaten the goal, although he acted great in the game. 

As for Dynamo, the guests responded with only rare counter-attacks and created only one dangerous moment.

Igor Akinfeev coped with an unexpected blow from the penalty line into the near corner by Mislav Orshich.

But this shot on target remained the only one for the Croatian team in the first half of the meeting. 

Second consecutive draw for army men

The hosts started the second half also actively and continued to create chances at the front gate.

In particular, Vlašić delivered a dangerous blow from the penalty line into the near corner, but Dominik Livakovic coped with the threat.

Then Chalov tried to upset the opponent with a shot from outside the penalty area, and Fernandez missed the ball a little with his head after serving from the left flank. 

However, after an hour of the match, it was as if the air was released from the army team.

The impression was that they, having created a lot of chances, but having failed to score, lost faith in the possibility of opening an account.

Fatigue also made itself felt, because almost all CSKA players had played with Arsenal just a few days ago.

But Goncharenko pulled out with replacements and, as it seemed, was a little late.

Striker Adolfo Gaich and midfielder Arnor Sigurdsson appeared only 15 minutes before the final whistle.

They replaced Chalov and Ejuke respectively.

A little later, Dzagoev, Ilzat Akhmetov and Kristiyan Bistrovich entered the game. 

Unfortunately, the castling did not help CSKA.

For a while, the army team started up, but their fuse lasted just a few minutes.

With the last bit of strength Vlašić acted on the other side, and Gaich once again did not get into the game.

For the time allotted to him, the Argentinean did not remember anything dangerous and was reliably closed by defenders. 

CSKA did everything in order to win the first victory in the Europa League and improve the mood of the Russian fans, but again parted with the rival in the world.

CSKA inflicted 25 strikes on Livakovich's goal with only six from the opponent, but did not manage to distinguish themselves. 

At the same time, Wolfsberg unexpectedly defeated Feyenoord (4: 1) on the road and took first place in Group K. CSKA and Dynamo share the second line.

And next week, the red and blue will leave for Rotterdam.