Another test by the grand
This autumn can be safely called a real holiday for football fans, because the matches of European cups are held almost every week.
True, they do not bring joy to the Russian fans yet.
So, Zenit, Krasnodar and Lokomotiv for three in the first two rounds of the group stage of the Champions League scored only two points.
A new European Cup week for the country was opened by railroad workers, who, after a worthy confrontation with Bayern, were to face another top rival - Atlético.
Under the leadership of Diego Simeone, Madrid not only won all the domestic Spanish trophies and the Europa League, but also played in the Champions League final twice, although in both cases they were defeated.
The beginning of the current season turned out to be controversial for Madrid.
In the Champions League they conceded four unanswered goals from Bayern Munich and barely beat Salzburg at home - 3: 2.
But in the first six matches of Examples "mattress" won four victories and twice parted with opponents in the world.
Ahead of the trip to Moscow, Atletico beat Osasuna on the road - 3: 1.
Lokomotiv, on the other hand, suffered a second defeat in a row in the RPL, losing to Sochi (1: 2).
In addition, the red-greens on Tuesday could not count on the injured Vedran Chorluka and Stanislav Magkeev.
But, according to the guests, Alexey Miranchuk, who had moved to Atalanta, was ready to help them.
Representing the railway workers on the club's official website, the press service mistakenly included him in the team, and for some reason translated the name of the young defender Arthur Cherny into Spanish.
The mistakes were corrected later, but Lokomotiv jokingly advised opponents not to use Google Translate next time.
Lads @atletienglish, please don't use Google Translate next time😉 # LokoAtleti |
# UCLpic.twitter.com / gvER2d5vs2
- FC Lokomotiv Moscow (@fclokomotiv_eng) November 3, 2020
Returning to the losses of the railroad workers, Marko Nikolic on the eve of the match promised that his players will play against Atlético “not for impressions, but for points”.
In turn, Simeone gave his opponent a curtsy on duty, calling the red-greens a "competitive team".
In the end, the hosts' roster almost completely repeated the composition for the meeting with Bayern, except that Chorluka was replaced in the center of defense by Slobodan Rajkovic, who came on as a substitute in the confrontation with Munich, and not Vitaly Lystsov, who spent 90 minutes on the field in the match with Sochi ".
Our starting lineup for the match against Atlético 🔥 # UCL |
#LokoAtletico pic.twitter.com / 8abzZCmSRZ
- Lokomotiv (@fclokomotiv) November 3, 2020
Goal exchange in the middle of the first half
Atlético started the match at a rather leisurely pace.
It was felt that the team did not set itself the task of scoring at all costs in the first minutes.
Lokomotiv was quite active in pressing.
Fedor Smolov, Ze Luis and Anton Miranchuk did not allow the defenders to calmly start attacks.
However, one of the first shots of Madrid on goal ended in a goal.
After serving Hector Herrera in the 18th minute from the left flank, Jose Jimenez sent the ball to the near corner with his head, winning the single combat against Murilo.
It seemed that after such an unsuccessful start, the railroad workers could crumble, but Nikolic's charges quickly leveled the score from the penalty spot.
And the rules in his own penalty area were violated by the same Herrera.
After Smolov's cross, the ball hit the Mexican midfielder in the hand.
The referee from France Benoit Bastien did not immediately point to the "point", but after consulting with the assistants on VAR and watching the replay, he still recorded a violation of the rules, and at the same time showed a yellow card for disputes to Luis Suarez.
The penalty kick was confidently realized by Miranchuk, who managed to score the second goal in the current Champions League season.
Just a week ago, he upset Bayern.
Having conceded, Atlético had to go ahead, although Simeone's team is not so strong in the game as the first number.
But the Spanish team gradually increased the pressure.
The guests' attacks especially often took place on the right flank, where Maciej Rybus could not cope with Kieran Trippier.
However, the favorite had few really dangerous moments.
The only thing I remember was Angel Correa's kick to the crossbar from outside the penalty area after Suarez's discount.
In this situation, Daniil Kulikov and Grzegorz Krychowiak did not keep track of the opponent in the support zone.
A little later, Suarez went one on one with Marinato Guilherme, but the referee recorded an offside position.
By the end of the half, Lokomotiv managed to move the game away from its own goal.
In general, against the background of a venerable opponent, the railroad workers looked decent enough and confidently held back the attacks of Madrid, on occasion trying to organize their own counter-attacks.
The game of railroad workers
During the break, Simeone made a substitution, and Koke entered the field instead of the unobtrusive Saul.
This castling was clearly beneficial to the team.
The midfielder added energy to Atlético and regularly played the ball in the wrong side of the field.
In these minutes, Madrid finally managed to push the opponent to the goal.
Lokomotiv footballers began to sit deeper and deeper into their own penalty area, allowing the guests to calmly collect rebounds, and completely stopped going into counterattacks.
Dangerous moments at the gates of Guilherme also began to arise regularly, but Marinato acted as reliably as possible.
So, in the 58th minute, the goalkeeper of the Russian national team with great difficulty coped with an unpleasant blow by Juan Felix into the far corner from outside the penalty area.
A little later, Guilherme pulled the ball out from under the crossbar after the head shot of the same Portuguese.
Lokomotiv was also favored by luck.
For example, in one of the episodes, Suarez miraculously missed his head from a couple of meters into an empty target after Felix's cross.
However, Juan rather hit on goal, and therefore it was difficult for the partner to adjust to the projectile flying at high speed.
And in the 66th minute, the refereeing team canceled Suarez's goal due to an offside position.
After serving from the flank, Koke hit the crossbar with his head, and the Uruguayan finished off the ball into the net, being in an obvious offside position.
The Atlético players did not have enough strength for the entire second half, and after the 70th minute they attacked with less intensity.
And the railroad workers even carried out several attacks of their own and delivered the only blow in the entire second half of the meeting.
However, in the end, Madrid managed to organize the final bulk, and it became alarming for the hosts, because the winning goal against Salzburg was scored in the 85th minute.
There were analogies with last year's match between the red-greens and Juventus.
But the Lokomotiv footballers managed to keep a draw with their last bit of strength.
Now the capital team has two points.
In addition, she proved herself extremely worthy in the matches with the top European teams and so far bypasses Salzburg in the fight for the third place.