From the point of view of tournament prospects, the home meeting with Sevilla was of paramount importance for Krasnodar.
The defeat finally deprived him of his chances of reaching the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, while the victory allowed him to strengthen his position in the group and hope for the continuation of the European campaign.
At least in the less-status Europa League.
At the same time, it was difficult to count on such an outcome, if only for the reason that until now no Russian team has won a single match on the international arena this season.
In light of this, a draw with the Spaniards could well be considered a worthy result.
This was helped by the absence of a number of key performers in the opponent's lineup.
Sevilla captain Jesús Navas received a red card in the home game against Krasnodar and did not fly to Russia, and three red and white players were in the infirmary at once.
Yassine Bunu fell ill with the coronavirus, while Suso and Marcos Akunya were unable to take part in the match due to injuries.
The bulls also did not manage without losses.
But if the coaching staff has already got used to the injuries of Sergei Petrov and Dmitry Stotsky, then the absence of Matvey Safonov in the application became an extremely unpleasant event.
The main goalkeeper of the black-greens passed a positive test for COVID-19 at the location of the Russian national team and has already missed the meeting of the 15th round of the RPL with Tambov.
There, the place in the "frame" was taken by the experienced Evgeny Gorodov.
As a result, the former goalkeeper of "Akhmat" was at the base in the match with "Sevilla", but in general Murad Musaev spent quite an extensive rotation of the composition.
In the attack, Alexei Ionov was replaced by Markus Berg, in the support zone instead of Daniil Utkin came Kristoffer Olsson, and on the left flank of the defense - Christian Ramirez.
The return to the start of the central defender Kayo, who has recently become one of the most criticized players of Krasnodar, deserves special mention.
The good news was that Wanderson got into the application, having missed more than two weeks due to injury.
As for the guests, numerous losses forced Yulen Lopetegui to take a risky step and play according to the scheme with three central defenders.
The last time a specialist used it was in February 2020 and was hardly disappointed.
The away meeting with Getafe ended with a 3-0 win for Sevilla, with Lucas Ocampos scoring the first goal.
It is noteworthy that it was the Argentine who became the organizer of the first effective attack in this match.
The winger broke through on the right flank and crossed into the center, but Kayo was on the alert.
True, the long stem did not work out, and Ivan Rakitich was the first on the selection.
Horvath struck powerfully from the air and left Gorodov out of business.
Despite the status of the hosts, Krasnodar did not manage to act as the first number.
“Sevilla” took the ball and surpassed the opponent not only in the percentage of possession, but also in the number of dangerous moments.
Already in the 12th minute, the guests could increase the advantage in the score, but Jules Kunde could not take advantage of his chance.
This time, Ocampos broke through the center to someone else's goal, after which he passed a pass to the French defender.
He easily removed Kayo on the backswing and shot from outside the penalty area, but Gorodov helped out.
⚡ Starting lineup for the match # KrasnodarSevilla 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/DJdy5yZUFi
- FCKrasnodar (@FCKrasnodar) November 24, 2020
Before the end of the first half hour of the meeting, the Spaniards twice harassed the fans of the Russian club, but Gorodov did not have to join the game.
First, Munir El-Haddadi missed the far corner from 27 meters, and then Diego Carlos inflicted an inaccurate head blow.
The hosts responded with only a few approaches, but they never bothered Tomas Vaclik.
In the last 15 minutes of the half, Krasnodar managed both to be on the verge of the second conceded goal, and to come close to the return goal scored.
At first, Marcus Berg almost helped organize a penalty kick into his own goal.
The Swede unsuccessfully handled the ball in the penalty area and hit himself in the hand.
Opponents began to appeal to the referee, but Marco Guida did not point out the point.
And at the very end, Magomed-Shapi Suleimanov first shot on target.
The blow was not strong and not dangerous, but managed to slightly correct the statistics.
Apparently, during the break, Musaev did serious work with his charges, as a result of which they returned to the field super-motivated.
In the first five minutes, they created two dangerous moments, and Remy Cabella completely missed a 100% chance to restore parity.
The Frenchman took the ball away from the gaping Nemanja Gudel, beat Vaclik and rolled into the empty net, but Künde stood in the way of the ball.
The French tackle moved him to the post, and Klasson did not have enough agility to play on finishing moves.
The Spaniards immediately tried to answer, but El Haddadi's kick was blocked, and Luc De Jong shot from the air from the goalie, but missed.
A minute later, the well-known football rule worked.
The Swedish trio in the person of Berg, Klasson and Olsson played a beautiful multi-move, and the substitute Wanderson completed it with an accurate shot.
Künde again tried to act as a savior, but this time he did not succeed.
Unfortunately, the bulls did not keep a draw in the end of the match 😞 # KrasnodarSevilla - 1: 2 pic.twitter.com/oYjPT167mx
- FCKrasnodar (@FCKrasnodar) November 24, 2020
And five minutes later, Krasnodar's chances of success increased even more.
Sevilla's left-back Sergio Escudero suffered a shoulder injury and was only able to leave the field on a stretcher.
There were no substitutions in position, which is why the nominally central defense player Karim Rekik came out instead.
Also tired Rakitic was replaced by Oliver Torres, which made the middle line of guests less inventive.
Krasnodar responded with Ari and Tonny de Villena entering the field, but failed to take control of the game.
The guests looked more dangerous and in the period from the 61st to the 80th minute they struck seven shots on the hosts' goal.
Moreover, the last of them arose largely thanks to Gazinsky and Kayo.
The teammates started a skirmish on the field and turned off the episode, allowing the opponents to reach their own penalty area.
Among the Spaniards, Youssef En-Nesiri and Ussama Idrissi, who left the bench, looked more active than others.
The Moroccans at speed “tore apart” the opponent's defense and had more than one opportunity to leave Gorodov out of business.
However, Musaev did not change the quarreling teammates, but removed the tired Klasson and Cabell from the field.
They were replaced by left-back Evgeny Chernov and center midfielder Daniil Utkin, but the situation was not evened out.
The last minutes passed under the dictation of the guests besieging the penalty area.
And on the fifth compensated minute, Kayo made a mistake again.
The Brazilian defender was not tenacious enough against El Haddadi and allowed him to score the winning goal.
Already on the seventh added "Krasnodar" could snatch points, but the strikes of Ari and Martynovich were blocked.
Krasnodar suffered their third consecutive defeat in the Champions League and lost their chances of reaching the playoffs.
After four rounds, Musaev's charges have one point to their credit and are nine points behind Sevilla and Chelsea.
The same number of points have "Rennes", which will become the main opponent of the Russians in the struggle for a ticket to the Europa League.