For CSKA, the home match against Feyenoord could be safely called the key one in the current European campaign.

This opinion was shared not only by many fans, but also by former players of the club.

So, the ex-midfielder of the red and blue Jiri Yaroshik called the meeting with the Dutch the main one in the year and noted that its result will be of key importance from the point of view of the team's prospects in the Europa League.

It was difficult to argue with the Czech.

After three rounds, the army team had only two points to their credit and took the last place in group K. The future rival and Austrian Wolfsberg were two points ahead of them, and Dynamo Zagreb headed the quartet with five points.

Thus, the victory not only raised CSKA's chances of reaching the playoffs, but could also allow him to reach second place.

In addition, Viktor Goncharenko's wards probably wanted to get even for the offensive defeat on the road and, in general, slightly tweak the statistics of the confrontation with opponents from the Netherlands.

Throughout its history, the team only twice defeated the Dutch, played two draws and lost five times.

In the match against Sochi, big questions were raised by Goncharenko's decision to send Georgy Shchennikov and Bakhtiyor Zainutdinov to the defense flanks.

The Russian clearly did not have time to get in shape after the injury and did not look the best way, and the left-footed Kazakhstani felt uncomfortable on the unusual right edge.

Nevertheless, the mentor did not change himself and again made a bet on this pair of players.

In general, the specialist made a minimum of adjustments to the line-up and removed only left midfielder Nair Tiknizyan from the field.

Instead, he was replaced by the jet Chidera Edjuke, who was not by hearsay familiar with the Dutch bands.

The Nigerian played for Heerenveen from 2019 to 2020.

As for the absent, Alan Dzagoev, Konstantin Kuchaev, Viktor Vasin and Vadim Karpov, who passed questionable tests for coronavirus, have added to their solid number.

Another important event was the visit of Dick Advocaat to Moscow.

During his coaching career, the Dutch specialist managed to work with the Russian national team and Zenit, which he helped to win the UEFA Cup for the first time in history.

He left the national team at the end of Euro 2012, and the last time he visited the country with new players was in 2017.

Then, together with Fenerbahce, he played with Krasnodar in the Europa League.

The meeting began with a minute of silence in memory of Diego Maradona, and with the starting whistle, the army team rushed to the attack.

The first 20 minutes passed under the dictation of the hosts, who performed a total of six shots on the opponent's goal.

Zainutdinov, Oblyakov and Edzhuke managed to kiss the ball, but Vlašić looked brighter than others.

Nikola himself hit twice, and also created chances for his partners three times.

However, by the middle of the half, the hosts slowed down noticeably and began to make mistakes in transmissions more and more often.

This turned out to be enough for the guests to level the game, and at the end of the half, to create several dangerous episodes at the opponent's goal.

At the end of the first half, Feyenoord practically caught up with CSKA in the number of shots on goal (9 - 8), and even surpassed in shots on target (1 - 3).

The ending turned out to be especially bright.

In stoppage time, Rotterdam defender Bart Nieuwkop responded to a serve from the flank and shot his head, but Igor Akinfeev showed miracles of reaction and deflected the blow at close range.

And after a few seconds, Ejuke had a chance to get even, but could not realize a one-on-one exit.

The main event of the beginning of the second half was the removal of Nikolai Jorgensen.

That second time during the meeting, he did not act too carefully during the mounted struggle.

If on the 43rd minute Igor Diveev suffered, then on the 48th minute, Herdur Magnusson received his elbow in the face.

The main referee Christo Tohver was consistent and for both violations presented the striker with a yellow card, thereby leaving Feyenoord in the minority.

Advocate's charges reacted to the situation and reorganized to a defensive scheme.

The Dutch pressed against their gates, having sent five people at once in the line of defense, and the other four began to put pressure on the attacking CSKA players.

The red and blue tightly seized control of the ball, but it didn’t come to sharpness for a long time.

Only at the end of an hour of the game, the hosts were able to bother Nick Marsman for the second time, but the header by Herdur Magnusson was not the strongest.

Goncharenko intervened in the game and made two substitutions at once.

Instead of Shchennikov, Ilzat Akhmetov came out, which provoked Zainutdinov's return to the left flank of the defense and Maradishvili's transition to the right.

And Sigurdsson was replaced by the physically powerful Ilya Shkurin.

It is noteworthy that the Belarusian forward could have distinguished himself with the second touch.

The first was needed for him to strike after the effective throwing of his partner into the penalty area, and the second - to carry out the finishing move.

But the line referee fixed the offside position.

In the remaining time, Goncharenko made three more replacements, releasing Kristian Bistrovich, Nairi Tiknizyan and Adolfo Gaich on the field.

The army team continued to press the opponent, but they could not break the defense.

The low gears did not pass, and the casts to the overall forwards did not end with blows.

It is noteworthy that the last truly dangerous moment took place in the 79th minute, when Chalov struck from half-flight.

True, the blow was not the strongest, and the ball became an easy prey for Marsman.

In all 90 minutes, the red-blue ones inflicted a total of 22 shots on the opponent's goal, but only four of them reached the opponent's goalkeeper, and not one was converted into a goal. This reminded us of the home game against Dynamo Zagreb, which also ended in a goalless draw with the hosts overwhelming. Thus, CSKA was unable to achieve victory in the fourth match in a row and seriously complicated its chances of reaching the Europa League playoffs.