On the eve of the away meeting with Dynamo Zagreb, CSKA was in the same position as one of its competitors in the RPL championship race, Zenit.

The chances of reaching the playoffs were lost, and only the prestige of the club was at stake.

Throughout history, the army team has only completed three European group stage performances without a single victory, although all three times this happened in the Champions League.

In the second most important tournament, Muscovites took the upper hand at least once.

Last year they defeated Espanyol in the final round, and in 2005 they beat Levski Sofia in the third.

On the one hand, CSKA's success didn't seem so incredible.

Although Viktor Goncharenko's wards had obvious problems with implementation, they were at a good level in terms of creating chances.

This was indicated by both the overwhelming superiority over Dynamo in the number of strikes in the first round match (25 - 7), and the fourth place in this indicator among all the tournament participants.

Many experts believed that the army team should have “broken through” back in the home game with Wolfsberg, but then this did not happen.

But it should not be ruled out that this event was only postponed for a week.

However, the team's chances were reduced by the fact that several key players did not go to Croatia at once.

So, Nikola Vlasic, Mario Fernandez, Alan Dzagoev, Herdur Magnusson and Chidera Edzhuke remained in Moscow, and Konstantin Kuchaev spent his last days in Germany.

An injury to the left knee meniscus forced the midfielder to undergo surgery, in connection with which he was retired indefinitely.

Nevertheless, CSKA appeared on the field in full combat strength.

In the center of defense, Magnusson was replaced by Viktor Vasin, Georgy Shchennikov and Konstantin Maradishvili were located on the flanks, and Bakhtiyor Zainutdinov took on the role of right midfielder.

Kristian Bistrovich, who showed himself brightly in the confrontation with Wolfsberg, came out in the support zone, and Ilya Shkurin took the position of the only forward.

Apparently, the Belarusian impressed the mentor with his performance in the RPL match against Khimki, in which he scored his second goal in an army team shirt.

As for Dynamo, its players also had something to lose, despite the guaranteed first place in Quartet K. In the first five meetings, Zoran Mamic's charges never allowed to upset their goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, and if the dry streak continued, they could become the first a team in history that have not conceded a single goal in the group stage of the European competition.

Nevertheless, the hosts came out to play the first number and in the first ten minutes they twice tried to disturb Igor Akinfeev.

True, it was never possible to hit the target.

The most memorable moment of the first half of the half was the injury of Marina Leovac.

In a horseback fight, the Croatian defender received an elbow blow to the face from Zainutdinov, as a result of which he had a dissection.

For two minutes, the footballer was assisted, but he could not continue the game.

Instead, Dino Perich appeared, and after a few seconds the hosts almost opened an account.

Mislav Orsic burst into the penalty area on the left flank, but his blow fell into the post.

CSKA responded with only rare counterattacks, and in the 28th minute was in the role of catching up.

Dynamo earned a corner at the opponent's goal, which Lovro Mayer and Joshko Guardiol turned into a goal.

The midfielder made a serve into the penalty area, and the defender drove the ball into the net with a high jump.

Thus, the 18-year-old footballer recalled why Leipzig paid a round sum of € 16 million for him.

Ten minutes before the end of regular time, the Croatians lost another player.

Captain Ariyan Ademi suffered a hamstring injury and was forced to give way to Bartol Franjic.

True, this in no way affected the balance of power on the field.

The hosts could well have scored a second time, but Akinfeev acted at the usual high level.

First, he transferred the ball over the crossbar after hitting Lirim Kastrati, and then beat Mario Gavranovic in close combat.

The Swiss could not score outright and was already lying down trying to push the ball past the goalkeeper, but he was more agile.

But in the 41st minute, Mamich's wards still achieved their goal.

The guests again allowed Kastrati to break through on the right flank and unhindered serve into the penalty area.

Orshich pulled away from his guardian in the face of Maradishvili and struck a smashing blow to his head.

Akinfeev touched the ball with his foot, but could not save his team.

At the end of regular time, the Dynamo midfielder could have scored a brace, but hit the frame.

Despite an extremely inexpressive performance in the first half, Goncharenko did not make a single replacement during the break.

True, there were few options for strengthening.

There were five players in the reserve, and only three of them represented the attacking line.

In addition to flank midfielder Nair Tiknizyan, Fyodor Chalov and Adolfo Gaich could have attacked.

Nevertheless, even though the army team did not have a colossal advantage in the first minutes, they managed to seize the initiative and strengthen themselves in the hosts' half of the field.

In two episodes, the guests could count on the referee's favor, but Tiago Martins first ignored the episode with a blow to Bistrovich's face, and then did not appoint a 11-meter after Ilzat Akhmetov fell in the penalty area.

And at the end of the hour CSKA had a great chance to score the third goal in the Europa League, but Igor Diveev inaccurately hit his head.

Tiknizyan and Chalov were sent to save the red-blues from the third defeat in the group stage of the Europa League.

Both quite successfully entered the game and immediately began to create dangerous moments at the gate of Livakovic.

Nair scored a dangerous cross at Zainutdinov, and Fedor kicked into the corner from outside the penalty area, but they did not become effective.

19 minutes before the final whistle, Goncharenko threw into the battle the author of CSKA's only goal scored in the Europa League - Gaich, and some time later the teams exchanged accurate shots.

First, Kastrati took advantage of the confusion of the enemy's defenders and implemented a one-on-one exit with Akinfeev, bringing the score to a large one.

And a minute later Bistrovich opened the Dynamo goal.

The defender ended up in the penalty area in the area of ​​the left semi-flank and left Livakovic out of business with a sweeping blow.

This successful episode gave the guests strength and they rushed to the attack.

The over-motivated Bistrovich led the partners and could issue a double.

However, the goalkeeper first parried the insidious blow of his compatriot from a free-kick, and then miraculously repelled Chalov's finishing move at close range.

Fedor struck from seven meters, but miraculously hit the gate guard.

The last minutes were remembered only by the next violations of the rules in the performance of the unsuccessful Gaich who entered the field, and by the next breakthrough of the players from Zagreb.

CSKA was defeated by Dynamo and for the first time did not win a single victory in the Europa League group stage.