Krykhovyak's blunder, two goals by the 11th minute and a missed penalty: how Krasnodar defeated Lokomotiv in the RPL

Fateful match for both teams

The 18th round of the RPL turned out to be rich in matches with a loud signboard.

On Saturday, Zenit and Dynamo met each other, and on Sunday, the other participants of the Champions League from Russia - Krasnodar and Lokomotiv.

Both teams this week held meetings of the last round of the group stage of the main European Cup.

At the same time, the southerners had more rest for a day.

They played their game against Chelsea on Tuesday, while the railroad against Bayern on Wednesday.

In addition, the red-greens experienced severe staffing problems.

Due to injuries, Mikhail Lysov, Dmitry Barinov, Ze Luis and Fyodor Smolov could not take part in the match.

And Vitaly Lisakovich passed a dubious coronavirus test.

Finally, Murilo could not enter the field due to disqualification.

The only positive moment was the return to service of Grzegorz Krychowiak.

Under these conditions, Marko Nikolic almost completely repeated the line-up for the game against Bayern.

Is that the place of Francois Camano in the support zone was taken by Krykhovyak.

Compared to the problems of Loko, the losses of Krasnodar did not look serious.

Murad Musaev could not count on Matvey Safonov, Kayo Panalean, Dmitry Stotsky and ex-railroad worker Ari.

Therefore, a pair of Alexander Martynovich in the center of defense was Yegor Sorokin, and Markus Berg again appeared at the forefront of the attack.

Both teams have relied on the game of one forward.

Moreover, for both, this confrontation was in many ways decisive.

Both Lokomotiv and Krasnodar seriously lagged behind the group of leaders, and defeat could further alienate them from the top three.

First of all, this concerned the southerners, who after 17 rounds were only in tenth place.

Gift from Miranchuk to the birthday boy

The southerners immediately demonstrated how important it is for them to win this match.

They immediately suppressed the opponent with high pressure and made the guests make mistakes.

The first dangerous moment was created by Alexey Ionov in the third minute.

The midfielder from the right corner of the penalty shot to the far, but Lokomotiv rescued Marinato Guilherme.

In addition, the judge recorded an offside position.

However, the railway workers did not hear this call and were soon punished.

After the ball was kicked in from the side, Krasnodar switched on pressing again.

As a result, the experienced Krykhovyak gave the shell directly to Viktor Klasson under pressure.

It was not difficult for the Swede to penetrate into the near corner precisely.

And in the 11th minute the southerners scored again.

This time, Berg robbed Stanislav McGeev in a foreign half of the field and began a quick counterattack, which was completed by Remi Cabella with an accurate strike from close range.

It seemed that after such a game it was possible to end.

Lokomotiv had no choice but to go forward, but the team did not succeed in attacking.

Tall Eder completely disappeared into the field and practically did not receive the ball.

The guest dispatcher Anton Miranchuk did not succeed in much either.

In addition, the red-green players clearly lacked strength.

With numerous losses in the center of the field, the guests simply did not have time to return back.

Krasnodar could have scored five goals in the first half.

So, in the 24th minute, Kristoffer Olsson went one-on-one with Guilherme after Berg's cutting pass, but the goalkeeper saved the Muscovites.

And then Berg himself struck higher from the penalty area.

Nevertheless, Lokomotiv unexpectedly got a chance to save at the end of the half.

During one of the team's rare attacks, Eder fell into the penalty area after a single fight with Sorokin.

Judge Vladimir Moskalev initially did not assign a penalty, but after a two-minute meeting with his colleagues at VAR, he pointed to the point. 

Miranchuk went to beat the penalty spot and did it extremely unsuccessfully.

Anton sent the ball right to the center of the goal, while Evgeniy Gorodov stayed in place and saved his team.

At the same time, an experienced goalkeeper made a gift to himself, because right on the day of the match he turned 35 years old. 

End defeat 

During the break, Nikolic made one replacement.

Instead of the inconspicuous Vladislav Ignatiev, Kulikov entered the support zone.

This castling helped Lokomotiv to finally take the ball under its control.

The guests made a lot of transverse passes, trying to find a gap in the opponent's defense.

However, the hosts defended themselves almost flawlessly.

Moreover, on occasion, they continued to run away in quick counterattacks, especially since the Muscovites made a huge number of mistakes and inaccurate passes.

So, in the 55th minute, Klasson almost escaped one on one with Guilherme, but at the last moment he was stopped by Chorluka.

Lokomotiv responded with their rare moment.

After a lumbago from the right flank, Eder struck from close range directly into Gorodov's hands.

A little later, Kulikov fired harmlessly from a long distance. 

Nevertheless, the pressure of the opponent began to worry the coaching staff of the owners, and after an hour of the meeting, Musaev made three substitutions one after the other.

Wanderson, Tonny de Villena and Magomed Shapi Suleimanov appeared on the field.

Nikolic, on the other hand, had practically no opportunity to refresh the line-up, and the exit of 19-year-old Nikita Iosifov looked like a gesture of despair.

The southerners, with the appearance of new players on the field, finally pushed the opponent away from their own goal and again began to carry out dangerous attacks at speed.

As a result, in the end, Lokomotiv completely collapsed.

At the 75th minute, Berg still realized his chance.

Chorluka and Rajkovic, trying to prevent the Swede, only collided with each other.

Followed by another excellent transfer to a partner Ignatiev performed.

In someone else's penalty area, he gave the ball to Suleimanov, and he just shot into the far corner under Guilherme's supporting leg.

Berg put an end to the confrontation.

The Swede successfully played on the finishing move and scored the eighth goal in the current RPL season.

Krasnodar won its third victory in the last four league games and reduced the gap to the opponent to one point.

In turn, Lokomotiv conceded five goals for the second time this season.

In early November, the railroad workers were defeated by Dynamo - 1: 5.