On the eve of the return leg of the 1/16 finals of the Europa League, few considered Krasnodar to be the favorite against Dynamo Zagreb.
Even the head coach of the team, Murad Musayev, openly stated that the meeting would be difficult, but did not put an end to the prospects of his players.
At the same time, the experts were more skeptical.
The well-known midfielder Vladimir Bystrov openly noted that the chances of the Russian team to reach the next round are “rather low”, and the former owner of “Spartak” Andrey Chervichenko also agreed with him.
The functionary did not rule out that the bulls would be able to gain the upper hand on the road, but not with a two-goal difference.
At the same time, few doubted Krasnodar's attacking capabilities - Dynamo conceded more in one playoff match than in the entire group stage as a whole.
The defensive and goalkeeper lines aroused questions.
Firstly, due to injuries, Matvey Safonov, Christian Ramirez and Sergey Petrov were unable to enter the field, and secondly, Evgeny Gorodov performed extremely unsuccessfully and forced the “bulls” to urgently look for a replacement.
Yegor Baburin was discharged from Rostov for rent, but they did not manage to reapply him.
As a result, 19-year-old Stanislav Agkatsev took the place in the goal, for whom this game became the debut for the base.
In addition to the goalkeeper, Musaev made a number of replacements in the middle and attacking lines, leaving only the defense.
In the center of midfield, a pair of Tonny de Vilhenet was made up of Yuri Gazinsky, and on the flanks were Alexey Ionov and Wanderson.
Moreover, both alternately rose to the center of the attack.
There were no clean forwards in the squad.
Ari and Evgeny Markov remained in reserve, and Markus Berg did not make it into the application at all for unknown reasons.
In their absence, Victor Klasson was at the forefront.
The beginning of the meeting turned out to be encouraging for the fans of Krasnodar.
Musaev's wards took the ball under their control and already in the first minute could come out ahead, but the cross to Cabella was interrupted by the defender.
At the same time, Agkatsev felt confidence.
Unlike Dominik Livakovic, in the first 20 minutes he had to enter the game four times, but in almost all cases he worked confidently.
The young goalkeeper twice parried the dangerous long-range shots of Luka Ivanushets, and also coped with the "shot" of Mislav Orsic from the free-kick.
He made a small mistake only at the exit after a corner, but even then luck was on his side.
Gradually the attacking impulse of Krasnodar wilted.
Dynamo adapted to the pressure of the opponent and began to find themselves more and more at his penalty area.
The Croats combined well on the flanks, creating a numerical advantage in specific areas.
Moreover, they preferred to attack through the left flank, where the active Lovro Mayer regularly shifted.
However, the goal came from the opposite edge.
Cabella allowed Kristian Yakich to intercept.
There was a breakthrough into the penalty area and transfer to Orshich under the blow, which Agkatsev could not parry.
⚡️Composition for #DynamoZagrebKrasnodar 👇
19-year-old goalkeeper Stanislav Agkatsev
makes his
debut in the main team today!
Let's support the guy!
💪👏 # LE # Europa League # ForwardBykipic.twitter.com / Csl7RdYZBW
- FCKrasnodar (@FCKrasnodar) February 25, 2021
Thus, Krasnodar's position has become even more difficult.
Now he needed to score three unanswered goals in order to win a ticket to the 1/8 finals of the Europa League.
Taking into account the fact that until the last minutes of the half, only Wanderson managed to bother Livakovich, the prospects of the guests seemed at least vague.
However, already in the end Cabella had a great moment.
The Frenchman received a pass a meter from the goalkeeper's, tried to effectively throw the ball into the nine and missed.
The beginning of the second half turned out to be depressing.
Although Krasnodar possessed a territorial advantage, it could not create sharpness at the gates of Livakovich.
At the same time, he allowed to whip up the atmosphere at his own penalty area.
The scraps of Evgeny Chernov, Igor Smolnikov and Kayo almost led to dangerous moments, but Agkatsev did not even have to make regular saves.
Ahead, practically nothing came of it.
Klasson could not prove himself in the position of the center forward, and the wingers regularly found themselves against superior forces of rivals.
It seemed that the most logical decision was the appearance on the field of Magomed-Shapi Suleimanov and Ari, but Musaev decided otherwise.
After an hour of the game, Vilhena went to rest, and instead of him came Kristoffer Olsson.
However, this rearrangement did not produce the desired effect, as a result of which, after ten minutes, Suleimanov and Ari got a chance to prove themselves.
Moreover, Musaev made replacements not in positions, but sent the defender Gazinsky and right-back Smolnikov to rest.
Musaev went all-in, and among the attacking players on the bench there was only ex-Tosno and Dynamo forward Evgeny Markov.
The appearance of Suleymanov and Ari on the pitch had a positive effect on the bulls' play.
The first slightly corrected the statistics of shots on goal and even forced Livakovich to play again, and the second performed a dangerous throw into the penalty area at Wanderson.
But this was not enough to even equalize the score in the match.
Krasnodar lost 1-0 to Dynamo Zagreb in Zagreb and finished their playoffs in the Europa League.