With personnel losses and rested teams: in what state Zenit and Lokomotiv approached the match for the Super Cup

Zenit's difficult preseason

Zenit came up to the match for the Russian Super Cup not in the best condition.

Unlike Lokomotiv, which went to the first training camp on June 14, the team began preparations for the new season only on the 28th.

In addition, the footballers of the Russian national team, who took part in Euro 2020, did not immediately join the work.

And the Croat Dejan Lovren returned to the general group altogether only a few days ago.

All this created a lot of problems for Sergei Semak.

For example, he initially took only 19 wards to Austria, half of which were young performers.

The specialist had to actually "patch holes" in the lineup.

For example, the nominal defender Douglas dos Santos played in the holding area.

Despite this, the blue-white-blue looked decent in control matches.

In all three, they faced off against the clubs of the second German Bundesliga.

With Schalke, the domestic team went on a world war (0: 0), with Werder Bremen managed to escape defeat, yielding two goals during the meeting (2: 2), and Karlruhe won with a margin (3: 1).

Collections gradually began to return to service.

The last to do this was Artyom Dzyuba.

He entered the field only in the final confrontation, but did not score with effective actions.

But his partner in the line of attack Serdar Azumun, who returned to the location of the current champion of the country much earlier, scored a double.

Nevertheless, Petersburgers in Kaliningrad will still face staffing difficulties.

Firstly, it was not possible to extend the contract with Andrey Lunev, who has already signed an agreement with Bayer.

With a high degree of probability, his place at the base will be taken by the experienced Mikhail Kerzhakov.

There is also 18-year-old Daniil Odoevsky in the clip.

They divided the playing time at the training camp equally, and the latter even deflected a penalty from Schalke.

By the way, Semak admitted that it was a young goalkeeper who could start the season at the base.

Secondly, Wilmar Barrios will definitely not play for the Super Cup, who got a rest after the America's Cup, where he won a bronze medal.

Probably, in the absence of the Colombian, Wendel and Magomed Ozdoev will be in the support zone.

19-year-old Kirill Kravtsov also looked good at the training camp, but his appearance at the start is still unlikely.

Finally, Lovren's participation in the match, who only recently returned to the general group, is in question.

The Croat will almost certainly remain in reserve, while Yaroslav Rakitskiy and Dmitry Chistyakov will occupy places in the center of defense.

But Zenit will be able to count on Malcolm.

The Brazilian will go to Kaliningrad, and immediately after will fly to the location of the Brazilian Olympic team.

Building a new team at Lokomotiv

Lokomotiv started preparing for the season earlier and played a lot more friendly matches - eight.

True, in half of them, Marko Nikolic threw into battle rather a reserve squad.

The conditional “basis” managed to win three victories over “Zhilina” (3: 2), “Olimpia” (6: 1) and “Tsele” (1: 0) with only one defeat from “Aris” (1: 2) and a draw with Rapid (0: 0).

In addition, only four team players took part in Euro 2020, if we do not take into account Maxim Mukhin, who left for CSKA, and they all completed their performance at the tournament after the group stage (Dmitry Barinov, Rifat Zhemaletdinov, Matsey Rybus and Grzegorz Krykhovyak).

But if we compare the personnel losses of rivals, then Nikolic has lost more performers.

The irreplaceable central defender Vedran Chorluka ended his career and moved to the coaching staff.

The promising Mukhin left the team.

Experienced Anton Kochenkov and Vladislav Ignatiev did not agree on the extension of contracts.

The latter on the right flank of the defense, in theory, should be replaced by Maxim Nenakhov, acquired from "Akhmat".

However, at the training camp, the coaching staff more trusted the young pupil of the club academy Alexander Silyanov, and the newcomer often played for the "reserve".

Also, the current owners of the Cup for the future took the 18-year-old Belarusian Kirill Zinovich.

This is the end of the transfer campaign, although Nikolic announced the arrival of two foreigners.

The Serbian winger of Spartak Jurmala Nemanja Belakovic was on the screening, but the contract with him, according to media reports, was not signed due to the limit for legionnaires.

It is also reported that Muscovites are interested in Bayer's central defender Tin Yedvay.

Strengthening the bronze medalist of the national championship will not hurt in the attack.

Eder left Russia, and Ze Luis received another injury.

Thus, on Saturday, the railway workers will be able to rely only on Fyodor Smolov, Francois Camano and Vitaly Lisakovich.

Revenge for a champion defeat

The battles between Lokomotiv and Zenit for the Russian Super Cup have already become a tradition.

Surprisingly, in 2021, rivals will determine the fate of the honorary trophy for the third time in a row.

In 2019, at the Dynamo stadium, luck smiled red and green.

Then Alexei Miranchuk's double helped them to win - 3: 2.

A year later, the Petersburgers again went to the capital at the VEB Arena and took revenge thanks to the goals of Ozdoev and Dziuba - 2: 1.

This time the opponents will converge on neutral territory - in Kaliningrad.

Just a couple of weeks before the match, the likelihood of his transfer to another city remained due to the unfavorable epidemiological situation in the region.

The desire to host the meeting was expressed by Arena Khimki and VTB Arena.

However, on July 5, the government of the Kaliningrad region reported that the fight would take place on time.

At the same time, the permitted capacity of the stadium was as much as 70%.

In the history of the confrontation between the teams, there are two more meetings for the Super Cup.

In 2008, in Luzhniki, the blue-white-blue also turned out to be stronger - 2: 1, and Andrey Arshavin scored a sly goal.

The bronze medalist of the Euro jumped out from behind the goalkeeper Ivan Levenets, who was preparing to put the ball into play, and sent it into the net according to all the rules.

Finally, in 2016, the team won the trophy at home.

The main and extra time ended in a draw - the hosts responded with a goal from Igor Smolnikov to the ball of Umar Nyass, and luck smiled at the hosts in the penalty shootout (5: 3).

Thus, Zenit upset Muscovites four times in this competition.

All in all, there are five Super Cups in the club's collection.

According to this indicator, it is second only to CSKA (7).

The railroad workers have only three of them.

But the team is the author of another "achievement".

No one more often than she conceded in a match for a prestigious award - five times.

In Kaliningrad, Nikolic will try to break an unpleasant tradition and win the third most important trophy on the first try.

Along the way, the railroad workers will try to take revenge from the opponent for the crushing defeat in the 28th round of the last RPL season.

Then Lokomotiv, which gained speed, was the last obstacle on the way of the squad from the Northern capital to the next title.

It seemed that the guests had a chance to stop the favorite and revive the race for gold.

However, in reality, the guests at the Gazprom Arena were in for a real beating - 1: 6.

Semak's wards became champions for the third time in a row.

Azmun scored a hat-trick then, and Dziuba scored two goals and gave the same number of assists.

On Saturday they will have a great opportunity to remind the fans of the red-greens about themselves again.

It is interesting that both strikers have upset Loko six times in their careers.

There are no such specialists in St. Petersburg among the Muscovites.

Is that Smolov has scored Zenit three times, including in the winning match for the 2019 Super Cup.