The away match against Galatasaray was in many ways decisive for Lokomotiv. In the first round of the Europa League group stage, the Russian team scored only one point and took the last place in Quartet E. In particular, two weeks ago, the Muscovites suffered an offensive defeat at home from the Istanbulites. Another misfire made life much more difficult for railway workers even in the struggle for the third place and getting into the League of Conferences. Victory could return them to the battle for tickets to the playoffs of the LE.
The guests were helped by the return of Murilo, Francois Camano and Fyodor Smolov, who were experiencing various health problems.
All of them flew to Turkey and were included in the application, but remained in reserve.
But the main defenders Pablo and Nair Tiknizyan could not help the red-greens.
As a result, a pair of Tin Barely in the center of defense was again forced to make a nominal defensive player Dmitry Barinov.
And on the left edge is Maxim Nenakhov.
In attack, Markus Gisdol this time decided not to bet on winger Girano Kirk, but trusted Vitaly Lisakovich, who earlier this season was mostly content with substitutions.
From the flanks he was supported by Kerk and Rifat Zhemaletdinov.
Lokomotiv, as in the first match in Moscow, was not going to give up the initiative to the opponent and turned on high pressure. As a rule, after a loss, the guests immediately tried to get the ball back, trying to create a numerical advantage in a specific area of the field. More often than not, this worked. The railroad workers looked better in the selection and entered the fight more daringly than their opponents.
However, if the attempt of the red-greens ended in failure, "Galatasaray" organized dangerous, high-speed counter-attacks. Almost always, the hosts attacked with the left flank, where Nenakhov could hardly cope with one of the main stars of Istanbul, Kerem Aktyurkoglu. Center striker Khalil Dervisoglu also moved here. But for the time being, Fatih Terim's charges failed to bring their attacks to mind. I remember only the dangerous blow of Patrick van Anholt in the near corner, which Marinato Guilherme coped with with some difficulty. The referee recorded an offside position in this episode.
Loko's attacks looked more interesting. Gisdol's team also more often tried to break into the opponent's defense from the left flank, where Lisakovich and Zhemaletdinov came to Rybchinsky's aid. One of these attempts ended with a cross and a dangerous blow of the Belarusian over the crossbar. But the guests missed the most real chance to distinguish themselves after a corner. Kerk neatly sent the ball directly under the crossbar with his head, and the defender with great difficulty carried it out of the line.
In general, the railroad workers looked preferable and definitely should not have let through. Unfortunately, this happened at the end of the first half. Galatasaray pressed the pain point of Muscovites and realized a rare moment. At the end of the half, the red-greens made a loss in the opponent's half and got a quick counterattack. Maciej Rybus on the left flank tried to foul on the opponent, but he left the Pole. The hosts had no right to miss the thrust of four in two, and Sophian Feguli from outside the penalty area neatly twirled the projectile into the far corner without a chance for Guilherme.
In the second half of the meeting, Lokomotiv had no choice but to move forward.
Gisdol made a double substitution during the break.
Instead of Lisakovich, who was not too actively clinging to the ball in another's half, the recovered Smolov entered the field.
And Dmitry Zhivoglyadov entered the battle instead of Nenakhov, who did not always cope with opponents on the flank of the defense.
At first, the railroad workers did little.
They went ahead, but Galatasaray competently retreated into the defense, sometimes even rebuilding to a three-center-back scheme, and left a minimum of free space between the lines.
As a result, Smolov was cut off from his partners.
But the owners regularly ran away to someone else's half.
Fortunately, their attacks lacked a bit of precision.
But Muscovites continued to pressurize and in the end achieved their goal.
Another replacement from Gisdol worked.
He removed the obviously tired Rybchinsky and released another returning footballer, Kamano, to the left flank of the attack.
And this castling has fully justified itself.
The Guinean made partners with his activity, and the red-greens literally squeezed the Istanbulites into the penalty area, and Terim's charges clearly ran out of strength.
In the 72nd minute, the defense of "Galatasaray" was still hacked.
The unexpected connection of Konstantin Maradishvili to the right semi-flank zone helped to do this.
Having received a timely transfer from a partner, the midfielder performed a lumbago on Kamano, who was left completely alone at the far post.
At the same time, Smolov pulled back Victor Nelsson.
After that, the game suddenly opened up.
The teams began to operate almost without the center of the field, carrying out one dangerous attack after another.
Seeing this, Loko's coaching staff removed Alexis Bek-Bek and released Murilo to replace him.
The Brazilian went to the center of defense, and Barinov went up to the support zone.
But the Istanbulites did create one destructive moment.
After hitting the opponent from within the penalty area, Edvay unsuccessfully substituted his leg, and the ball ricocheted into the post.
Muscovites immediately missed a much more memorable opportunity.
The filing of the corner ended with two lethal shots from close range performed by Smolov and Murilo, but Fernando Muslera managed to cope with both by some miracle.
In the end, passions ran high and a massive brawl almost began right on the edge.
Immediately, foreign objects flew from the stands at the guests' footballers.
Fortunately, a fight was avoided, but the referee showed a yellow card to four players.
Thus, Lokomotiv was content with a draw in Istanbul, which will not help the team much in the fight for getting into the playoffs of European cups.