The confrontation between CSKA and Sochi in Moscow was to be largely decisive in the fight for RPL medals.

On the eve of the match of the 28th round, Vladimir Fedotov's wards occupied the third line in the standings and were ahead of the army team by two points.

Success in a meeting with a direct competitor not only practically guaranteed them awards at the end of the season, but allowed them to catch up with the second-placed Dynamo and join the dispute for silver with renewed vigor.

And although the names of the hosts looked much stronger, it was Sochi that could rightfully be considered the favorite.

Even in the absence of his best scorer - Mateo Cassierra.

In the previous five matches of the championship, the team did not suffer a single defeat and scored three victories with a total score of 11:3, and in the RPL they have not lost to CSKA since November 2019.

Then the Muscovites pulled out three points with great difficulty (3:2), but after that they could not defeat Sochi in three games in a row.

It was possible to interrupt the unsuccessful series only in the Cup of the country.

But if in March one of the strongest goalkeepers of Russia in the 21st century defended the gates of the army team, then in the upcoming meeting it was not necessary to count on him.

Apparently, Igor Akinfeev could not fully recover from the damage received in a collision with Mohamed Konate and remained on the bench.

The place at the gate was taken by 18-year-old Vladislav Torop,

Looking ahead: the debutant, although he could not leave the gate intact, was noticeably nervous at first, but on the whole he performed quite successfully.

Even though Torop did not score bright saves, he saved four shots on target and hardly deserved criticism from the coaching staff.

In addition to the forced replacement of the goalkeeper, Alexei Berezutsky limited himself to only one change compared to the confrontation with Akhmat.

Mario Fernandez returned to the base, replacing Chidera Ejuka from it.

Fedotov, on the other hand, decided to do without a pure center forward and did not throw Kassierra's replacement, Georgy Melkadze, into battle, preferring nominally attacking midfielder Ivelin Popov to him.

And as it turned out later, it was this tactical move that largely predetermined the outcome of the match.

From the first minutes it became clear that Fedotov guessed right with a bet on Popov.

Acting as a false nine, the Bulgarian patrolled between the middle and attacking lines, both creating a numerical superiority during the draw, and taking an active part in completing the attacks.

And although his main task was to lure out defenders and create free zones for connecting partners, it was he who had the first chance to excel.

Yvelin burst into the penalty area and responded to Sergei Terekhov's throw, but missed the target.

CSKA, on the other hand, was not ready for such a move by Sochi and failed the starting segment of the match.

In the first 25 minutes, the hosts had only 35% of the ball and made less than ten passes into the attacking third of the field - ten times less than the opponents.

The guests, on the other hand, looked stronger and already in the tenth minute they converted one of the moments.

Joaozinho served from the flank, Popov diverted the attention of the defenders, and Artyom Makarchuk, who ran into the penalty area, irresistibly hit his head in the fall.

Fernandez, who came out with the captain's armband, missed the moment of the breakthrough and was forced to watch the opponent open the scoring.

The army team managed to equalize the game only in the second half of the half.

Moreover, this coincided with the replacement of Popov.

The Bulgarian was injured and could not continue the meeting, and instead Melkadze entered the field.

By this time, CSKA did not have a single shot on goal (0:4) and could easily concede with a difference of two goals.

At the 21st minute, Joaozinho upset Torop for the second time, but the ball was canceled due to offside.

With the departure of Popov, the southerners no longer looked so dominant.

The positional attack went wrong a little, and the ball stopped holding.

But even with this in mind, they looked better than the Muscovites.

For the whole time, Berezutsky's wards could neither improve the game in attack, nor disturb goalkeeper Denis Adamov, although there were attempts.

One of them was taken by Jorge Carrascal, who forced the opponent to make a loss in the area of ​​the central circle.

The Colombian decided to single-handedly organize a counterattack, but could not escape from the opponent's defenders, and his shot from outside the penalty area was blocked.

In the course of the second half, the game of CSKA instilled a feeling of hopelessness more and more.

Long throws at Anton Zabolotny still did not work, flank attacks broke against the massive defense of Sochi, and the team leaders did not look like themselves.

This mainly concerned Yusuf Yazici, who was frankly bad both in aggravation and in creation.

The Turk made an unforgivable mistake in passes (71% of accuracy), and both of his shots on goal were inaccurate.

Berezutsky tried to turn the course of the meeting with the help of substitutions, but the appearance on the field of Ejuke, Yegor Ushakov and Ilzat Akhmetov did not have the desired effect.

Although the Nigerian was active, he could not deal with the enemy’s slender defense alone, but he did not receive support.

The most dangerous moment arose on the opposite, right flank.

Ivan Oblyakov ran into the penalty area and performed a cross on Yazydzhi, but he was absolutely unprepared for this and shot clumsily.

As a result, CSKA, although it bypassed Sochi in terms of the number of shots on goal, hit the target only once.

Akhmetov forced Adamov to enter the game, except for this, he was not remembered for anything useful.

The midfielder was able to accurately execute only six out of ten passes, and in the end he even earned a removal.

Already in stoppage time, the midfielder, at the cost of violating the rules, managed to stop Kirill Zaika's spurt and was expelled from the field for a last-ditch foul.

Fedotov's wards kept the winning score and broke away from their pursuers in the standings by five points, equaling Dynamo.