Krasnodar's loss of points
This season, Baltika has accustomed itself to the fact that neither the middle peasants nor the top peasants are easy in the confrontations with them. Earlier, they had already snatched a draw from Rostov, and lost to CSKA, Lokomotiv and Spartak with a difference of one goal. Nevertheless, even the advantage of their own field did not allow the Kaliningrad team to be considered favorites in the match by Krasnodar. He was on a series of three victories and confidently topped the RPL table, six points ahead of the nearest pursuer.
And when John Cordoba finished off João Batchi's cross in the 17th minute, another success for the Bulls began to seem imminent. After all, over the past two months, they have never missed a victory if they were leading. But the Balts did not give up and by the end of the first half they took the lead. First, Maksim Kuzmin shot Matvey Safonov from outside the penalty area, and then Angelo Enriquez closed the cross from the flank. And this ball almost cost him an injury. In a horse martial art, he injured his nose and was forced to seek medical help.
But Krasnodar would not have occupied the first place in the Russian championship if they had not found the strength to restore parity and extend their unbeaten streak in the RPL to 18 meetings. Eduard Spertsyan earned an 11-meter penalty and converted it himself, equaling Cordoba in the scoring race (both have six). But there were not enough guests for more. Until the very end, they stormed Baltika's goal, but a series of great saves by Evgeny Latyshonok helped the latter to keep the draw. And, possibly, to infuriate Ivic. Although he formally left the press conference after a question about his team's style of play, the loss of points in Kaliningrad could also be one of the reasons for the breakdown.
Zenit's whirlwind half
In the 12th round of the Russian Championship, it was possible to single out two matches at once, claiming the title of central. Based on the signboard, it would be more logical to call it the confrontation between Lokomotiv and Dynamo. But based on the position of the teams in the standings, the meeting between Zenit and Krylia Sovetov deserved this title more. Despite the defeat from Pari NN, Igor Osinkin's wards took second place and were ahead of their future rivals by one point, but they were clearly not considered favorites. Suffice it to say that over the past 16 years, Samara have beaten St. Petersburg only twice in all competitions, and lost 22 times.
This time there was no sensation again, even if the hosts spent the first half rather lackluster, failing to upset Bogdan Ovsyannikov even once. But at half-time we got such a boost of energy that we did it three times in the second. But they could have scored four times if the referee Artyom Chistyakov had not canceled Mateo Cassierra's goal - a few moments before the ball hit the hand of Gustavo Mantuan, who was performing the pass. As a result, Zenit limited themselves to a double by Wendel and an accurate shot by Andrey Mostovoy. He appeared on the pitch in the 78th minute, and in the sixth stoppage time he responded to a cross from Alexander Erokhin. However, the Blue-White-Sky Blues were not destined to win a clean sheet – two minutes later, Roman Yezhov created a masterpiece, making an irresistible shot from outside the penalty area (3:1).
Thus, Zenit took advantage of Krasnodar's misfire and reduced the gap from the leader to five points. But the main topic of discussion in the media was not this, but Chistyakov's decision not to punish Krylia midfielder Amar Rakhmanovich. At the end of the first half, he elbowed Claudinho in the jaw, but the referee not only did not send off the Bosnian, but did not even show him a yellow card.
Fighting draw in Moscow
The Moscow derby, which took place at the RZD Arena, was not without a controversial episode. In the 57th minute, Artem Dzyuba fell after colliding with Roberto Fernandez near the edge of the penalty area, but Sergei Ivanov did not even stop the meeting. And although this moment was later considered for a red card, it did not bring Lokomotiv either a numerical advantage, or even the right to a set piece - the episode was played. Outraged by this, the striker subsequently posted a photo of this violation on his social networks, where he asked fans their opinion on this matter. But it is unlikely that this could have had any impact on the outcome of the match.
As a result, none of the players was punished with a card, which has not happened in matches involving Ivanov since November 2021, when Rapid and West Ham, who rivaled each other in the group stage of the Europa League, avoided sanctions. But even stranger was the lack of goals in the confrontation (0:0), remembered for 37 shots and a whole scattering of dangerous moments. Dzyuba and Konstantin Tyukavin, who broke through one-on-one with the goalkeeper, failed to take advantage of great chances, Ilya Samoshnikov hit the crossbar. At the same time, goalkeeper Ilya Leschuk became one of the main heroes, making eight saves at once. And the key one was in the fifth minute of injury time after a powerful shot by Dmitry Barinov.
On the one hand, Dynamo managed to contain Lokomotiv, who had gained a good move, and took at least a point in the meeting with one of the leaders of the RPL. On the other hand, it extended the winless streak to five matches. The last time Marcel Lička's men won more than a month and a half ago was over Rostov in the seventh round (2-1).
The end of Sochi's disastrous series
For an even longer period of time, the Southerners could not succeed. Their last "victims" were also Valery Karpin's wards, however, it happened even earlier - as early as August 19. Since then, Sochi have suffered six consecutive defeats in the RPL and changed the head coach, but luck still eluded the team. Until he came to visit Ural. He, too, was in a deep crisis, and his fans were not happy for as many days as their opponent.
At the same time, on paper, the hosts were considered favorites. If the probability of their triumph in regular time was estimated at 52%, then the guests - only 12%. But forecasts are not always reflected on the field. By the 34th minute, Alexander Tochilin's charges left Ilya Pomazun out of work three times, and at the very end they upset the goalkeeper of the Russian national team for the fourth time. Yekaterinburg residents were able to respond to this only with an accurate "shot" by Andrey Yegorychev, but what a shot. Vanja Drkusic interrupted a pass to Eric Bicfalvi, but the Ural midfielder, who was first on the ball, volleyed it into the near corner to make it 1-4.
Of course, it is too early to talk about the "recovery" of Sochi residents. After all, this victory did not even allow them to leave the last, 16th place - Baltika and Orenburg have two points more. But it is able to give a certain charge of emotions. Against their background, the situation of Ural looks extremely bad. The team has clearly lost its former enthusiasm and has already managed to fly out of the top eight. Although not so long ago it was in the top 5.
Spartak's first win in October
For the first time since September 23, the ten-time champion of Russia also pleased his home fans. In October, Guillermo Abascal's men lost to Krylia (0-4) and snatched a draw in the derby with CSKA (2-2), and now they have broken the resistance of Pari NN. Spartak had three times as many shots on goal (23:7), and the gap in the number of shots on target was even greater (11:1). But at the same time, he managed to remove all the questions only in the injury time by the main time.
One of the main intrigues was whether Oleksandr Sobolev would appear on the field. Although the club denied rumors about his conflict with the coach, he started the match on the bench, and got a chance to prove himself only after the break. By this time, the hosts were already in the lead – Danil Prutsev completed a great multi-move. But I couldn't score a second time. Although both the disgraced forward and Mikhail Ignatov had good chances.
As a result, the second goal was the result of the efforts of the substitutes, but Sobolev was not among them. Victor Moses organized a lightning-fast counterattack, which Christopher Martins spectacularly completed, rolling Artur Nigmatullin into the "house". The question is whether it would have succeeded if Pari NN had not lost its captain and defensive leader Kirill Gotsuk due to a controversial sending-off. He received the first yellow card for talking, and the second for disrupting a dangerous attack. However, it arose only due to the fact that the same Moses brushed off Victor Alexandrov, who was taking care of him.
"About the moment with Moses: there was an accentuated elbow strike. No one reacts, then Gotsuk gets a second yellow. I can't understand this point. You can do it here, but you can't do it there. I'm already nauseous. If it had been like that, we would have shown the red one," the visitors' coach Serhiy Yuran was perplexed at the press conference.