Battle for the 2nd Position Won by the Bulls

FC Krasnodar – PFC CSKA (Moscow) – 2:1 (2:1)

Goals: Ari, 4 (Mamayev, 1:0), Ari, 6 (Joãozinho, 2:0), Eremenko, 13 (Fernandes, 2:1).

FC Krasnodar: Dykan, Jędrzejczyk, Granqvist, Sigurðsson, Petrov, Gazinskiy, Akhmedov (Izmailov, 20), Pereyra, Mamayev (Laborde, 67), Joãozinho, Ari (Wánderson, 81).

PFC CSKA (Moscow): Akinfeev, Fernandes, Ignashevich, Vasili Berezutski, Schennikov, Wernbloom (Musa, 46), Milanov (Cauņa, 65), Eremenko, Tošić (Yefremov, 80), Dzagoev, Doumbia.

Yellow cards: Izmailov, 68 (foul play), Laborde, 69 (foul play), Sigurðsson, 89 (attack breakdown).

Referees: Lapochkin, Kudryavtsev, Vereteshkin (all Saint Petersburg).

22 November. Krasnodar. Kuban Stadium. Clear. 3 degrees. 14 500 spectators.

This fixture was designated the MD 14 principal clash by Liga TV, the broadcaster of the Russian Football Championship, to highlight the fact that the teams were fighting for quite a solid 2^nd position in the league table. Exactly that would be given to a winner, and in case of a tie both teams at once might have dropped below the first three teams in the ladder. 

Krasnodar team, save for Bystrov who had been injured for quite a while, lacked Martynovich on the match sheet; the latter sustained an injury playing for his national team and the decision for him to stay off the roll was made by the team physicians literally a few hours before the kick-off. Armeitsy, on their part, found missing Natkho, as the Israeli player was also injured in the European clashes of the national teams. As for Roman Eremenko whose passport had been stolen recently in Hungary, he successfully returned to Russia and made starting lineup.

The home team made an aggressive start, and as early as on the 2^nd minute the Moscow players received a first dangerous moment next to their goal; after a ball served by Joãozinho from the left Ari won the position and tried to shoot into the far corner of Akinfeev’s domain, but missed. However, this miss merely stirred the Brazilian centre forward and his partners up. The black-greens kept attacking and by the 6^th minute they made their formidable opponents start the game anew from the centre of the pitch twice!

At first it was Mamayev who made a soft throw into the centre of the box, and the ball, as is if controlled remotely, flew over Vasili Berezutski’s head and arrived directly to Ari, who chested it and leaving his partner Akhmedov behind hammered it into the net away from the keeper who was just starting a fall. In less than two minutes Joãozinho with a pass from the depth saw the same Ari to a rendezvous with lonely Ignashevich; No. 9 of FC Krasnodar outplayed the Russia national team defender effortlessly and scored once again with no chances left for Akinfeev.

Unfortunately, having obtained such a considerate handicap easily and quickly the Krasnodar team fell back close to its own goal and allowed the Red-blues start their own whole team effort to siege the box of the Bulls. Shortly after the Moscow team cashed this pressure into one returned goal. Fernandes playing the ball up with his forearm first centered it to Roman Eremenko from the right, and the latter dismissed Sigurðsson with a swing and made a solid shot from the six-yard line under the crossbar of Dykan’s domain.

The conceded goal roused the Bulls, and just a few minutes later they barely missed scoring once more. Pereyra playing a wall pass with Ari burst into the away penalty area along the left inside position, handled the ball skillfully with his heel virtually without seeing it and made a low shot; PFC CSKA was saved by Akinfeev who managed to make a dive in time.

As early as on the 20^th minute FC Krasnodar boss Oleg Kononov was forced to make the first sub as Akhmedov started limping, so his place on the pitch was taken by Izmailov. Marat immediately entered the game, and on the 24^th minute the black-greens launched one more sweeping attack which ended with a quality shot on the run by Mamayev, but this time the ball missed its target. 3 minutes later Joãozinho skillfully scored the third goal into Akinfeev’s net, but the scoreboard’s digits did not change as a heartbeat before Kudryavtsev the assistant ref observed FC Krasnodar’s Brazilian in offside position.

The open-style football went on. And while Krasnodar players made sweeping attacks and literally stung their opponents with their attacking actions, Armeitsy, on the contrary, staked on   the ball control and multiple combinations. With half an hour of the game over the visiting team earned a free kick; after it was executed Dzagoev made a shot with the back of his head, but Dykan was in position and made a firm grip on the ball. The 34^th minute was marked with Ari’s pass to Izmailov, a pair of feints by Marat and his shot from a sharp angle that was repelled by Akinfeev. 2 minutes later it was Dykan’s turn to enter the game, and he literally made a supersave parrying Dzagoev’s point-blank shot, and then the goalie was assisted by Jędrzejczyk who was first at the rebound and cleared the air.

During the half-time interval PFC CSKA boss Leonid Slutsky worked on strengthening the attack; defensive midfielder Wernbloom was substituted by the swift winger Musa. Nevertheless, it was FC Krasnodar who started the second half more actively as the home team went forward en masse and the Red-blues were forced to play mostly defensively. Anyhow, the Moscow team was first to make a shot on goal after the half time; Dykan neutralized Dzagoev’s shot from afar with his fists. On the other hand, the first scoring opportunity in the second half was created by the Krasnodar team. Ari once again responded splendidly to a through-pass behind the line of CSKA defense, outpaced Akinfeev and tried to throw the ball behind the keeper from a sharp angle, but the away team goalie managed to brush the ball aside.

Immediately after that the Bulls successfully carried out a whole series of rather dangerous attacks. Pereyra attempted a shot from 20 meters and missed; Mamayev made a shot on goal but it was not strong enough. And then the black greens launched, one might say, their most splendid attack of the match. It was started with a solo slalom-style passage by Gazinskiy, then Ari and Mamayev took part in the combination, and the latter with a filigree pass brought Jędrzejczyk into a striking position within the box. Alas, the mighty volley by the Pole lacked just a fraction to succeed. And then Ari was close to make a hat-trick but he failed to hit the far corner of the net, the way Jędrzejczyk did previously as well as.  

In the middle of the second half Oleg Kononov threw swift Laborde into the battle, and the latter gave an extra boost to the attacks of the home team. Armeitsy kept working totally in defense, so they had little strength and time to attempt their own attacks. Gazinskiy, who performed outstandingly well this match, cut short virtually all the efforts of the Red-blues to launch an offensive, and the rest players of FC Krasnodar were also well-matched with their defensive midfielder. As a matter of fact, until the final whistle there was not even a likeness of a dangerous episode next to Dykan’s goal. As for the box of CSKA, it was really hot there sometimes. Dashes by Laborde, dribbling by Ari and Wánderson who substituted the former in the end of the match, sharp passes by Pereyra and  Joãozinho, all of these exploded the stands over and over again, as despite the cold weather the people out there supported heartily their favorites. On the 85^th minute Joãozinho had the best chance to increase the score, but Akinfeev coped with his shot on goal.

As a result, after the full time the scoreboard still had 2:1 displayed the way it did after the first 13 minutes of the match. FC Krasnodar achieved a natural win, and one MD short of the end of the championship’s first round the Club for the first time in its history advanced to the 2^nd position in the Russian Premier League.