FC Rubin Kazan 1-2 (0-2) FC Krasnodar
Goals: Laborde, 17 (Pereyra, 0-1), Laborde, 33 (Martynovich, 0-2), Lestienne, 72 (Ozdoyev, 1-2).
FC Rubin Kazan: Ryzhikov, Kudryashov, Burlak, Kambolov, Granat, Kuzmin, M'Vila, Ozdoyev, Rochina (Lestienne, 46), Karadeniz (Azmoun, 62), Kanunnikov (Jonathas, 72).
FC Krasnodar: Sinitsyn, Petrov, Granqvist, Martynovich, Ramírez, Shishkin, Gazinskiy (Zhigulyov, 74), Pereyra (Claesson, 61), Podberyozkin, Wanderson, Laborde (Suleymanov, 90+2).
Yellow cards: Granat, 45 (attack breakdown), Kudryashov, 84 (attack breakdown), Ozdoyev, 86 (foul play) – Granqvist, 12 (foul play), Ramírez, 77 (unsporting behaviour).
Referees: Turbin (Dmitrov), Kobzev, Cheltsov (both Moscow).
16 July 2017. Kazan. Kazan Arena Stadium. Clear. 28 degrees. 11 934 spectators.
All the way through the last season FC Krasnodar suffered from an excessive amount of injuries and sicknesses affecting the key players. Alas, with the beginning of the new season this plague did not leave the Bulls in peace either. In the opening match of the Russian Football Championship 2017/18 in Kazan the Head Coach Igor Shalimov was forced to do without quite a number of his best players. Goalkeeper Kritsyuk, midfielders Mamayev, Kaboré and Okriashvili stayed at home to recover from injuries of various types alongside with the target striker Smolov. As for the attacking halfback Claesson, he fell sick two days before the game and consequently stayed in reserve even though he traveled to the capital of Tatarstan with the rest of team.
For this reason FC Krasnodar boss had to think hard in order to solve two very serious dilemmas, how to meet the foreign players quota and who should be placed at the attack spearhead. The first one was solved with a rather predictable Shishkin’s appearance in the defensive midfield. The second matter brought a more surprising decision as the nominal winger Laborde found himself in the position of a centre-forward.
The latter solution was actually a silver bullet since it was the Colombian player who scored an opener on the 17th minute. The weather in Kazan was hot enough, so both teams did not display any super activity early in the game. And yet, the very first truly smart and sharp attack on behalf of the Krasnodar team carried them forward. A series of passes in the FC Rubin’s final third resulted in an abrupt one by Pereyra that penetrated inside the defensive ranks of the home team. Ricardo Laborde successfully avoided an offside call as he arrived to a rendezvous with Ryzhikov and shot the ball past him and into the net in cold blood.
Strangely enough, the goal the Kazan team conceded did not make them play any more actively. One cannot say the players of Kurban Berdyev tried to lie low in defense all the time. No way, they did push forward, but even so they proceeded with caution looking over their shoulders to the rear as if concerned they might get carried away with an offensive action and receive another breach of the hull. It turned out their concern had its grounds when the Bulls succeeded with a sweeping scoring attack on the 33rd minute. Martynovich found the same Ricardo Laborde fifteen meters away from the Ruby box with a pass from the right flank, and the newly-made centre-forward executed everything in the best possible way his position demanded. He sped up at once leaving Kambolov behind and beating Burlak with a spectacular feint and thus repeated his previous one-on-one situation with Ryzhikov that was finished with a shot of the same accuracy as in the episode when the first goal was scored.
This might not be a knockout, but it was a knockdown for sure. The Kazantsy remained dazed and confused for a while, so the Bulls just barely missed scoring their third goal before the half-time. The not-so-tall Petrov arrived running to the opposite penalty area for a corner kick where he won an aerial duel and proceeded with a shot that hit the goalpost of Ryzhikov’s domain.
The more attack-oriented Lestienne was fielded instead of Rochina with FC Rubin during the half-time, and the home team indeed began acting more aggressively and persistently in front. On the contrary, the combinational play of the Krasnodar team somehow got out of order. Sinitsyn and his partners made no blunder defending however, so with an hour of the game done FC Rubin boss Kurban Berdyev was forced to make another move aimed to power his attack up. The most experienced halfback Karadeniz was substituted by the young and at all times goal-hungry forward Azmoun who had just returned to Kazan from FC Rostov the day before the match. It then took only a few minutes for the home team to shorten the gap. The Iranian player took absolutely no part in the scored goal however, since it was a flawless solo achievement by Maxime Lestienne. The Belgian player received the ball from Ozdoyev and started moving diagonally towards Sinitsyn’s domain as he took small breaks beating one opponent after another. He finally found himself directly in front of the goal thirteen meters away from it and crowned the whole raid with an unsavable shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Immediately after that Berdyev fielded another fresh striker at his disposal, Jonathas the Brazilian. This measure had no effect however, as the Bulls performed in a focused way at the death and gave no chance for the home team to score an equalizer. Likewise, the Krasnodar players came very close to success a few times themselves. Ryzhikov had to parry two shots by Wanderson at first; then a volley was attempted by Zhigulyov from eighteen meters that turned out not accurate enough. The appearance of Suleymanov, the 17-year-old player of the Club Academy, should also be noted, since he substituted Laborde, the hero of the match, a few minutes short of the full-time and thus made his debut with the first team.
A 2-1 win by FC Krasnodar was the score that Turbin the ref (he displayed some confident refereeing throughout the game tonight) recorded with his final whistle. The black-green squad has commenced the new season with an important win that is in all respects super important.