FC Krasnodar 2-2 (0-2) FC Rostov
Goal: Ionov, 34 (0-1), Ionov, 41 (0-2), Ignatyev (Suleymanov), 90+3 (1-2), Spajić (Namli), 90+6 (2-2).
FC Krasnodar: Safonov, Ramírez, Spajić, Martynovich, Petrov, Vilhena, Olsson (Utkin, 46), Fernandes (Namli, 72), Ari, Suleymanov, Berg (Ignatyev, 75).
FC Rostov: Baburin, Chernov, Hadžikadunić, Chistyakov, Kozlov, Popov (Zaynutdinov, 68), Glebov (Sigurðsson, 86), Eremenko, Bayramyan (Saplinov, 79), Ionov, Shomurodov.
Yellow cards: Popov, 53 (foul play), Eremenko, 57 (foul play), Chistyakov, 63 (foul play), Zaynutdinov, 77 (unsporting behaviour).
Referees: Eskov, Mosyakin, Safyan (all Moscow).
3 November 2019. Krasnodar. FC Krasnodar Stadium. Clear. 10 degrees. 34 265 spectators.
The black-greens began this super important match vs. FC Rostov in a more active way than their opponents. Even though they allowed Ionov to be a menace on one occasion (the latter arrived to a rendezvous with Safonov in a counterattack, but missed his shot), the Bulls created quite a number of prospective situations themselves. Ari missed after a header he took on empty goal when Baburin had left his goal area recklessly. Then Fernandes shot the ball into the keeper’s gloves with a spectacular bicycle kick. Berg failed to tame the ball after it had been served into the goal area, and finally Magomed-Shapi Suleymanov missed a bit when he fired a shot on the turn from ten meters.
Then something went wrong. On the 32nd minute that same Aleksei Ionov was allowed to shoot the ball from twenty meters and send it into the net next to the goalpost. With the first half almost over, Ionov got onto the rebound and recorded a brace for himself.
FC Krasnodar should have totally shortened the gap on the 48th minute. Berg recovered the no man’s ball next to the 6-yard line and flicked it to Shapi. The young Krasnodar player took a shot from three meters on the empty goal with Baburin elsewhere, but the pigskin slipped off his foot at the last moment. Mid through the second half Ari actually scored one goal, but Alexei Eskov cancelled this one since he determined the ball had crossed the end-line before it was delivered to the striker.
Scoring chances next to Baburin’s domain just would not turn into something more, and that made FC Rostov very close to an away win. But the Bulls never yield, and what they did today was a little football miracle. Very late in the injury time Suleymanov brought Ivan Ignatyev to a one-on-one situation with the keeper, and the forward (he had barely recovered from an injury) shot the ball past the goalie. It was literally the following attack then when Uroš Spajić made good use of a cross by Namli. To the delight of the overcrowded stands the Serbian player plunged the ball into the net with a header and kept the tradition alive. It has become the third consecutive game in Krasnodar between the Bulls and FC Rostov that ends with the same 2-2 score.