Lokomotiv Moscow, which is at the bottom of the RPL standings, faced Rostov in the first game of 2023 in the RPL on the road. The team, headed by Mikhail Galaktionov after a series of failed experiments, will have to try hard in the remaining matches to finish top of the table at the finish line. The arrival of the experienced Artem Dzyuba and Igor Smolnikov changed the team’s game. But it was still not possible to beat Spartak in the Russian Cup.
In the first half, the scoring opened in the 33rd minute. The hosts’ defenders did not keep pace with Artem Dzyuba, who scored Lokomotiv’s first goal and his RPL debut this season.
After the break, Dzyuba continued to torment the defensive line of Valery Karpin’s team. In the 58th minute, he scored a brace, lobbing the ball past Sergei Pesyakov after a pass from Maxim Glushenkov.
The same couple took the matter to defeat. Glushenkov, following a headed cross, flicked the ball to the far post, where the relentless Dziuba scored a hat-trick. At the end of the meeting, Nikolai Komlichenko somewhat sweetened the bitterness of the defeat to Rostov – 1:3.
Lokomotiv took their fourth win in 18 rounds of the RPL and moved up to 13th place.
