The “golden” match between Krasnodar and Zenit (1-2), which took place last Saturday, was hotly discussed by fans and experts. In addition, many of them were sure that the southerners had completely lost their chance to win the championship, and the “blue, white and blue” could already be crowned almost for the sixth time in a row.
The coach of the current champion, Sergei Semak, categorically warned against the latter in the post-match press conference. “This is not a championship game at all. With this victory we have only earned one thing: the right to make a mistake, but it is better not to make it. There are still seven rounds left. similar, therefore four points is nothing,” he said.
Well, the Bulls have the opportunity to confirm these words: Victoria allowed them to get closer to Zenit again (before their meeting with Orenburg on April 21) to just one point.
Note that to date Krasnodar has never beaten Fakel in the Championship (they have three draws). By the way, what was the theme of the nice promotional video created by the Voronezh team, in which a Fakel fan plays with expressions on this topic (“they divorced amicably”, “they divided the points”, “did not reveal a winner?”), and then, flipping through the pages of the dictionary, read the synonyms for the word “victory”.
And this will obviously not bother the guests, who, although they finished in 11th place with 26 points, suffered two defeats in a row in the RPL, which allowed their rivals to noticeably get closer to themselves in the fight for survival.
Let us also mention the figure of Fakel coach Sergei Tashuev, who was at the origins of the creation of Krasnodar: in 2010, under his direction, the Club played 40 matches.
And the coach of the guests unexpectedly entrusted the place in the goal not to the main goalkeeper Alexander Belenov, who played for the local Kuban for six years, but to his replacement Vitaly Gudiev.
The hosts’ coach Murad Musaev, who lost two of his key players (central defender Vitor Tormen and defensive midfielder Alexander Chernikov) due to too many yellow cards, released Kayo and Nikita Krivtsov instead. Additionally, for the first time with the new coach, Brazilian winger Víctor Sa entered the lineup.
The southerners, getting used to new connections, could not take control of the ball as usual in the opening, the Voronezh team regularly transferred its actions to the other’s area, although it did not bring its attacks to real moments.
But the first long combination between five Kuban players in the 15th minute could well have become a goal. However, Eduard Spertsyan, who received a pass from Sa, missed from about eight meters from an almost ideal position. Soon the leader of the Krasnodar team, with a shot from distance, allowed the opposing goalkeeper to show that he was prepared for situations like this.
When Gudiev could no longer do anything, John Córdoba made a surprising mistake for a striker. The Bulls’ top scorer (11 goals this season) hit the crossbar from three meters in the 25th minute after a brilliant pass from Sa, who had previously beaten two rivals in the area.
Then, the Brazilian himself, after receiving the ball from the area, hit the post with a dribble in the 33rd minute.
In general, “Fakel”, forced by most players to defend their own goal (only in the 38th minute, Evgeniy Markov once managed to dangerously shoot from outside the penalty area into Matvey Safonov’s goal), managed to resist with obvious difficulty until the break and not concede.
This is possible, not without the help of his loyal fans, who came in large numbers from Voronezh to support “Fakel” at the entrances of houses, in cars and on buses. And you could hear it from the sand constantly.
At the beginning of the second half, Krasnodar still had full control of the initiative. True, the Kuban players carried out their attacks at not too high speeds, trying to penetrate into positions convenient for attacks through many short passes. But their guest defense prevented them from entering there. But Krivtsov’s two attempts to shoot from distance did not prove dangerous.
But the pressure from the home team still forced midfielder Ilmur Alshin, who came to help the defenders, to make a mistake, as he unsuccessfully cleared the ball with his head after a throw-in. Córdoba immediately passed the ball to Sa, who from the penalty line took a corner to the goalkeeper’s left side (1:0, minute 60). This is the Brazilian’s first goal for Krasnodar.
The home team continued to attack constantly with the desire to increase their advantage, probably taking into account that in the current championship they had already allowed their opponents several times to equalize the score at the end of the matches, losing many points.
Córdoba managed to score in the 75th minute, but after a long control of the episode, the main referee Kirill Levnikov, with the help of the VAR, annulled the goal due to the striker’s handball.
And already on the counterattack, Khyzyr Appaev shot over the crossbar after a pass from Vasily Charov.
Still, Córdoba managed to score his twelfth goal of the season. The Colombian took the ball from Vladislav Masternov in the center of the area and scored Fakel’s goal (2-0, minute 86).
As a result, Krasnodar managed to bring the match to victory and continue the “golden” race with Zenit. The southerners now have 46 points, only one less than the Saint Petersburg team, which next Sunday will play its matchday 25 match at home against Orenburg.
