Before the match
The confrontation between Krasnodar and Sochi in the second round of the Russian Premier League has gained additional intrigue in a somewhat unexpected way. Both teams won their first matches, so the winner of the head-to-head meeting became the sole leader of the standings for at least one matchday. And since both clubs represent the same region, the match promised to be even hotter than the climate in the south of our country in the summer months. The fans, of course, could not forget about the state of the match and prepared a colorful banner on which, under the inscription “Hot Southern Derby”, a bull and a leopard, symbolizing rivals, were preparing for a fight. And although there were many empty seats in the stands, the Krasnodar beauty stadium was usually noisy.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
reconfiguration costs
Guests could already open an account in the first attack. Miguel Silveira received a fresh pass off the tee, but didn’t immediately join the episode and was forced to strike from a fairly sharp angle as a result. As a result, Matvey Safonov, albeit not without difficulty, rescued the team from him. Such an active start could give hope for a productive game, but in the future, almost until the end of the first half, there was more fighting on the field than football itself. Periodically half-moments arose at those and other gates, but the attacking side lacked something all the time, be it the force of impact or the last step in the final stage. The first reason for disappointment before the break was for the Krasnodar fans: after contact with Kirill Kravtsov, Alexander Chernikov was forced to leave the field, who was replaced by Kevin Lenini. But when stoppage time began, the mood of the home team’s fans changed to the opposite. Eduard Spertsyan, sent off in the cup match with Spartak, filtered from the corner of the field, Sochi goalkeeper Nikolai Zabolotny, with some strange and slightly clumsy movement, tried to ward off the threat, but in the end it only got worse things. Cayo came running, he just had to stay out of the clueless goalkeeper. Soon after, Vladimir Moskalev sent the teams to the locker room with the score 1:0 in favor of Krasnodar.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
failed storm
After the break, as in the debut of the first part, Sochi created a great moment at the gates of Safonov. But the ball hit the crossbar after Artur Yusupov’s hit. After that, the teams returned to the game on a collision course with martial arts galore. In one of the episodes, Ilzat Akhmetov was supposed to double Krasnodar’s lead. The goal was prevented by selflessly diving under the ball Vanja Drkusic, who selflessly dived under the ball. After that, Akhmetov immediately went to the break, giving way to Kadi Borges on the field. By now, it was completely clear that the spectators were not to expect the goal-scoring feast in the remaining time. The final adjustments in the distribution of points could only be made by the goal scored by Sochi. But closer to knocking on the opponent’s gate and removing all questions ahead of schedule was still the Krasnodar team, which finally achieved its goal. Juan Córdoba at the last moment set the final result. 2:0 – Vladimir Ivic’s team beats the main opponents and at least until the match between “Spartak” and “Baltika” will lead the table on its own.
