The first Moscow derby of the 2023-2024 season was played by CSKA and Lokomotiv, thus launching the next virtual Moscow championship in the RPL. Games between these two clubs have their own interesting statistics and roughly equal win-loss rates, but in recent years, the advantage has shifted to the army team. However, Lokomotiv’s chances before the match were considered to be slightly higher. These are the thoughts that prevail in the football environment after the sensitive casualties of the Army team.
“soviet sport”
Lokomotiv started this match very strongly. Ilya Samoshnikov, after Dziuba’s discount, picked up the ball on the left flank, climbed into the penalty area, where he knocked out Fyodor Chalov on the backswing, and shot on goal! He learned above the crossbar. The jerks of the unexpected goalscorer of the “railroaders” Nair Tiknizyan were also dangerous. The army team closely followed the movements of the Armenian footballer, periodically acting in advance. Particularly jealous was the Brazilian Willian Rocha, who at the start of the championship is simply indispensable for CSKA.
At the end of the second third of the half, the defense of the nominal guests in the person of Ilya Samoshnikov played imprecisely in his penalty area. The referee immediately pointed to the spot. After scoring three penalties in a scandalous match with Akhmat, Fedor Chalov continued his penalty exploits, putting the ball into the center of the goal against Lantratov.
“soviet sport”
Unexpectedly, CSKA took the lead. And literally a minute after the penalty was taken, the home team played an incredible multi-combination, started in the old fashioned way by Akinfeev, and defender Milan Gaich, who was in a shock position, doubled the score. A real bucket of ice water fell on the heads of Mikhail Galaktionov’s wards in a couple of minutes of the first half. At the end of the half, the game, playing into the hands of the army team, calmed down and went smoothly into the break.
At the beginning of the second half, CSKA unsurprisingly placed the bus in front of their goal, forcing Lokomotiv players to constantly collide with defensive formations. Halfway through the segment, the teams had a firefight, in which the army team was more successful. On a goal from the corner by young Yegor Pogostnov, CSKA responded with a brace from former “railway worker” Maxim Mukhin, bringing the score to a devastating one. The hosts of the field supported the main trend of the third round – a victory with a big score, keeping up with Samara “Wings” and “Spartak” in this regard.
The game has entered the waiting phase. CSKA were preparing to raise their hands victoriously to the well-deserved applause of their fans, and Lokomotiv wanted to quickly end an extremely unsuccessful game for themselves and one of the worst of the last calendar year. CSKA confidently and deservedly won the derby, with an extremely small bench, but even with such meager resources, Vladimir Fedotov managed to outmaneuver his counterpart Mikhail Galaktionov tactically and mentally.
“soviet sport”
The main surprise of this amazing match was the army youth game. Mikhail Ryadno, Nikita Ermakov are new names in Russian football, who surprised both fans in the stands and football specialists with their confidence. Well, Maxim Mukhin usually held a match for life, as is often the case when a player opposes his former team. The final whistle blew, setting the score 4:1 on the VEB Arena scoreboard.
