Don’t leave Krasnodar! Murad Musayev’s team extended their unbeaten streak since the start of the season to 12 games (with nine wins in a row), defeating Spartak in Moscow. The Bulls are first again.
Babich returned to Spartak after his disqualification, but Litvinov and Abena remained in the starting eleven. In the end, Dejan Stankovic played with three central defenders. In the new 3-5-2, the flanks were covered as full-backs by Marquinhos (right) and Ryabchuk (left).
At the start of the match, Spartak tried to act from a position of strength, press and recover the high ball. But for that plan to work, it is necessary to at least master martial arts. However, Krasnodar was better in fighting, more physically powerful. In the 7th minute, Murad Musayev’s team had the first chance after a set piece, when the ball was thrown into the area by Maksimenko and Tormena almost scored. But the next minute the southerners took the lead. It all started with an imprecise pass from Litvinov in his half of the field: the defender simply gave the ball to Lenini. Umyarov followed his opponent instead of closing the zone to the Cape Verde player, and the rest of the Spartak players did not have time to properly prepare for defense after the unexpected defeat. As a result, Lenini completed his advance with a fresh and accurate shot into the bottom corner. How Kevin improved under Musaev, because in the summer he seemed almost the main candidate to leave Krasnodar!
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It became clear that the change in scheme did not so much increase Spartak’s reliability in defense, but rather weakened the attack. Stankovic’s team had twice as much possession, but it was, as they say, a fruitless possession. For quite some time, in the red and white statistics there were only two touches left in the rival area. It took the hosts half a time to get their first shot on goal, and even that clumsy attempt by Barco to shoot from the left might have made Agkatsev laugh rather than scare him. Only before the break did Spartak have a real scoring chance when Diego Costa, in his fall, cleared the ball flying towards the goal.
Krasnodar, superior to its rival, rightly won 2:0 in the first half. Córdoba easily dealt with Abena, but forgave the Muscovites. In addition, Batchi’s goal was disallowed due to offside by Córdoba himself. In another episode involving Abena, Spartak was lucky that referee Levnikov did not consider the centre-back’s handball as a foul in a penalty kick (a surprising rule is still in force: the ball goes into the goal!). And in the episode of the goal by Victor Sa, who did a great job in pressing, the Surinamese gave the ball to the rival with a bad first touch. Before that, Nicholson also lost the fight on the opposite side of the field.
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Stankovic had to intervene at half-time with changes: the Serbian coach scored a double. He took the failed Abena and Nicholson off the field. He switched to a scheme with four defenders: Marquinhos became a left midfielder and the Denisov-Bongonda combination acted on the right. Overall, Dejan returned to the setup familiar to players.
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The red and white bands began to breathe and at the beginning of the second half speed reigned in attack. Several set pieces and dangerous crosses raised the temperature in Agkatsev’s goal. In just a few minutes, Spartak took more shots than in the entire first half. However, Stankovic’s team, which had opened up, failed to counterattack. At the end of the hour mark, Litvinov did not prevent Córdoba from finding the ball in a killer position: the Colombian wasted a sure chance.
But Spartak did not have enough fire for long and the red and white attack gradually began to fade. Even Barko seemed to run with weights on his feet; once, falling out of nowhere, he brought the moment to its goal. “Krasnodar” calmed down the game and did not hesitate to buy time when the opportunity arose. With half the half remaining, Stankovic released Willian José, but the balls in the Bulls area did not reach the Brazilian. Only in the 80th minute did the striker manage to head a cross from Denisov.
Spartak finished the match without Barko. The Argentine reacted angrily to his substitution, kicking a bag next to the red and white bench and ignoring a handshake from someone on Stankovic’s coaching staff. And in the end the locals were out of luck. Willian José, with a subtle backheel pass, essentially created a goal for Bongonda, but he managed to miss the goal from the goal line. Miss of the season! Spartak did not revive the intrigue and in extra time conceded the third: Medina created an own goal, interrupting a Krivtsov cross in the midfielder’s 100th game for the Bulls.
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Krasnodar won by knockout. Very difficult for Spartak.
