Zenit beat Krasnodar in the central match of the 24th round of the RPL and reduced to two points a lag behind the southerners in the standings. The wards of Sergei Semak missed in the 16th minute from Nikita Krivtsov, but quickly came to their senses and even up to the break twice upset the opponent. Andrei Mostova first finished off the ball into the gate after the salvation of Stanislav Agkatsev, and then cut out an excellent program on Luciano Gondu. In the second half, the guests could not truly disturb Yevgeny Latvonka. The Petersburgers, in the end, brought the matter to defeat due to the exact strokes of Maxim Glushenkov and Luis Enrique, while the replacement of Alexander Sobolev assisted the Brazilian. The condensation of Zenit and Krasnodar, as part of the 24th round of the RPL, could safely be called the key in the struggle for the champion. Previously, Spartak sensationally lost to the Dynamo Makhachkala and actually dropped out of the race for gold. At the same time, the wards of Murad Musaev had an excellent opportunity to put an end. They ahead of the closest rivals by five points and in case of victory increased the gap to eight. In this case, the Petersburgers could hardly catch up with them. Moreover, the match of the first circle remained with the southerners. Sine-white-blue, but it was necessary to take the top at all costs. The head coach Sergei Semak also spoke about this. Also on the topic “There are thoughts about the championship”: CSKA won the fifth in a row in the RPL and joined the struggle for silver CSKA won five consecutive victories in the RPL in 2025 and joined the struggle for silver medals. The army team parted with the world with Zenit and … “You always need to try to win. This game, in which you especially need to take the top. Of course, we understand this, but we also understand that we must do what we can, what is in our power. They must be tuned, work and hope that it will work to achieve a good result, ”the club’s official website quotes the specialist. The hype has turned out to be inverse. “Zenith” a couple of days before the meeting called fans to help and fill in the stands. As a result, absolutely all tickets were sold. Happiness, the teams did almost without personnel losses. The only thing is that the owners could not count on a disqualified pedro. But one of the best football players of the team in the spring returned – Gustavo Mantuan, who took place on the right land of defense. From the first minutes, Maxim Glushenkov appeared on the field, who, in a match with Lokomotiv, due to damage to his hand, was only replaced. But in general, Semak did without surprises. And the guests did not help Victor Thorman. The Brazilian recovered from the injury, but in the second round in a row he remained in the reserve. In his absence, a couple of Diego in the center of defense was again made up by Kayo Pantalean. Plus, for the first time since September, Kevin Lenini did not form the basis of RPL. Olakunle Olusegun took his place in the middle of the field. Krasnodar, perfectly understanding the tournament layouts, did not hesitate to move away from the proprietary game and gave the ball to the rivals. The southerners competently sank to their half of the field and did not leave free zones. “Zenith” looked pretty faded in positional attacks, but fast did not go out. The three attack for the time being was cut off from partners. And Luis Enrique on the right edge was reliably closed by Lucas Olasa. Only Andrei Mostovoi tried to look for options on the left, but the supply to the penalty did not melt threats, because high Diego and Kayo did them. The assignment of all the troubles for the hosts Musaev quickly opened the score, having broken the counterattack. Two players deserve the words of praise – Nikita Krivtsov and John Cordoba. The first in the struggle for the ball in his half ahead of the opponent and performed a cutting transmission to the stroke of the Colombian. The second pushed the fear of Erakovich in the penalty area and performed a pass under the blow of Krivtsov. And he did not leave the ricochet with a ricochet from the rikochet, Evgeny Latvonka. And the southerners too early began to defend the minimum advantage. As a result, the blow of Glushenkov was successful from the penalty limits. The shell went along the trajectory leaving from Stanislav, and the goalkeeper failed to fix it. And the runaway Mostova was the first to finish and restored equally. And in the 38th minute, Zenit again broke the defense of the opponents. Glushenkov shifted to the left edge and competently played into the wall with pavement. He completed the supply to the penalty area, and Kayo freely allowed Lusiano Gonda to break through from close range. Agrkatsev touched the ball, but did not blocked his path to the grid. Only after missing the second, the “bulls” intercepted the initiative and even almost equalized the score in the compensated time, but Latvonok coped with the blow of Olusegun. If they created a little moments, then there were enough emotions with excess. The same Cordoba constantly cut off with Erakovich. But Pavel Kukoyan held the situation under control and until the break was limited to one yellow card – Alexander Chernikov. Also on the topic of the cross-stumbling block: Spartak failed the first half, did not score a penalty and lost to the Dynamo Makhachkala “Spartak” in the starting match of the 24th round of the house, sensationally lost to the Dynamo Makhachkala. The team of Act Stankovich failed the first … The second half turned out to be less rich in events. The main question was whether Krasnodar would be able to turn the course of an unsuccessfully developing match and force opponents to act according to their plan. It was not possible to do this. Even if the guests owned the ball, then far from the penalty area. It is significant that they not just did not create approaches, but never had a dozen on the goal. They didn’t work on Cordoba, which seemed to splash too many emotions in constant debate with guardians. It should be noted Erakovich with Nino, who reliably controlled the Latin American and, if necessary, were not shy. And in the supporting zone, Wilmar Barrios practically did not allow the design of the attacks of Eduard Kervan. As a result, it remained to take the ball forward. Musaev tried to change the course of the game with replacements and after an hour threw Sergey Petrov, Kevin Lenini and Moses Cobnan into battle. And later Fyodor Smolov and Danila Kozlov appeared. But this did not help much. But Zenit could well increase the difference in the score. What is almost an inaccurate shot by Enrique in a distant nine from behind the penalty limits. Then Glushenkov ran away almost on Randev with Agrkatsev, but could not outwit him. And yet the forward distinguished himself in the 80th minute. Wendel performed a neat scoop into the penalty area for the partner, and he perfectly struck into the near corner. True, there were fears that the football player was in offsade. But the judges, having studied the repetition, decided that he was located on the same line with Kayo. And the scattering of Semak worked at the compensated time. And again, Alexander Sobolev benefited. In the last round, he saved the team from defeat in the confrontation with Lokomotiv, scoring a debut ball in the RPL this season, and now he completed an effective discount on Enrique. Thus, blue-white-blue won a key victory over Krasnodar and reduced the lag in the table to two points. In addition, now, with equality, they will bypass the southerners on personal meetings, because in the first circle they lost with a smaller difference in the score – 0: 2.
Zenit defeated Krasnodar in the 24th round of the RPL and reduced the lag to two points-RT in Russian
