Preview Lokomotiv - Zenit.

  

ЛОКОМОТИВ // ЗЕНИТ

Sunday, November 8th 2015

(Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow)

17.30  Lokomotiv Moscow - Zenit Saint Petersburg

Referee: Vladimir Moskalev (Voronezh).

Assistants: Aleksey Shiryaev (Stavropol) and Aleksey Lunyov (Novosibirsk).

Sub assistants: ? and ?.
Delegate: Aleksander Safonov (Moscow).
Inspector: Yuriy Baskakov (Moscow).

Precedents

1996

Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-1: 13' Zazulin; 77' Kosolapov. 

Lokomotiv - Zenit 3-1: 19' Kosolapov, 66' Kosolapov, 73' Solomatin; 90 Dimitriev. 

1998

Lokomotiv - Zenit 0-0

Zenit - Lokomotiv 2-0: 32' Panov, 68' Gorshkov. 

1998

Zenit - Lokomotiv 2-2: 6' Maksimyuk, 20' Lepekhin; 18' Loskov, 80' Kharlachev. 

Lokomotiv - Zenit 3-1: 1' Sargsyan,54' Borodyuk, 76' Chugaynov (rig.); 34' Panov. 

1999

Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-2: 18' Babiy (rig.); 66' Smertin, 70' Bulykin. 

Lokomotiv - Zenit 1-1: 73' Cherevchenko; 76' Petukhov. 

2000

Lokomotiv - Zenit 1-1: 56' Loskov (rig.); 73' Popovic. 

Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-2: 52' Ogorodnik; 31' Janashia; 64' Maminov. 

2001

Lokomotiv - Zenit 5-1: 20' Janashia, 46' James Obiora, 64' Maminov,80' Izmailov, 90' Buznikin; 12' Gorshkov. 

Zenit - Lokomotiv 0-0

2002

Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-1: 47' Arshavin; 37' Izmailov.
Lokomotiv - Zenit 2-1: 29' e 42' Evseev; 81' Spivak (rig.).
2003
Zenit - Lokomotiv 0-0
Lokomotiv - Zenit 1-2: 11' Pimenov; 41' Konoplev, 63' Kerzhakov.
2004
Zenit - Lokomotiv 0-2: 17' Sychev, 90' Pimenov.
Lokomotiv - Zenit 0-1: 89' Kerzhakov.
2005
Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-1: 81' Hartig; 72' Loskov (rig.).
Lokomotiv - Zenit 0-0
2006
Zenit - Lokomotiv 4-1: 17' Hagen, 45' Arshavin, 67' Denisov, 90' Spivak (rig.); 89' O' Connor.
Lokomotiv - Zenit 3-1: 4' D. Traoré, 9' Sychev, 89' Loskov; 90' Denisov (rig.).
2007
Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-1: 74' Anyukov; 16' Sychev.
Lokomotiv - Zenit 1-0: 51' Spahic (rig.).
2008
Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-1: 53' Dominguez; 72' Torbinskiy.
Lokomotiv - Zenit 0-3: 17' Fayzulin, 60' Puygrenier, 74' Dominguez.
2009
Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-1: 28' Fatih Tekke; 9' Wagner.
Lokomotiv - Zenit 1-1: 71' Rodolfo; 58' Kim Dong-Jin.
2010
Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-0: 53' Bystrov. 
Lokomotiv - Zenit 0-3: 17' Danny, 68' Bukharov, 77' Shirokov. 
2011
Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-1: 65' Lazovic (rig.); 68' Maicon. 
Lokomotiv - Zenit 4-2: 46' Obinna, 62' Caicedo, 77' Manuel da Costa, 88' Manuel da Costa; 8' Lazovic, 31' Bukharov. 
Zenit - Lokomotiv 2-1: 26' Danny, 31' Semak; 39' Glushakov. 
2012
Lokomotiv - Zenit 0-1: 75' Shirokov. 
Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-1: 14' Criscito; 25' N'Doye. 
2013
Lokomotiv - Zenit 0-1: 16' Fayzulin. 
Zenit - Lokomotiv 2-1: 43' Shirokov (rig.), 70' Boussoufa (rig.), 86' Zyryanov.
2014
Lokomotiv - Zenit 1-1: 36' Rondon,76' Tkachyov. 
Lokomotiv - Zenit 0-1: 60' Javi Garcia. 
2015
Zenit - Lokomotiv 1-0: 61' Rondon.  

Lokomotiv:

Absents: Mykhalyk (injured ), Tarasov (injured).
In doubt: Pejcinovic (injured), Kasaev (injured). 

Rankings:

Lokomotiv: 3.
Zenit: 4.

Streaming (available half an hour before the start of the match):
HERE.
-NTV Nash Futbol. Commentators: Gennadij Orlov and Mikhail Polenov.

Curiosities:

//.

___________________________________________________________________

The game against Zenit always represents a good opportunity to test your value against a top tier. 

Tomorrow, the Saint Petersburg team arrives at Lokomotiv Stadium from Lyon, where they got their 4th win a row in the Champions League group stage. This is a very important result both for the club and the development of Russian football.

Zenit hasn't lost a match since August 29th when Krylya Sovetov passed 1:3 at the Petrovskiy Stadium. Despite they earned only a point against Mordoviya in the last round, the 'Bomzhi' want to overcome the 'Railroaders' in the RPL table.

The most in form players are without any doubt Hulk, Shatov and Dzyuba. This trio has made the Zenit's fortune so far. Hulk has finally settled down into the city and the club. Shatov has improved his performance game after game. Dzyuba, instead, has demonstrated that he's a lot more useful than Rondon. All of them should be in the starting line-up as well as Witsel, who was close to sign for Italian side AC Milan and now he's one of the protagonists of this great season. Argentinian defender Ezequiel Garay should miss the match and should be replaced by Neto. Lodygin could be preferred to Mikhail Kerzhakov, while Anyukov should take the place of Criscito in order to accomplish the limit on the foreign players. 

Lokomotiv arrives to this crucial match from the tough match in Istanbul, where the 'Railroaders' earned a good point that let them to lead the group H. Cherevchenko has still got many problems to make up the starting line-up. Tarasov and Mykhalyk should miss the game, while Pejcinovic and Kasaev could be included in the squad and could start on the bench. Corluka, instead, should be read to play and should couple with Durica in order to contain Dzyuba. Cherevchenko is likely to use a similar XI compared to the one that played in Istanbul. Aleksey Miranchuk should replace Fernandes, while Skuletic could give Niasse some rest. 

It's interesting to note that Rostov has won in Ekaterinburg today, therefore both Lokomotiv and Zenit can't claim the second place. This is why the RPL is so interesting. Berdyev has made a fantastic season so far, and two giants like Lokomotiv and Zenit are inert towards him. However, the tomorrow's game will be crucial for the both sides. The favorite team is the Villas Boas one. The red-greens are in a deep crisis and I don't think they'll be able to react against such a serious opponent. 

PROBABLE XI

Lokomotiv (4-2-3-1)

Guilherme
Shishkin - Corluka - Durica - V. Denisov
N'Dinga - Kolomeytsev 
Samedov - Al Miranchuk - Maicon

Skuletic

--------------------------------------------------------------

Zenit (4-2-3-1)

Lodygin 
Smolnikov - Neto - Lombaerts - Anyukov 
Javi Garcia - Witsel 
Hulk - Danny - Shatov
Dzyuba

The Boy from Mostovskoy.

Roman Anatolyevich Pavlyuchenko, born in Mostovskoy, Krasnodar, then still under Soviet Rule. Those outside of Russia may not know a great deal about him, other than his name is hard to say and he used to play for Spurs, but for the Russians, Roman has been a household name for years now, both domestically and on the international stage. Making 51 appearances for his country and scoring 21 times so far, a pretty impressive return by any standards.

Roman started his senior career at Dynamo Stavropol, where he never really made a huge impression, despite scoring 11 goals in his first season Dynamo were still relegated. He then moved to Rotor Volgograd. His spell at the Volgograd club will probably be best remembered for his debut, where he was shown a red card for punching a member of the other team in the face.

In the Spring of 2003 Spartak Moscow brought in the striker, finishing his first season with 10 goals and the club's top scorer. He went on to enjoy 5 years at the Moscow club, in which he built a cult status amongst the Spartak fans for showing such loyalty and passion for the club.

In September 2008, on the back of an impressive Euro's campaign helping Russia to reach the Semi-finals, eventually losing 3-0 to Spain who would go on to win the tournament, Roman found himself the subject of interest for London club Tottenham Hotspur. He ended up signing for Tottenham for a sum of £13.7 Million. His time in London was patchy to say the least I think most Spurs fans would agree, he blew hot and cold on a regular basis, occasionally popping up with important goals and the odd moment of greatness, usually in Europe or the domestic cups. I often liken him to a slightly less physically imposing Russian version of Emmanuel Adebayor, without the bad Juju. He always looked fairly awkward on the ball yet managed to produce moments of greatness, but, unfortunately few and far between.

In 2012, after finding himself fall out of favour in London, he looked for a move away from Tottenham, growing increasingly frustrated with Daniel Levy's reluctance to let him leave, supposedly venting his anger in an interview for Russian Newspaper Sports Express, saying if the club didn't let him leave he would sit out the remaining 18 months of his contract and eventually leave for free.

After a bitter battle the Russian target man left England, finding himself back in the motherland and back in Moscow, this time however for former rivals, Lokomotiv, signing for the Railwaymen for a fee of around £8 Million. He enjoyed spells in the first team, scoring some important goals, such as his first one in over 4 years back in Russia, helping his new team to defeat rivals CSKA 2-0. However, inconsistency still played a huge part in Roman's game, seeing him slowly fall out of favour and more frequently starting games on the bench under all the managers (Bilic, Kuchuk, Bozovic and Cherevchenko). Only Couceiro trusted in him in his first months with the red-greens. At the age of 33 Lokomotiv clearly felt he had served his purpose and allowed the player to join Kuban Krasnodar in July 2015, where he would join up with former Russian team mate Andrey Arshavin.

Full Circle for Roman Pavlyuchenko

After a 17 year career, gaining cult status amongst former fans and becoming an important part of the Russian international set up, the boy from Mostovskoy, finds himself once again back in the region of Krasnodar, is this a case of the chickens coming home to roost? Has he come back home in preparation to hang up his boots? Only time will tell.

Igor Cherevchenko: "I'm happy we have kept the first place in the group".

Igor Cherevchenko in the post-game press-conference spoke about the game against Besiktas (1:1), resuming it. 

- It was a tough match both for us and Besiktas. I'm happy we have kept the first place in the group. I hope the situation won't change. Both Lokomotiv and Besiktas could have won the match. 

- How would you value the couple made up by Shishkin and Durica? Why did Logashov not play? 

- We have worked on this couple since the game against Kuban. Regarding Logashov, this is a technical staff's decision. 

Besiktas - Lokomotiv 1:1.

Lokomotiv earned a point against Besiktas in the 4th round of the Europa League group stage. 

Compared to the game against Kuban', Lokomotiv decided to make some changes. In particular, Cherevchenko replaced Logashov with Shishkin in the defense after the disappointing performance on Sunday. 

The first half saw Besiktas controlling the ball's possession and trying to make up some dangerous opportunities. At the same time, Lokomotiv waited them and was ready to attack on counterattacks. However, both teams weren't able to create something notable. 

In the second half, everything changed. Quaresma replaced Sahan and after a few minutes the Portuguese midfielder helped Besiktas to take the lead. 

Lokomotiv continued playing its match and 15 minutes before the final whistle, Niasse equalized the score on a Miranchuk's assist. 

In the final minutes of the game, Guilherme demonstrated his great value making some amazing saves. At 93' Skuletic could have scored the 1:2, but Zengin sent the ball in corner.

Lokomotiv earned a good point in Istanbul and stayed at the first place in the group's table.

Europa League. Group stage. 4th round group H

"Besiktas" - "Lokomotiv" - 1:1 (0:0) 

Goals: Quaresma, 58 (1:0). Niasse, 76 (1:1)

"Besiktas": Zengin, Köybaşı, Gulum, Beck, Rodolfo, Sosa (Uysal, 71), Tore, Hutchinson, Ozyakup (Tosun, 83), Sahan (Quaresma, 46), Gomez 

"Lokomotiv": Guilherme, Durica, Denisov, Shishkin, Yanbaev, Fernandes (Al Miranchuk, 74) Kolomeytsev, Samedov, N'Dinga, Maicon (Grigorjev, 93), Niasse (Skuletic, 89) 

Yellow cards: Gülüm, 49. Niasse, 62

Referee: Felix Zwayer (GER), 

5 November. Istanbul. "Ataturk" Stadium. 

Preview Besiktas - Lokomotiv.

   

БЕШИКТАШ // ЛОКОМОТИВ 

Thursday, November 5th 2015

(Ataturk Stadium, Istanbul)

17:00 Besiktas - Lokomotiv Moscow

Referee: Felix Zwayer (GER)
Assistant Referee 1: Rafael Foltyn (GER)
Assistant Referee 2: Holger Henschel (GER) 
Additional Assistant Referee 1: Tobias Stieler (GER) 
Additional Assistant Referee 2: Robert Hartmann (GER) 
Fourth Official: Mike Pickel (GER) 
UEFA Referee Observer: Bertrand Layec (FRA) 
UEFA Delegate: Sergio Di Cesare (ITA)

Precedents

2015

Lokomotiv - Besiktas 1-1: 54' Maicon; 64' Gomez. 

Lokomotiv:

Absents: Pejcinovic (injured), Corluka (disqualified), Tarasov (injured).

In doubt: Mykhalyk (injured), Kasaev (injured).

Rankings:

Besiktas: 1 (in the Super Lig).
Lokomotiv: 3 (in the RPL).

Streaming (available half an hour before the start of the match):
HERE.
-NTV. Commentators: Aleksey Andronov.

Curiosities:

//.

___________________________________________________________________

Disappointment. This is the most common word around the Lokomotiv fans before the crucial game against Besiktas. 'Railroaders' have lost the last three games in a row and all of them underlined the Cherevchenko's weaknesses. 

Both Gadzhiev and Berdyev are two well-experienced coaches that defeated the young Cherevchenko. The Tajik coach would do well to learn the lesson of these experiences. The game against Kuban', instead, can be seen as a long series of unlucky events. Although Lokomotiv has faced the match with the wrong attitude, the red-greens had many chance to equalize the score and to earn at least a point. Niasse missed some great chances, while Logashov gifted them three goals. This is why Lokomotiv lost at Kuban Stadium.

Today, 'Railroaders' have landed in Istanbul and will have a training at Ataturk Stadium. Tarasov, who is still injured as well as Pejcinovic, stayed in Moscow in order to try being fit for the Sunday's match against Zenit. Corluka, instead, flew with his teammates despite the long suspension (4 games). Mykhalyk and Kasaev are doubtful. The former should be replaced by Logashov, who should couple with Durica. The latter, instead, has got some physical problems and one between Grigorjev and Maicon should take his place. Fernandes is likely to start instead of Aleksey Miranchuk. 

Besiktas, instead, is one of the most in form teams in the whole European football. They lead the Turkish League table, where they've also provided some great performance. In the last round they were stopped by Kasimpasa that earned a good point in Istanbul. However, the Gunes'XI is ready to face Lokomotiv at 100%. The former Bursaspor's head coach should rely on the similar line-up that played in Moscow and got a sensational victory for 1:5 against Antalyaspor. 

This match is crucial for the future of Lokomotiv. Another defeat would confirm the deep crisis before the game against Zenit. A victory, instead, would help psychologically the team and also would mean earning three important points against a direct opponent for the qualification. Anything could happen. We must stay close to the team and support the players. Together we are stronger. 

PROBABLE XI

Besiktas (4-2-3-1)

Zengin 
Beck - Gulum - Rhodolfo - Koybasi
Hutchinson - Uysal 
Tore - Ozyakup - Quaresma 

Gomez

--------------------------------------------------------------

Lokomotiv (4-2-3-1)

Guilherme

Shishkin -  Logashov - Durica - Denisov

N'Dinga - Kolomeytsev

Samedov - Fernandes - Maicon

Niasse

Igor Cherevchenko: "We wanted to win, but we failed the first half".

Igor Cherevchenko in the post-game press-conference spoke about the game against Kuban' (6:2), resuming it. 

- Of course, we wanted to win, but we failed the first half. Sometimes there are these kind of games in which one team reaches in everything and the other one in nothing. We don't have to make a tragedy. 

Kuban' - Lokomotiv 6:2.

Lokomotiv was defeated by Kuban' in the 14th round of the Russian Premier League. 

In its third game in a week, Lokomotiv had some problems in the line-up. Pejcinovic, Mykhalyk, Tarasov and Kasaev stayed in Moscow, therefore the technical staff had to reinvent the starting XI. 

Before the match, Roman Pavlyuchenko met his former teammates, remembering the old times he passed at Cherkizovo. However, he started on the bench and was subbed on only in the second half. 

During the first half, Lokomotiv weren't able to play the football they wanted. Kuban', instead, started perfectly the match, scoring the 1:0 with the ex Ignatjev. In the minutes later, the home side hadn't got any sort of problem to bypass the Lokomotiv's defense and therefore they scored other 4 goals. 

Although the heavy result, in the second half  'Railroaders' decided to make a reaction. Despite the many chances, only Niasse and Kolomeytsev reached to convert them in two goals. 

In the final minutes, Kuban scored also the sixth goal of their magic night. 

Lokomotiv kept the second place in the RPL's table because of the Zenit's draw against Mordoviya. In the next round, Loko will face the Saint Petersburg club. 

On Thursday, instead, the Cherevchenko's team is waited by the Europa League game against Besiktas. 

Russian Premier League. 14th round

"Kuban" - "Lokomotiv" - 6:2 (5:0) 

Goals: Ignatjev, 4 (1:0). Melgarejo, 14 (2:0). Armas, 19 (3:0). Melgarejo, 28 (4:0). Ignatjev, 38 (5:0). Niasse, 64 (5:1). Kolomeytsev, 76 (5:2). Shishkin, 92 (own goal) (6:2).

"Kuban": Belenov, Bugaev, Armas, Xandao, Manolev, Khubulov, Yakuba (Konovalov, 86), Tkachev (Karetnik, 45), Ignatjev, Melgarejo (Pavlyuchenko, 80), Baldè 

"Lokomotiv": Guilherme, Denisov, Corluka, Logashov, Shishkin, N'Dinga, Kolomeytsev, Samedov, Maicon (Grigorjev, 74), Al Miranchuk (Fernandes, 84), Niasse

Yellow cards: Shishkin, 63

Referee: Sergey Lapochkin (Saint Petersburg), 

1 November. Krasnodar. Kuban' Stadium