The first derby: Dynamo and CSKA will meet in the battle for leadership in the RPL

The main event of the upcoming 11th round of the Russian Football Championship will be the Moscow derby between Dynamo and CSKA. Until recently, few people could have imagined that these teams would be suitable for a face-to-face meeting in the status of RPL leaders. Difficult matches await their closest pursuers: Krasnodar will play away against Lokomotiv, Spartak will host Rubin, and Zenit will play against the unyielding Akhmat.

Dynamo (Moscow) – CSKA

Both teams were rebuilding in the summer after an unsuccessful last season. Dynamo took an ambiguous step in the offseason, returning Sandro Schwartz. The German specialist has already led Dynamo in 2020-2022, leading it to the best results in a long time — the bronze of the championship and the final of the Cup of Russia. However, he did not start his second coming to the team in the best way.

According to the results of the first four rounds, the blue and white team won only one victory with one draw and two defeats. But then they only won. Now the winning streak has six matches. This allowed Dynamo to come out on top.

CSKA scored the same number of points with him, he is second only in additional indicators. The army team finished the last championship in fifth place, although they were among the leaders and contenders for gold during the winter break. But the spring was a failure.

This led to the resignation of the team's head coach Fabio Celestini. Dmitry Igdisamov, the long-term mentor of the youth team, who replaced him, was initially supposed to be a temporary employee. But after two victories at the finish of the championship, he was entrusted with preparing CSKA for the new season.

And so far, after 10 rounds, the Army team is the only team in the league without defeats. At the same time, their successes are interpreted inconsistently. On the one hand, of all the top clubs, CSKA had the easiest calendar. During this time, Zenit was the only high-profile rival. But the success in the game with him (2:1) was largely achieved due to great luck, when the opponent did not realize a huge number of chances with his total advantage.

Otherwise, CSKA lost points with Samara Krylia Sovetov (1:1), Rostov (0:0), Tolyatti Akron (2:2) and Kazan Rubin (1:1) in the second half of the table. At the same time, even the outsider of the championship, Voronezh Fakel, was beaten by the red—blues at home with great difficulty (1-0) in the summer.

But it is worth noting that the team is performing in conditions of serious personnel losses. Midfielder Dmitry Barinov dropped out for a long time due to injuries, while defender Milan Gajic missed the first half of autumn. After a break for the national team games, CSKA defeated the capital's Rodina at home (3:0), but it is difficult to assess the readiness of the army team to fight for gold.

In many ways, the match with Dynamo gaining momentum will show whether CSKA's presence among the leaders is accidental, or Igdisamov's team is really capable of fighting for the championship. The same applies to the blue and white players who have gained momentum. Both teams are just one point ahead of Zenit and Krasnodar, and Spartak are two points ahead.

In the middle of the week, both teams also played their matches in the fourth round of the Russian Cup group stage. CSKA defeated Rostov at home (4-0) and slightly improved their position in their group.

Dynamo snatched a 2-1 victory over Akhmat Grozny, and two rounds before the finish, they are leading their group, two points ahead of Krasnodar and five ahead of Akhmat and Fakel.

"It will be an extremely interesting confrontation between the two leaders, who still need to prove that they are capable of competing for gold at a distance," Sergei Silkin, former Dynamo head coach, shared his opinion with Izvestia. — Schwartz's team looks preferable in terms of the game so far, but CSKA has shown that they can make the most of the minimum of chances and achieve victories with not the best quality football. Such abilities are very useful if you are fighting for trophies. Therefore, it is difficult to name the favorite of this match.

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Lokomotiv – Krasnodar

In the last round, Krasnodar suffered its first defeat in the current championship, losing at home to Zenit (2:3) and losing the lead. In the middle of the week, the Southerners also lost to Fakel (0:2) in the Cup.

Now the Bulls are going to visit Loko, who defeated the same Fakel in the last round 5-0 and won only the second victory in the current championship. She allowed the "railwaymen" to break away from the departure zone.

However, in the Cup, the other day, Lokomotiv lost again to Akron in a penalty shootout (1:3). The Railwaymen are at risk of being eliminated from the tournament ahead of schedule following the results of the group stage. In the summer, the red-greens lost three of their leaders — in addition to Batrakov and Karpukas, right before the start of the championship, the main striker Dmitry Vorobyov left the team and joined Krasnodar.

The upcoming match will be his first visit to Cherkizovo, where he has spent the best years of his career so far. Over the past month and a half, Lokomotiv has been reinforced by midfielders Andrei Mostov, Sergei Babkin and Nikolai Titkov. But so far, the upcoming confrontation only formally looks like a match between the bronze and silver medalists of the last championship.

"We really want to win against Krasnodar and we believe that we can do it,— Lokomotiv midfielder Alexander Kovalenko told Izvestia. — During the break for the national team games, we practiced well, played new ligaments, and this should bear fruit. I think the team is on the right track. We really want to improve the situation both in the championship and in the Cup of Russia. Yes, the results are unfortunate. But we are not giving up and we want to beat Krasnodar. We have everything for that. We have good players — yes, it's hard when leaders leave, especially players of such a high level as Batrakov, Karpukas and Vorobyov. But the guys didn't come any worse. Everyone has potential.

Krasnodar from above: the bulls will try to break away from Zenit

Spartak, CSKA and Dynamo Moscow will try to take advantage of the misfire of the leader or the reigning champion — the announcement of the 10th round of the RPL

Spartak – Rubin

In the last round, Spartak missed out on a victory over Krylia Sovetov in the end, although the red and white team can be happy with a draw in terms of the quality of the game, since after Maksimenko's removal they played in the minority, and the Samaritans had a huge advantage in terms of chances.

In any case, this draw did not allow Juan Carcedo's team to break into the lead. And now they need to fix the situation based on the results of the match with the strong middle-class Rubin, who wins little, but also loses little.

In the last round, Kazan lost at home to the leading Dynamo (0:1). And they broke their eight-match unbeaten streak. Earlier, they lost in the first round at home to Krasnodar (1:3). That is, Frank Artiga's players lose only to future leaders.

There will be five more matches in the upcoming round. Krylia Sovetov will receive the Torch. Dynamo Makhachkala will face Akron at home. Zenit is waiting for Akhmat to visit. Baltika will play Rostov at home. And the Moscow Rodina will have a home match with Orenburg.