Juniors Lost to Rubin

Lokomotiv youth team suffered defeat from Rubin in Gameweek 8 match of the Russian championship.

Lokomotiv's starting eleven against Rubin Kazan somewhat differed from their previous line-ups. This time around, two senior goalkeepers joined the juniors for the sake of practice. Ilya Abaev appeared from the beginning. Anton Kochenkov came in for the second half. Dmitriy Barinov and Sergey Makarov did not feature. Nikolay Kipiani, Lokomotiv’s chief creative asset, was also absent because of the injury.

We could have done with Nika’s help in the first half. The team tried to be versatile in attack. They attempted to pry the defense open through the flanks, with positional attacks and long balls. But finishing lacked precision. Rubin had no problems fighting back and striking on the counters. One of such moves proved effective, leading to Arutyunyan’s duel with Abaev, in which Rubin forward did not spoil his chance.

In the second half Lokomotiv attacked the hosts’ goal with increased vigor, but Kazan parked a bus there - with up to eight Rubin players in the penalty area sometimes. Nevertheless, in the 71th minute the Railwaymen did manage to get a loophole. Galadzhan found himself in space a little off the box centre and tucked a neat finish into the opposite corner.

Our celebration was short-lived, though. Already in the next attack Dzhalilov scored off the wing cross. In the closing minutes Loko stormed the hosts' goal, but the result remained unchanged.

Russian Youth Championship. Gameweek 8

Rubin - Lokomotiv - 2:1 (1:0)
Goals scored: Arutyunyan, 26 (1:0). Galadzhan, 71 (1:1). Dzhalilov, 73 (2:1)

Lokomotiv: Abaev (Kochenkov, 46), Soloviev (Lysov, 84), Dovbnya, Samohvalov (Rubtsov, 68), Rakhmonov, Makhatadze, Ant.Miranchuk (Galanin, 59, Anisimov, Smirnov (Nikitin, 46), Galadzhan, Zhemaletdinov
Rubin: Malashenko, Kuznetsov, Khabibullin, Getigezhev (Safeyev, 76), Salakhetdinov (Doronin, 76), Mironov, Dzhalilov, Arutyunyan, Vorona (Mikhailov, 82 (Gavrilov, 92)), Tankov (Kamenshchikov, 89)
Bookings: Salakhetdinov, 40. Samohvalov, 65. Safeyev, 85. Zhemaletdinov, 85.
September 12, Kazan, Rubin stadium