Spectacular Comeback

The last friendly at this training camp was held in the Austrian city of Graz just 60 km off Loko’s Slovenian base.

Slaven Bilic changed the starting eleven completely compared to the previous game, leaving only the young goalie Miroslav Lobantsev in the field.

The start of the match saw no opportunities. The first dangerous episode happened in the 13th minute when Lokomotiv was granted a free-kick and Roman Pavlyuchenko shot but the ball went just above the crossbar.

In the middle of the first half Slaven Bilic was forced to make the first substitution. Andrey Ivanov got injured and tried to continue playing but felt worse and left the pitch. Andrey Eschenko took up his position.

Thirty minutes into the game, Roman Pavlyuchenko scored a spectacular goal after a wonderful pass from Alberto Zapater, but the referee called it an offside. After this episode, the referee stepped into the spotlight for some time whistling every now and then. But when in the 41st minute Maxim Grigoriev was obviously knocked down in Bursaspor’s box the whistle remained silent.

Late into the first half the Turks created an opportunity close to Miroslav Lobantsev’s goal. They played a free-kick and Wederson shot but the Miroslav kept the goal intact.

But Bursaspor scored anyway – this happened early into the second half. Çağıran shot precisely into the upper corner from a 20-metre distance. Alexander Filtsov who substituted Miroslav Lobantsev had no chance to stop the ball.

Soon after the missed goal Slaven Bilic made several substitutions, and one of them proved effective almost immediately. Denis Glushakov shot at goal with his left foot and scored an equalizer.

Victor Obinna and Alexander Samedov who appeared on the pitch together with Denis wound up the speeds on their flanks. Lokomotiv started creating more scoring opportunities. The second goal was in the air, and it finally happened in the 72nd minute when Dmitry Torbinsky stole the ball in the midfield, carried it along the left touchline and made an elaborate cross to Alexander Samedov. Alexander paused and waited a half-second when the goalkeeper fell on the ground waiting for the shot, and sent the ball home, scoring his first goal for Lokomotiv after returning to the team.

Only four minutes later Denis Glushakov scored a winner, shooting from the very edge of the box.

Lokomotiv could have scored more. Samedov had another great opportunity but this time the ball went off the post. As a result Loko won 3:1 and ended his training camp, winning 3 games out of 4. Early in the morning on Friday the team’s returning to Moscow.

Lokomotiv – Bursaspor 3:1 (0:0)

Goals: Çağıran, 50 (0:1). Glushakov, 59 (1:1). Samedov, 72 (2:1). Glushakov, 76 (3:1).

Lokomotiv: Lobantsev (Filtsov, 46), Corluka, Ivanov (Eschenko, 24), Belyaev (Burlak, 57), Yanbaev (Tigorev, 80), Zapater (Podberezkin, 80), Grigoriev (Obinna, 57), Ibricic (Samedov, 57), Loskov (Glushakov, 57), Torbinsky (Maicon, 74), Pavlyuchenko (Sychev, 46).

Bursaspor: Özkan, Wederson, Basser (Aslantaş, 46), Öztürk, Kas (Erdoğan, 46), N’diaye, Çağıran, Odabaşı, Kiraz (Ozdogan, 46), Bahadır, Sestak (Deniz, 46).

July 12. Graz. 150 spectators.