Injured But Not Broken. We’re In Semifinal!
The day before the Russian Cup quarterfinal fixture against Rubin, Lokomotiv midfielder Alan Kasaev got injured. Alan was terrific in the last games of the first leg of Russian Premier League. Besides, Miodrag Bozovic had to forget for a while about Renat Yanbaev and Vitaliy Denisov.
But the newcomer Petar Skuletic made it to the starting XI. On 5 minutes the winter signing could have scored when Ryzhikov couldn’t catch Alexander Samedov’s shot but the Serbian striker wasn’t lucky at the bounce. The ball flew near the post.
Several minutes later, a far more unpleasant incident happened. Ilya Abaev jumped for an easy ball but the landing was bad: the keeper felt pain in the leg and was carried off the pitch. This forced the manager make a double substitution: due to the foreign players rule, only 7 of them can be fielded simultaneously. To allow Marinato Guilherme play, Bozovic had to call off Ukrainian Taras Mykhalyk and replace him with Dmitriy Tarasov, a Russian passport holder.
It wasn’t even 20 minutes when Lokomotiv had made two substitutions out of three. Could the situation get worse? Maybe. First Maicon, and then Samedov fell on the ground. A third substitution needed? Not yet, go on playing. The two managed to threaten Ryzhikov’s goal but Rubin kept them away.
In half-time it turned out that Nemanja Pejcinovic got injured. The Serbian defender was replaced by Arseniy Logashov who immediately had his nose broken in a tough aerial duel. Can you write a more dreadful scenario for a knock-out game? But the young defender showed he can overcome the suffering and continued playing after the doctors worked on him.
The tension was high, and it seemed it had its impact on Guilherme. Tarasov passed back to Marinato who wanted to trap it but made a blunder letting the ball roll under the foot. Luckily, it went slightly off the goal.
Late into the second half, Maicon spoilt Lokomotiv’s best opportunity in that game. Samedov made an outstanding pass to the Brazilian but the striker’s attempt came straight into Ryzhikov’s hands.
The fans got ready for the extra time while trying to warm up, for the Moscow March evening got pretty chilly. After 30 minutes, the sides still couldn’t produce a winner, although Lokomotiv were close to scoring. So it came to a penalty shootout.
It was Guilherme’s star hour, when the Brazilian keeper parried the shots by Karadeniz and Livaya.
Lokomotiv have advanced to the semifinal round where they will face Gazovik from the FNL. Later we’ll update you on the city where the game will be played .
Lokomotiv - Rubin – 0:0 (4:2)
Penalties scored: Fernandes, Samedov, Corluka, Skuletic – Kuzmin, Navas
Penalties missed: Karadeniz, Livaya
Lokomotiv: Abaev (Guiherme, 19), Pejcinovic (Logashov, 46), Durica, Mykhalyk (Tarasov, 19), Shishkin, Corluka, Sheshukov, Fernandes, Samedov, Skuletic, Maicon.
Rubin: Ryzhikov, Kambolov (Kislyak, 114), Navas, Cotunho, Kuzmin, Kverkvelia, Georgiev, Ozdoev, Kanunnikov, Portnyagin (Livaya, 83), Dyadyun (Karadeniz, 65).
Yellow cards: Durica, 45; Tarasov, 59 - Kuzmin, 28; Livaya, 84
