Lokomotiv earned a draw against Salzburg in the Champions League
Lokomotiv approached the game against Salzburg with a number of problems. Stanislav Magkeev did not recover in time for the game, Vladislav Ignatiev's Achilles became inflamed. Both did not travel to Austria. But there were some good news - Vedran Corluka returned to the team and said that he was ready for 90 minutes. Besides this, there were no other changes to the line up.
From the very first seconds, Salzburg flew into the attack, but Lokomotiv did not give the opponent a single meter of free space and responded with counter attacks. By the tenth minute, the "railroad workers" organized two dangerous moments. Anton got the ball in the penalty area and shot from an acute angle - the Austrian goalkeeper coped with the shot.
A few minutes later Rifat bursted into the penalty area, but at the last moment the defender managed to cover his shot from close range.
After Salzburg realised that high-speed attacks wouldn’t be effective in this game, the team switched to crosses from the wings and long-range shots. Szoboszlai took a shot from distance, but Guilherme pulled a save.
Nevertheless it was Lokomotiv who opened the score in the 20th minute - Miranchuk crossed the ball to the near post from the corner, Rifat sent it to the center, where Eder struck the ball with his head into the back of the net.
After the goal, Salzburg stepped up and produced some good chances. Guilherme was forced to make a save after Daka ran
one-on-one.
Everything was working well for Lokomotiv up until the 45th minute. Szoboszlai was left alone at the edge of the box when the corner was played. He received the ball and immediately shot under the crossbar - 1:1.
Lokomotiv didn’t start the second half particularly well. Salzburg made several dangerous crosses into the box and in the 50th minute they took the lead. Daka received the ball in the penalty area and passed it to Junuzovic, who was on the edge of the box. His shot wasn’t particularly powerful, but it deflected off Kulikov and slipped into the net.
Two minutes later, Salzburg could have scored more. Koita struck the post from 15 meters, and soon Daka could have finished the cross at the near post, but Corluka intervened.
During the course of the second half, the coaching staff completely changed the offensive line, and in 75th minute the substitutions resulted in a goal. It took Vitali Lisakovich five minutes to score his first goal in the Champions League. Zhivoglyadov made a brilliant cross to the far post, where Vitali ended up alone and struck the ball into the net.
The teams didn’t have energy for a bright ending, but in 94th minute Lokomotiv made their fans nervous. Daka jumped one on one with Guilherme, but our goalie managed to save the team and preserve the draw.
On Saturday Lokomotiv will face Rotor, and on Tuesday we already play Bayern at home.
Champions League. Group A. Gameweek 1
Salzburg - Lokomotiv - 2:2 (1:1)
Goals: Eder, 20 (0:1). Szoboszlai, 45 (1:1). Junuzovic, 50 (2:1). Lisakovich, 75 (2:2)
Salzburg: Stankovic, Vallci, Koita (Berisha, 53), Szoboszlai, Ramalho, Junuzovic (Okafor, 84), Ulmer, Camara (Okugawa, 74), Daka, Wöber, Mwepu
Lokomotiv: Guilherme, Zhivoglyadov, Murilo, Corluka, Rybus, Krychowiak, Kulikov, Zhemaletdinov (Kamano, 63), Miranchuk (Lisakovich, 70), Smolov (Rybchinskiy, 63), Eder (Ze Luis, 70)
Bookings: Szoboszlai, 42. Kulikov, 80.
Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands)
October 21, 2020. Salzburg, Salzburg Stadium.
