Lokomotiv and Zenit will play in the central match of the 17th round of the RPL – Sport Mail.ru

MOSCOW, December 3. /TASS/. The program of the 17th round of the World – Russian Premier League (RPL) will continue on Sunday with four matches. On this day, the games CSKA – Rostov, Krasnodar – Orenburg, Lokomotiv – Zenit and Akhmat – Spartak will take place.

Among the matches on Sunday, the game between Lokomotiv Moscow and Zenit St. Petersburg stands out. The meeting will take place at the Russian Railways Arena and will begin at 16:30 Moscow time. After 16 rounds, the blue-white-blues are leading the RPL table with 33 points, the railway workers are in eighth position with 25 points. The game of the first part of the Russian Championship ended with an away victory for Lokomotiv with a score of 2:1.

Zenit head coach Sergei Semak said that the team is already waiting for a winter break due to weather conditions. “The team, I think, is waiting for the winter intermission, this is primarily due to weather conditions,” said Semak, whose comment was quoted by the Zenit press service. “It’s very difficult, it’s much more difficult to prepare for matches, because some exercises have to be reduced or changed, because it’s impossible to train for an hour and a half in such weather conditions. Therefore, of course, everyone is waiting for a break to gain strength.” The specialist also said that it is unlikely that defender Vyacheslav Karavaev will participate in the match; the rest are working in the general group to varying degrees.

Lokomotiv is approaching the game with two very important losses. On November 30, the control and disciplinary committee of the Russian Football Union (KDK RFU) disqualified midfielder and captain of the railway workers Dmitry Barinov for two matches (one suspended) for insulting the referees of the match of the 16th round of the RPL with Samara “Wings of the Soviets” (3:3). The head coach of the Moscow team, Mikhail Galaktionov, also received a punishment for obscene statements after that game; the RFU CDC disqualified the specialist for two games. Also, defender Stanislav Magkeev, who continues to recover from injury, will not be able to help Lokomotiv.

The match is especially important due to the confrontation between Lokomotiv forward Artem Dzyuba and his former club. From 2015 to 2022, Dzyuba played for Zenit, with which he won 10 trophies and became the top scorer in the history of the Russian championships. Dzyuba has been playing for Lokomotiv since February 2023, since then Lokomotiv has played twice with the St. Petersburg club. Both matches ended in scandalous moments: after the first meeting, Dzyuba did not shake Semak’s hand, and after the second, when asked about his relationship with the St. Petersburg coach, he asked: “Who is this?”

Another game between CSKA and Rostov

In the first match of the day, CSKA will meet at home with Rostov, the game will start at 14:00 Moscow time. The army club ranks sixth in the RPL standings with 25 points. The Rostov team is in 10th position with 20 points. The teams will play their second head-to-head match in a week – on November 29 they met in the first game of the ¼ finals of the Fonbet RPL path – Russian Cup, the game ended with a score of 1:1. They also tied in the first round of the championship – 3:3.

Also on Sunday, Krasnodar will play at home against Orenburg. According to the results of the last round, the Krasnodar team lost its lead in the RPL standings; it is in second place with 32 points. “Orenburg” with 14 points is in 13th position. The meeting of the teams in the first part of the Russian Championship ended with an away victory for Krasnodar with a score of 2:0.

Krasnodar will not be able to count on one of the best scorers of this season – Colombian striker John Cordoba, who was disqualified by the RFU CDC for four matches (one suspended) for an insulting gesture towards the assistant referee of the 16th round match with Ural. RPL Cordoba has scored eight goals this season.

In the final match of the day, Spartak Moscow will play away against Akhmat Grozny, the meeting will begin at 19:00 Moscow time. The red-whites are in fifth place in the RPL standings with 27 points. “Akhmat” with 13 points is in 15th position. The Grozny team last won the RPL on September 2, when it turned out to be stronger than Ural (1:0). Akhmat’s streak without a win in the RPL is nine matches.

On December 2, the Hydrometeorological Center of the Russian Federation reported that heavy snowfall with blizzards and gusty winds was expected in Moscow and the region on Sunday. The message notes that an “orange” danger level has been declared – the penultimate one on the scale. Therefore, the organizers of the Moscow matches will have to work hard to ensure the successful holding of the games.

The program for the 17th round of the RPL started on Saturday. On this day, Voronezh “Fakel” played a draw at home with Kaliningrad “Baltika” (0:0), Samara “Wings of the Soviets” defeated “Sochi” (2:0) away, “Paris Nizhny Novgorod” beat Ekaterinburg “Ural” at home “(1:0). On December 4, Dynamo Moscow will play at home against Rubin Kazan.