Cold meeting

The new Loko coach lost his first match

Minus 15 on the street, plus 15 thousand at the stadium. In such conditions, the new head coach of Lokomotiv, Slavoljub Muslin, had to make his debut. The Serb failed to pass the first exam - Lokomotiv lost to Spanish Sevilla in the first match of the 1/16 finals of the UEFA Cup in Moscow with a score of 0:1. But there is still an opportunity to fix everything in the return meeting in a week. Although, based on the performance shown by the “railway men,” it is difficult to conclude whether they are capable of scoring the two goals needed for an overall victory in Spain.

What Lokomotiv is now was interesting not only to Russian fans, but also to Sevilla head coach Juan Ramos. The coach of the Spanish club made it clear at a press conference that it is inappropriate to study the opponents' play from video materials. Too much has changed at Lokomotiv over the past two months. But he paid special attention to individual players of the Moscow club from his players. At the same time, he complained about the poor condition of the field and the frosty weather, saying that on the day of the game he would raise the issue of the impossibility of holding the match on the frozen lawn of the stadium in Cherkizovo. But UEFA delegate Wolf Guenther Wissel and chief referee Englishman Stephen Graham Bennett decided yesterday morning that the meeting would take place at the scheduled time. And Juan Ramos could only agree with them, but, preferring not to take risks, the head coach of Sevilla made some changes to the lineup - team leader Saviola did not appear at the beginning of the match.

In turn, the composition of Lokomotiv could have been predicted if desired. Moreover, the injuries of Sychev, Evseev, Sennikov, Khad and Izmailov did not leave Muslin much room for fantasy: in the goal were Polyakov, four defenders Spahich, Pashinin, Asatiani and Gurenko, two supporting midfielders Bikey and Kingston, three midfielders Bilyaletdinov - Loskov - -Samedov and forward Parks. Despite the seemingly defensive scheme of the "railroad workers", at times it turned into a completely attacking one - Bilyaletdinov and Samedov often went forward, turning into wingers, and Spahich and Gurenko willingly supported them from the depths of the field.

It is clear that Lokomotiv wanted to please. Although the players often lost the ball - after all, it was the first official game of the season - they immediately entered into the fight, acting tough in tackling. We managed to carry out several quite intelligible attacks in the first half. One of them ended with a penalty kick being awarded dangerously close to the visitors' goal. However, Loskov was unable to throw the ball over the wall. The Sevilla players dealt with the rest of Lokomotiv's attacks without much difficulty, not forgetting to disturb Polyakov. However, the Muscovites goalkeeper, who managed to miss a goal from his rival colleague in the last friendly match, acted quite reliably.

The second half started with troubles for Lokomotiv. Fabian's header missed the goal just slightly. And ten minutes later, Jesus Navas and the same Fabian made the stands worry twice more. Lokomotiv managed to respond only after Maminov appeared on the field. His pass to another veteran, Loskov, was very dangerous, and only the dedication of the Sevilla defenders saved the guests. But despite all this, the Spanish team looked more dangerous than Lokomotiv, which was ultimately reflected on the scoreboard. Spahich managed to interrupt Sevilla's sharp counterattack only with a tackle, which was very similar to a violation of the rules in his own penalty area. The referee spared the hosts, but the guests still immediately punished the Muscovites - a criminal serve, and Jordi sent the ball into the goal with his hip.

Lokomotiv had a quarter of an hour to win back. But during all this time, the hosts managed to create only one dangerous moment: Loskov’s long-range free kick forced Sevilla goalkeeper Notario to demonstrate an excellent reaction for the first and only time in the entire match. Lokomotiv failed to create more, and Sevilla, it seems, did not really strive to increase its already quite comfortable advantage before the return match.

Andrey VDOVIN