Railroad will try to open an account with points in the Euroseason in an away game with the Portuguese Porto
On the edge of Europe: Lokomotiv will play a key match in the Champions League
Capital Lokomotiv got off to a bad start in the group stage of the Champions League. The reigning champions of Russia have three defeats in three matches of the most prestigious club tournament in Europe with a total score of 1:7. However, all is not lost for the railwaymen – success in the upcoming match with Porto may give them a chance to reach the playoffs.
At the moment, the red-greens are in last place in their group, while Porto leads the quartet with seven points. If Lokomotiv loses in the upcoming meeting, and Schalke and Galatasaray do not draw in the parallel match of group D, the capital club will lose its chances of getting into the decisive stage of the tournament ahead of schedule.
– A very important match against Porto, it is imperative to win and earn the first points in the Champions League, – Dmitry Bulykin, adviser to the general director of Lokomotiv, told Izvestia. – For us, this is actually a decisive game in the group stage, so a positive result is needed. Our team can play on equal terms with any opponent, but sometimes they just don't get lucky. Nevertheless, there are chances and you need to fight to the last.
In Moscow, Lokomotiv lost to Porto 1:3, but this meeting did not leave a feeling of complete superiority of the Portuguese – the capital club realized their chances worse. Now the railroad are determined to take revenge for the defeat of two weeks ago.
“We understand the importance of the upcoming meeting with Porto,” Lokomotiv goalkeeper Marinato Guilherme told Izvestia. “We had a poor first half of the Champions League group stage, but we are still in our hands. We need to win every one of the remaining games. The team scored a good move, we are confident in our abilities and hope to achieve the desired result.
Despite not the most successful results on the external arena, Loko looks great on the internal one. Since the end of September, the team of Yuri Semin has won seven victories in a row in the framework of the games of the national championship and the Olympus Cup of Russia. These results allowed the red-greens to rise to second place in the RPL and reach the quarterfinals of the Cup, which added confidence to the railroad workers in the upcoming meeting with Porto.
“We will prepare to play with Porto with dignity,” Anatoly Meshcheryakov, chairman of the board of directors of the capital club, told Izvestia. — The team is now showing a good game, but we are not always lucky. I hope this changes. The work of the coaching staff is now bearing fruit. Plus, Lokomotiv has reached its level in physical terms. At the start of the season, it was still said that nine of our players participated in the World Cup.As a result, everyone was ready for the start of the season in different ways, but now everything has returned to normal.
In the last round of the RPL, Lokomotiv won a landslide victory over the Tula Arsenal. Thanks to a goal from Benedict Höwedes and a brace from Anton Miranchuk, the “railwaymen” won 3-1. After the meeting, Maxim Belyaev, a defender of Tula, who was a Lokomotiv player from 2009 to 2015, shared his opinion on the prospects of the Russian club in the game against Porto.
Railroad won the third victory in a row and moved up to fourth place, red and white dropped to the middle of the table
“Lokomotiv is now objectively on the move,” he told Izvestia. “They have an impressive winning streak. It is difficult to predict how they will play in the away game against Porto. Probably, they will act more on defense. They have a chance.
The undoubted plus for Lokomotiv is the return of injured players. 23 players went to Portugal, including midfielder Maciej Rybus and forward Fedor Smolov, who for a long time were unable to play due to injuries. The injured midfielder Alexander Kolomeitsev, as well as the defensive midfielder Dmitry Tarasov, who missed Loko's last match in the RPL, will definitely not play against Porto.
But the defender of the red-green Solomon Kvirkvelia, most likely, will have to play against Porto in a special helmet. The player received a serious cut in the game with Enisey at the end of October. He was given 12 stitches and the footballer had to play the match with the Tula Arsenal in protective ammunition.
– I am very pleased that injured players are returning, – said Anatoly Meshcheryakov. – I would like them to quickly find their game conditions. Also, once again I would like to note the courage of Solomon Kverkveliy. Not everyone will be able to enter the field in a helmet a week after such an injury.
After the match with Porto, Lokomotiv will play with the Turkish Galatasaray. The meeting will take place on November 28 in Moscow and will be the last home match on the European arena in 2018 for the railwaymen.
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Almost all the strongest teams in the country will compete for the right to play in the key stages of the tournament this season.
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