Krasnodar – Nizhnyi Novgorod

The opponents will score goals in the first half.

On Saturday, the Russian champion will play a match of the national championship, whose importance is hard to overestimate. The main task of the Bulls' coach Murad Musaev is to ensure the right mindset of his players. One would think that the Premier League leader on their home ground should deal with the thirteenth team in the standings without any problems, but it isn’t that simple. First, before the last match, which took place on Tuesday against CSKA in the Russian Cup, the Bulls looked dull. Four official matches, even in cases of wins, did not leave a pleasant impression of Krasnodar's play. Second, the meeting with CSKA was truly triumphant. On the field of the Ozon Arena there was only Musaev's side, and the drubbing could have been recorded even more convincingly than the 4-0 score. Considering the extremely tense relations between the Bulls and CSKA, the victory elicited delight among Krasnodar's players and fans. In such cases, teams can have trouble getting motivated for their next opponent. Especially if the opponent is considered weaker from the outset. Such a question was put to Musaev at a press conference held on Thursday. The Krasnodar coach noted in standard terms that the team must forget about CSKA and think only about the guests from Nizhny Novgorod. Given that the upcoming Bulls' match is the last in March, it is really important for them to head into the upcoming break in a good mood. April will be extremely important for Krasnodar, filled with difficult fixtures, the main one being against Zenit in Saint Petersburg. Much will depend on it for the fate of the championship title this season. The visiting team lost its leader during the winter break, whom one could safely call Juan Boselli. The Uruguayan moved to Krasnodar, where he gets playing time after coming on as a substitute. Meanwhile, Pari NN indeed demands serious attention. Hard to believe, but the thirteenth team in the division has won in four of the five past rounds. Two of them occurred in March. Moreover, Krylia Sovetov were crushed in the previous round in Nizhny Novgorod 3-0. Let’s bet that the opponents will start pressing in their attacking lines already in the first half.