On 8-11 April the matches of ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Football Championship MD 23 will be held. The intrigue is becoming more and more interesting with every match played. The previous MD contributed to it: Rostov returned to the 1^st position, and Zenit – to the Champions race after beating PFC CSKA. We also should not forget about Lokomotiv which keeps gaining points.

Intensive fight is expected in competition for European Cup zone places. Terek, Krasnodar, Spartak and Ural keep their chances to get a place in UEFA Europa League. And these teams have very important matches on the upcoming MD.

Struggle to survive should be mentioned separately. All teams occupying 9 – 16 positions are in danger of leaving the Premier League, but Mordovia and Anji are on the very bottom. Kuban and Ufa are not so far from them. But Krylia Sovetov managed to get a safe distance from the dangerous zone after winning on the previous MD.

Dear fans! Russian Football Premier League invites you to the stadia! Your teams need your support at the finish of the season.

ANJI – ROSTOV

08.04.2016, 19:00. ANJI ARENA

Referee: Alexey Nikolaev (Moscow). In season 2015-2016 – 14 matches– 47 yellow cards – 2 red cards – 4 penalties awarded

Suspended: none – none

Balance of the matches in the Russian Championship top division: +4=4-7 (14:16)

In the first round: 0:1

The kick-off match of the MD programme is the game in Kaspiisk. For Anji any match has a crucial meaning – the team needs to leave the bottom position of the tournament table. But it will be very difficult to do that. The club from Makhachkala had 4 defeats in a row, and the team did not concede only once.Anji also cannot boast gaining many points at home. The club from Makhachkala lost 7 games over 11 matches played, made 4 draws and not a single win! Of course, this result will not do with the club supporters.

Rostov continues to be the main opening of the season. The team returned leadership will try to keep it. However, the team of Kurban Berdyev is not so successful in away matches as in the home ones. They won 5 times over 10 matches, made one draw and lost 4 times. Besides Rostov had not conceded a single goal over these matches.

PFC CSKA – MORDOVIA

09.04.2016, 13:30. ARENA KHIMKI

Referee: Mikhail Vilkov (Nizhny Novgorod). In season 2015-2016 – 13 matches – 46 yellow cards – 2 red cards – 3 penalties awarded

Suspended: Wernbloom – none

Balance of the matches in the Russian Championship top division: +5=0-0 (16:5)

In the first round: 6:4

After their failure in St.Petersburg PFC CSKA is planning to succeed in the match against Mordovia. Suspended Wernbloom will not be able to play for the Army team. As for the rest, Leonid Slutskiy does not have any serious problems with his squad.

Supporters are for sure worried that over the recent 8 matches PFC CSKA lost 17 points, by losing 5 times and making one draw. However, any unlucky run will end someday. So the team fans should arm themselves with patience and to support their team in such difficult period.

Mordovia changed Head Coach at the end of the season. Andrey Gordeev temporary interrupts his work for the club due to family reasons. Acting Head Coach will be Marat Mustafin in the nearest future. We shall see at the end of the season, what kind of advantage the team received from this step. But so far the club from Saransk is one line before the bottom one of the tournament table and has an unpleasant perspective of leaving the Premier League.

AMKAR – ZENIT

09.04.2016, 14:30. ZVEZDA

Referee: Vitaly Meshkov (Dmitrov). In season 2015-2016 – 13 matches – 58 yellow cards – 1 red cards – 5 penalties awarded

Suspended: Ogude – none

Balance of the matches in the Russian Championship top division: +2=9-12 (13:36)

In the first round: 1:1

The club from Perm is on the ninth position after 22 Matchdays, they are in a safe distance from relegation zone and play-off matches. In the spring part of the season the club from Perm won and lost once and made two draws.

Suspended Ogude will not be playing in the match against Zenit.

After beating PFC CSKA Zenit is only one point behind Lokomotiv, three points behind the Army team and four points behind Rostov. And that means that the team of Andre Villas-Boas has good chances to compete for the title.

Three wins run over the recent MDs speaks for Zenit, as well as statistics, which shows their full advantage in the matches against Amkar. Zenit won 6 matches away, 3 ended in a draw and only two ended with defeat.

RUBIN - DYNAMO

09.04.2016, 19:30. KAZAN ARENA

Referee: Kirill Levnikov (St.Petersburg). In season 2015-2016 – 11 matches – 34 yellow cards – 6 penalties awarded

Suspended: Kambolov – none

Balance of the matches in the Russian Championship top division: +14=10-3 (40:20)

In the first round: 0:0

This Moscow club is one of the convenient opponents for Rubin. Over the whole history of matches in the Russian Championships Dynamo beat the club from Kazan only three times. And over the recent 8 years the team from Moscow won only once.

The teams are located next to each other in the tournament table and this fact contributes into the intrigue of the game. Rubin occupies the 10^th position, and Dynamo – the 11^th one. Both teams gained 4 points in the spring part of the season.

Kambolov will not be able to play for Rubin due to his suspension. Andrey Kobelev has more problems with his squad – Kozlov and Denisov will hardly be able to play.

UFA – TEREK

10.04.2016, 14:30. NEFTYANIK

Referee: Vladislav Bezborodov (St.Petersburg). In season 2015-2016 – 15 matches – 77 yellow cards– 2 red cards – 6 penalties awarded

Suspended: none – none

Balance of the matches in the Russian Championship top division: +0=0-3 (1:6)

In the first round: 1:4

The club from Ufa does not know wins since last November. Seven matches were played since that time, over which they gained 4 points. Now Ufa occupies 14^th place, being one point ahead of Mordovia and two points ahead of Anji. So the team desperately needs to gain poinst.

Injured Krotov and Zaseev will not be able to help to the team from Ufa. As for the rest, there are no  serious problems with the  squad.

Terek occupies UEFA Europa League zone and the team is still the one which has the least defeats in the season in comparison to the rest of the clubs. The team of Rashid Rakhimov has only 2 failures. Both of them were away.

Rakhimov has a lot of problems with the squad. A large group of players will not be able to play due to health issues: Komorovski, Mbeng , Mirzov, Sadaev, Utsiev. However, Terek has got many executives of the top class and they should not have any problem they are unable to resolve.

KRASNODAR – URAL

10.04.2016, 17:00. KUBAN

Referee: Igor Fedotov (Moscow). In season 2015-2016 – 12 matches – 48 yellow cards – 2 yellow cards – 3 penalties awarded

Suspended: none - Emelyanov

Balance of the matches in the Russian Championship top division: +1=2-2 (5:6)

In the first round: 1:3

After beating Dynamo Krasnodar manage to get ahead of Spartak and keeps good chanced to get into UEFA Europa League zone. The match against Ural, which is  only three points behind, promises to become interesting and tense. Besides, Krasnodar beat Ural only once over the five matches played before, and it was an away win. So far Krasnodar does not know away wins against the current opponent.

Gazinskiy and Torbinskiy are injured in the team of Oleg Kononov, and they will hardly play in this match.

Ural has much more problems with the squad – Emelyanov is suspended, Lungu, Novikov, Stavpetsv and Khozin have problems with their health. But an unbeatable Gogniev is with the team. And he brings a lot of problems to the opponent goalkeepers in the recent matches.

This match can become one of the most interesting in the MD games, because both teams love and can attack.

SPARTAK – KUBAN

10.04.2016, 19:30. OTKRYTIE ARENA

Referee: Sergey Ivanov (Rostov-on-Don). In season 2015-2016 – 12 matches – 41 yellow cards – 1 red cads – 3 penalties awarded

Suspended: D.Kombarov (2 matches) - Bucur  

Balance of the matches in the Russian Championship top division: +6=9-4 (33:25)

In the first round: 0:3

After the failure in Rostov-on-Don Spartak-Moscow moved down to the 7^th position in the tournament table. Anyway they have a small gap from the top three teams – only 4 points. Besides, the team lost D.Kombarov for the two next matches due to his suspension, as he was sent-off at the Don riverbanks. As for the positive news – forward Ze Luis will return to the squad.

As for the statistics, it is evidently not for Spartak.  The team from Moscow cannot beat Kuban for seven matches. Even in the current season, which has not been very successful for the team from Krasnodar, Spartak was beaten in an away game – 3:0.  Besides, the Red-Whites play not ideally on their home pitch.

Kuban expects to get out of the bottom part of the tournament table. The club has their own problems, but they will be settled quite soon. As for the game, the team does not show its best result away – only 5 points gathered over the 10 matches, and there are no wins.

KRYLIA SOVETOV – LOKOMOTIV

11.04.2016, 18:00. METALLURG

Referee: Vladimir Moskalev (Voronezh). In season 2015-2016 – 14  matches – 58 yellow cards – 2 red cards – 3 penalties awarded

Suspended: none - none

Balance of the matches in the Russian Championship top division: +10=8-25 (34:61)

In the first round: 0:2

The MD will be wraped-up in Samara. Krylia Sovetov will be able to play at their home pitch at past. The quality of the turf at Metallurg stadium will allow to host matches of ROSGOSSTRAKH Russian Football Championship. This kind of approval was accepted after the visit of the special Commmission. For the club from Samara the support of the team will be very welcome under the current situation – the team still has a chance to find itself among the 4 worst teams of the season and everybody knows the result of this.

Krylia have positive balance in the matches against Lokomotiv at  home – 8 wins against 7 failures. But as for the current season, the club from Samara was not very successful at home – 8 points and only 4 goals scored.

Lokomotiv is on the 3^rd position and continues to gain points after the leaders. It allows to hope for the fact that at the very end of the season Loko will compete for the title against Rostov, PFC CSKA and Zenit. Three wins in the recent matches will speak for Lokomotiv this time.

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Russian Football Premier League jointly with their legal partner European Legal Service and RFPL clubs launches an interactive contest for all those who love football – Protected Means Unbeatable – dedicated to the Rules of Spectators’ Conduct at Official Sports Events.

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Russian Football Premier League and European Legal Service within the frames of joint programme – “Stadium is our Home!”is happy to announce about an opportunity to call to this company (tel: +7 (495) 727 09 01 or Skype online.els24.com) and to receive free legal advice related to any legal matter before, during and after the game.

Lawyers of European Legal Service, which is the leader on the market of distance services, will always help you in solving all your legal matters.

When applying there you should tell the password: “I am an RFPL supporter”.

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