We’ve picked out the key points from the final round of games this season.

CSKA Moscow still in the hunt for Champions League football

After their longest winless run in the Russian top flight for over 20 years, CSKA’s prospects of European football next season looked more likely to involve the Europa League as they clung onto fifth place, the last guaranteed spot to qualify for UEFA’s second-tier competition. Despite a brief stumble in their last two matches, three consecutive wins prior to that has revived their slender hopes of edging back into the competition in which they beat Real Madrid home and away last season.

The gap to FC Krasnodar in third - the last Champions League place - is two points, and with their superior head-to-head record over the Bulls, Viktor Gancharenko knows that all they need is to win and hope Krasnodar don’t. Although FC Tambov have scored more away goals than CSKA have at home, they have also lost eight matches on the road - the joint-second highest in the league. 

Krasnodar take on an Akhmat Grozny already safe from relegation and with nothing left to play for. However, Murad Musaev’s men have won just twice in their last eight home matches. The two sides have only drawn twice in 19 top-flight meetings, while Akhmat have scored on three of their last four trips to Krasnodar.

Yet more records in Zenit’s sights

Having already wrapped up the title at the earliest stage in Russian Premier Liga history, Zenit have the potential to trouble the record books in a few other ways too. With the two top goalscorers in the RPL heading into this last matchday - Artem Dzyuba leads the way on 17 goals, while strike partner Sardar Azmoun is one behind on 16 - it will come as little surprise that this season features heavily in goalscoring achievements for Sergey Semak’s side. If Evgeny Lutsenko and the other contenders fail to score, it will be the first time one team has had the two outright top scorers since 2002, when Dmitri Kirichenko and Roland Gusev both finished on 15 goals for CSKA, one ahead of Aleksandr Kerzhakov.

They have so far scored 63 goals in 29 matchdays, which is the joint second-highest total in the Russian top flight since it became the Premier Liga. When Zenit were crowned champions in 2014/15 under Andre Villas-Boas, CSKA Moscow racked up 67 goals, which means five goals away to Rostov will see the bar raised once again. Although they can’t boast the best defensive record since the Russian Top Division was rebranded in 2002, they will end with the best goal difference if they avoid losing by more than a three-goal margin. Their current goal difference of +46 is higher than any other side’s total goals. If they beat FC Rostov on Wednesday, they will equal the highest number of wins since Oleg Romantsev’s Spartak Moscow won the title in 2000.

One problem for them is that they don’t have the best record away to Rostov. In their last five RPL trips to the southern city they have scored just once on the way to three defeats and two draws. There is also the small matter of the Russian Cup Final in Ekaterinburg on Saturday 25 July to distract them. Win that, and they’ll be the first league and cup double winners since CSKA Moscow in 2012/13.

Bakaev brothers face each other for the first time

The Bakaev brothers, 23-year-old Zelimkhan and 20-year-old Soltmurad, have followed reasonably similar paths in their respective careers. Both were brought up in Spartak’s academy system before going on to play just over 50 times for Spartak-2 in the FNL, while also scoring and assisting for the under-19 side in the UEFA Youth League. They were even both named in matchday squads against Liverpool two seasons ago; Zelimkhan was on the bench for the senior side at the Otkritie Arena in the Champions League 1-1 draw, while Soltmurad and his under-19 teammates lost 2-0 away in the Youth League.

Being three years older it is unsurprising that Zelimkhan has had greater success so far. In the last two seasons he has been a revelation in the RPL after scoring eight goals on loan at Arsenal Tula in 2018/19 in his first full top-flight campaign. He top-scored for Igor Cherevchenko’s side as they enjoyed their highest-ever finish of sixth, which was enough to launch them into a maiden Europa League adventure last summer. This season so far, he has been directly involved in 23 goals (nine goals and 14 assists) in all competitions. Soltmurad only scored his first RPL goal this season after making the permanent switch to Rubin Kazan.

This Wednesday will be the first time the brothers have shared a pitchin official matches. It is the younger sibling whose side has enjoyed better form since the league’s restart; Rubin have lost just once in the seven matchdays, while only FC Rostov, FC Tambov, Krylia Sovetov Samara and FC Orenburg have picked up fewer points than Spartak.

Photo: Andrey Shramko/FC Krasnodar