Spartak land huge blow in title race with crucial win over 10-man Krasnodar

FC Krasnodar 1-3 Spartak Moscow
Krasnodar Stadium, Saturday 31 October

Goals: Krasnodar - Sabua (58); Spartak - Ponce (13), Moses (33), Larsson (82)

Man of the Match: Ezequiel Ponce (Spartak)

Sent off: Krasnodar - Martynovich (90+2)

Just hours after league leaders Zenit St. Petersburg had fallen to a shock defeat to Rubin Kazan, Spartak drew blood in a vital win away to Krasnodar. Leon Sabua pulled a goal back with his first-team debut for the hosts, but it was to no avail. By then, Spartak had already gone 2-0 up thanks to Ezequiel Ponce’s finish and Victor Moses’ debut strike in the RPL.

Jordan Larsson put the icing on the cake with a stunning effort from outside the penalty area. The three points came at some cost though, as Georgy Dzhikia went off injured. Aleksandr Martynovich was shown a second yellow card in added time to round off a miserable night for Krasnodar.

Krasnodar remain in eighth place on 18 points, while Spartak go three points clear at the top of the table on 27 points.

Next RPL fixtures: Saturday 31 October - Spartak Moscow vs FC Rostov; Akhmat Grozny vs FC Krasnodar