Lokomotiv beat FNL champions Krylia to win Russian Cup 

Lokomotiv Moscow 3-1 Krylia Sovetov Samara
Russian Cup Final
Wednesday 12 May, Nizhny Novgorod Stadium

Goals: Lokomotiv - Kamano (14), Smolov (pen 48), Murilo (84); Krylia - Sarveli (23)

Lokomotiv sealed a fourth Russian Cup win in seven years against a spirited Krylia performance, and with it a minimum of Europa League football next season. 

Francois Kamano struck early to take control of the Russian Cup Final as he latched onto a weak header from Medhi Zeffane, and looped a delicate first-time lob over Ivan Lomaev. Maksim Mukhin's long diagonal ball caught out the back pedalling Krylia full-back to let in Kamano for his fourth Cup goal since the knockout stages began. 

Vladislav Sarveli then hit back less than 10 minutes later with a lightning counter attack. Denis Yakuba was the grateful recipient of a clever drag back from record breaking Ivan Sergeev, and his low cross was met firmly by Sarveli sliding in. 

Yakuba was forced to leave the pitch in tears before the break after picking up a knock, just moments after a potentially match-saving tackle on Kamano as the Guinean was about to pull the trigger. 

Deep into first-half added time, his replacement Maksim Vityugov cleverly cut inside Dmitry Barinov before curling a low shot down to Guilherme's left. Lokomotiv's keeper had to use every inch of a stunning full-length dive to tip the effort onto the post. 

Within two minutes of the restart, however, Fedor Smolov was chopped down in the box by Sergey Bozhin as he was about to side foot Rifat Zhemaletdinov's cutback. Smolov stepped up himself to send the spot kick under Lomaev and retake the lead. 

Just before the hour mark, Sergeev - who has broken the all-time FNL goalscoring record - came inches from claiming his 44th goal in all competitions with a glanced header from a corner. 

Although Krylia continued to press, they were given a hammer blow with six minutes left as Murilo powered a header home from a corner. 

Lokomotiv are the most successful side in the competition’s history, having won it nine times in total, and four times in the last seven years.

Krylia were appearing in only their second ever Final, having lost to an added time winner in 2004 to then-FNL side Terek (now Akhmat) Grozny.

Next league fixtures: 15 May (FNL) - Baltika Kalinigrad vs Krylia Sovetov Samara; 16 May (RPL) - Lokomotiv Moscow vs Ural Ekaterinburg