Ural Ekaterinburg 0-3 FC Krasnodar
Sunday July 25, Ekaterinburg Arena

Goals: Krasnodar - Vilhena (60, 83), Cordoba (pen, 90+5)
Man of the Match: Tonny Vilhena (Krasnodar) 

Viktor Goncharenko’s Krasnodar started their season with a well fought win against Ural Ekaterinburg. Playing a rotated and young XI, the Bulls were under the cosh for a lot of the first half and almost conceded. Tonny Vilhena gave away a soft penalty in the dying minutes of the first half, but Russia international Matvey Safonov saved Eric Bicfalvi’s effort. 

Vilhena then made amends in the second half with one of his trademark longshots, that was met with a heavy deflection to send the ball spiralling into the net. Later on, Vilhena capped off his comeback with another goal through a shot from outside the box. The Dutchman completed his catharsis with a couple of well taken goals, and sealed the win for Krasnodar in the process. As an extra bit of icing on the cake, big money signing Jhon Cordoba scored a penalty with the last kick of the game, opening his account in Russia.

Next RPL fixtures: Sunday 1 August - Ural vs Nizhny Novgorod; Krasnodar vs FC Khimki