CSKA Moscow 3-1 Krylia Sovetov Samara
Saturday 23 October, VEB Arena

Goals: CSKA - Ejuke 53’ Chalov 86’, Zabolotny 89’; Krylia Sovetov - Sergeev 11’
Man of the Match: Chidera Ejuke (CSKA)

Aleksey Berezutsky’s inspired late substitutions paid off handsomely as Alan Dzagoev and Fedor Chalov came off the bench to complete a comeback win with four minutes remaining. Dzagoev carried the ball patiently before releasing Chalov through the left channel to take a touch, and calmly stroke a measured finish into the far bottom right corner.

Anton Zabolotny steered home a third shortly after to seal the win after taking advantage of some slack marking - but the late charge didn’t tell the whole story.

Krylia had flown out of the blocks at the VEB Arena, carving open CSKA with a confidence of a title challenging side after little over 10 minutes through Ivan Sergeev. Three defenders in the box failed to pick up the Krylia striker as Yuri Gorshkov cross dissected them all.

He still had plenty of work to do to escape Igor Akinfeev’s attentions, but his impudent scoop over CSKA’s veteran keeper left him with an open net to push home the opener.

Chidera Ejuke had other ideas, however. The Nigerian winger was in inspired form, taking almost all of the home side’s shots on goal, so it came as little surprise that it was he who pulled them level. 

A few minutes after the break, Ivan Olblyakov hit a harmless attempt goalwards that was blocked back out to Ilzat Akhmetov, whose snapshot was more testing. Ivan Lomaev and Glenn Bijl had a mixup, leaving the former to spill the ball into Ejuke’s path to roll into the net.

CSKA go third on 23 points, while Krylia Sovetov remain eighth on 16 points.

Next RPL fixtures: Saturday 30 October - Rubin vs CSKA; Krasnodar vs Krylia Sovetov