RPL winter training camps: 10 goals between Khimki and Krylia, big Akhmat win over Volgar

On 19 February, six RPL teams played their last friendly matches at their winter training camps.

Arsenal 2-0 Orenburg

Arsenal played two closed-door matches on Saturday. In the morning, Miodrag Bozovic's team beat FNL leaders Orenburg thanks to Evgeny Markov’s double. For Orenburg, this was the second game facing RPL opposition over the winter, having previously been beaten 4-1 by Ufa.

Arsenal 2-2 Liepaja

In the evening match, Arsenal drew with Latvian outfit Liepaja, who finished third in their national championship in 2021. Liepaja previously played in Turkey against Ufa and lost 2-1. Arsenal will play their first competitive match in 2022 on 26 February away to Sochi on matchday 19 in the RPL.

Spartak 3-1 Shakhter Karagandy

The Red-Whites played their second match in Turkey in two days. On 18 February, Spartak beat Neftekhimik 3-0, and the next day beat Shakhtar Karagandy 3-1, for whom former Anzhi coach Magomed Adiev works. The game was held behind closed doors and without published lineups. Paolo Vanoli's team went through the training camp unbeaten, with four wins and four draws. Spartak players will finish their preparations for the derby with CSKA on 26 February in Moscow.

Akhmat 5-0 Volgar

Akhmat played the last match at their Turkish training camp against Volgar, who are fighting for survival in the FNL (currently 18th place after the first part of the season). The teams played behind closed doors for three halves of 45 minutes, with Akhmat’s win brought by goals from Islam Alsultanov’s double, Daniil Utkin, Igor Konovalov and newcomer Aleksandr Troshechkin. They will return from Turkey on 24 February, with their next RPL match three days later at the Akhmat Arena against Ufa.

Khimki 3-7 Krylia Sovetov

Khimki and Krylia played a closed-door match in Turkey with two 50-minute halves. Anton Zinkovsky and Sergey Pinyaev scored doubles for Krylia Sovetov, Maksim Glushenkov and Danil Lipovoy also scored, with the last a Khimki own goal. The Moscow Region team did not publish information about their goalscorers. In the first RPL matchday after the winter break, Khimki will host Dynamo on 26 February, and Krylia Sovetov will play Rostov away on 27 February.

Lokomotiv 0-3 Molde

The Railwaymen lost without scoring to the four-time champions of Norway in the final match at their training camp in Spain. This defeat was the Muscovites’ only one in five warm-up games. Lokomotiv will resume the RPL season on 27 February when they meet Krasnodar on the road.

The schedule of training camps and test matches during the winter break is in the "Winter Camps" section

Photo: Magomed Abasov / Akhmat