Российская премьер-лига
News We have looked back over the final day of the Russian Premier Liga season to bring you our favourite stats and figures.
3 - After their 1-1 draw away to Krasnodar, Akhmat Grozny finish the season with just three draws over the whole campaign - the joint-lowest tally any top-flight side has finished a campaign with since 2005. In fact, only five teams have drawn fewer than four matches in an RPL campaign; Spartak in 2016/17 (3), CSKA in 2014/15 and 2002 (3), Ural in 2014/15 (3), Volga Nizhny Novgorod in 2013/14 (3), and Dynamo in 2005 (2).
4 - Sochi may have fallen behind in their runners up shootout away to Dynamo, but boy did they fire back; a Mateo Cassierra hattrick sparked a stunning, blistering turnaround that a strong Dynamo lineup had no answer to as the southerners raced into a 4-1 lead by half time. Only four teams had managed to score four goals before the break this season - Ural away to Rostov on matchday 14, CSKA at home to Rubin on matchday 22, Zenit at home to Spartak on matchday 12, and Dynamo at home to Arsenal on matchday 15.
10 - The Russian Premier Liga says goodbye - for now at least - to a true modern legend of Russian football as Mario Fernandes returns to Brazil after suspending his contract with CSKA Moscow. A full decade in the RPL has yielded three league championships, one Russian Cup and two Russian Super Cups for his club, as well as Russian citizenship and 33 caps for his adopted homeland. After 329 matches, 11 goals, and six titles, there has only been one right back to dominate the RPL so consistently - what could be more fitting for Fernanded to sign off with a goal and a clean sheet?
40 - As we know, Zenit already had the title wrapped up before this weekend, but even after a shock defeat away to Nizhny Novgorod they still ended up nine points clear of Sochi. In the four years since he took over the head coach role, not only has Sergey Semak won every possible league title, he has guided the club to the league’s four largest points margins as champions in the RPL era - a cumulative 40 points ahead of the runners up. Since 2002, only Rubin Kazan in 2009 had won the title by more than seven points.
43 - Over the course of this season, Krasnodar have endured a fair amount of disruption with their personnel. Three managers in the hot seat hasn’t helped with continuity. With a mass departure of players in the spring changes on the pitch were enforced, meaning the Bulls have deployed 43 different players this campaign - more than any other side.
103 - This season has been a story of two last-gasp penalties at either end of the campaign for Rubin, and both have led to agonising heartbreak. Back in July they were knocked out of the Europa Conference League when Sead Haksabanovic failed to convert from the spot in the last minute of extra time. On the last day of the RPL season, in the 103th minute of the relegation shootout against Ufa, Vitaly Lisakovich - who’d already scored a penalty earlier in the game - stepped up after an agonising wait for a VAR review to confirm the penalty… and sent his spot-kick onto the post and wide.
397 - Another CSKA Moscow icon will depart the club as well after this weekend, as Alan Dzagoev and the club have announced his contract will be terminated by mutual agreement. The midfielder joined the club back in 2008, and has won everything there is to win domestically, with three RPL title, four Russian Cups and three Russian Super Cups. Injuries took their toll in recent seasons, but the midfield magician still racked up 397 matches for the Armymen, placing him fifth on the all-time appearances for the club behind Aleksey and vassily Berezutsky, Sergey Ignashevich and Igor Akinfeev.
606 - Drama doesn’t get any more epic than the last minute of the season. Rubin hosted Ufa with a two-point advantage, with the visitors knowing only a win would therefore be enough to escape automatic relegation, but saw a Vitaly Lisakovich penalty put them one goal down. Vladislav Kamilov equalised to leave the last 40 minutes on a knife-edge… leaving the stage for Dilan ortiz. The on-loan Colombian striker had not enjoyed a productive season with no goals in 11 appearances, but a sudden break saw Gamid Agalarov flick on a header to Ortiz to race through and lift a delicate finish in the last minute of normal time, in his 606th minute of Ufa gametime.
