The leader of the Russian championship on the Cote d'Azur managed to win back two goals conceded in the first half and even win, a hat-trick was scored by the Portuguese midfielder Manuel Fernandes. In Moscow, it is enough for Semin’s team to reach the 1/8 finals in a draw, even a defeat with a score of 0:1 or 1:2 will suit Lokomotiv, but the coach sets up his players only to win.

Lokomotiv was preparing for the second leg at its base in Bakovka near Moscow. Semin said that the conditions are very difficult due to severe frost. Lokomotiv's mentor does not believe that the cold will play in favor of his team, given that the training in Moscow was not very high quality, and the opponent recently played a good match of the French championship with Nantes (1:1) and is in good shape.

The French are ready to play in the cold

By Thursday evening in Moscow is expected to 20 degrees below zero. Earlier, the press service of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) reported that the organization does not have a fixed temperature at which meetings cannot be held. However, they emphasized that if the air temperature is below 15 degrees, then the match is held with the consent of both sides.

“It's unusual for us to have a lot of snow, but we play in February. We have to play, no matter what, I don’t think the meeting will be rescheduled,” said Nice’s Swiss coach Lucien Favre.

Fans will be treated to free hot tea before the match. At the same time, fans of Lokomotiv will be able to purchase warm red-green blankets for 100 rubles.

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"Nice" in the championship of France takes only ninth place, on Sunday breaking a series of three defeats in a row, having played at home with the fifth-placed "Nantes" with a score of 1:1.

Semin noted the team game and Balotelli

Lokomotiv should be wary of Nice attack leader Mario Balotelli, who scored two goals in home match, and in total the Italian has 20 goals in this season. Semin noted the performance of this player, but added that Nice does not depend on one Balotelli.

“They have a team game with its pros and cons. We need to beware of ourselves, we can win and go further if we play at 100 percent of our capabilities,” the coach said.

Lokomotiv will play the first match of the Russian championship after the winter break only on March 4, when it will host Spartak Moscow. Semin's team is eight points ahead of the Red-Whites and Zenit, while 10 rounds remain to play in the Premier League. Before the playoffs of the Europa League, Lokomotiv added Brazilian Ari and Croatian Vedran Corluka, who recovered from serious injuries, and Ari came out in Nice in the first team, having played 70 minutes. With the return of Ari to the reserve, Peruvian midfielder Jefferson Farfan landed.

The match will take place at the Moscow RZD-Arena, the game will start at 19:00 Moscow time. Pavel Kralovets from the Czech Republic has been appointed as the main referee. As part of Nice, Senegalese defender Racine Coli, who was sent off in the first game of the teams, was suspended.

The draw for the 1/8 finals will take place on Friday.

Oh, until recently, the Champions League matches were mandatory in the calendar of the Moscow “Locomotive”. Yet four years not passed since our handsome stadium hosted the matches of the most prestigious European club tournament. However, the fall of the red-greens began just after the ill-fated defeat in Cherkizovo from the mediocre “Rapid”.

Well, the debut took place in August 2000, when Lokomotiv played a match in Istanbul against the Turkish Besiktas. And, I must say, the first pancake turned out to be lumpy. Two defeats in the 3rd qualifying round made me forget about group tournament for a year...

In this article, I will not recall the memorable games of the railroad workers in the Champions League. There were so many that the story would have been too long. I hope someday we will get to this topic. In the meantime, I bring to your attention scans of covers of programs from Lokomotiv's matches in the Champions League.

The program was not released in Istanbul. But our press service did not let us down, having prepared a colorful and quite informative booklet.

Between 1997 and 2003 programs for Lokomotiv's home matches were not issued regularly. To fill the gaps in the archives of collectors, KB publications came to the rescue. Therefore, I included them in this peculiar catalog.

The crowded stadium in Ramenskoye welcomed Lokomotiv's first Champions League victory. True, so far only within the framework of the qualifying round. But there will be more.

But this is already a "serious" exhibit. Similar copies from that very scandalous match in Innsbruck in the collections of our football fans can be counted on the fingers of one hand. I have never met this newspaper-program either at auctions or in the exchange funds of the most advanced collectors. We can say that this is a real rarity.

Unlike this one. There were plenty of our fans at the replay, so the amount of “waste paper” brought in was enough for everyone.

The replay of the match "Tirol" - "Lokomotiv" played a cruel joke with the press service of FC "Victoria Zizkov". Not knowing who would be the loser in the confrontation between the Austrian and Russian clubs and go to the consolation tournament - the UEFA Cup, the local journalists had to make the only right decision, in my opinion, to present both our team and the club from Innsbruck as a possible opponent (whether it be okay).

Finally. Lokomotiv's first match in the Champions League group stage. It's a pity that the Dynamo stadium turned out to be the home arena, where, to put it mildly, conditions were created for ordinary spectators that clearly did not correspond to the level of the tournament. Someone will surely remember how much time they had to lose when going to the stands. As for the programs, all home editions are available now.

But the main problem of that draw is the Roma-Lokomotiv program. You can get it, but you have to pay an impressive amount.

The circulation of this program is 4500 copies. For those years - an absolute record.

I remember this match with great pleasure. “Anderlecht” had an impressive territorial advantage, but goals flew into the gates of the hosts with surprising ease. The first victory in the main round, and immediately a big one.

"Lokomotiv" - "Real" - 2:0. And that's it.

The Champions League 2002/2003 was unique for Lokomotiv. During one tournament, the railway workers played 14 (!) matches. Our press service did not let us down either, having prepared programs for all matches. Unlike rivals. There were no pre-match booklets either in Graz, or in Bruges, or in Barcelona, ​​or in Istanbul, or in Madrid, or in Milan. Only Borussia Dortmund took care of observing a tradition that dates back more than a hundred years.

“What pain, what pain, Lokomotiv 2-0 Brugge,” our fans sang after the end of the match, which allowed the red-greens to break into the second group stage of the Champions League.

My opinion - in the first half of the match with "Borussia" "Loco" showed the best game for all the time of participation in European tournaments. Alas, the match lasts 90 minutes, not 45.

KB publications are distributed not only in Russia, but also in Germany.

The next drawing was also successful for Lokomotiv. In qualifying, having lost first in Donetsk (0:1), the red-greens took revenge at home (3:1).

I remember the excellent support of the crowded stands for that time. Most importantly, the noise accompaniment was not limited South Stand. This is to the topic of "kuzmichi", which some especially hotheads do not want to see at the stadium.

And here are examples of "software chaos". In those years, FC "Dynamo" Kyiv did not release official programs. But there were many author's publications. The Lviv view was normally accepted by collectors and "went" for office.

I liked the edition from Nizhyn for its polygraphy.

Match with "Arsenal" caused the biggest stir for all time performances of "Locomotive" in the EC. Tickets for gates at speculators were sold from 500 rubles (adjust for inflation).

There were also plenty of printed materials for the Moscow match between Lokomotiv and Arsenal, but only three types of programs were sold at the stadium. The most outrageous thing is that I have seen editions of this game made in Ukraine and Moldova. What do they have to do with Lokomotiv?

The release of several types of programs is also practiced in the homeland of football. This edition was distributed among journalists and VIP guests. It's nice that all the materials were dubbed in Russian.

This season, Lokomotiv Moscow is fighting for the title of Russian champion for the first time in many years. I don’t know if the railway workers will become champions, but they will definitely perform in the Champions League, and therefore I remember their best matches in European competition.

The best matches of Moscow Lokomotiv in European club tournaments

10th place: Bayern 0-1 Lokomotiv

• Date: September 12, 1995.
• Match status: first leg of the 1/32 finals of the UEFA Cup.

Then Lokomotiv was very unlucky with the draw - already in the first match our club got the formidable Bayern. Nevertheless, Loko, contrary to all forecasts, managed to win in Munich thanks to Evgeny Kharlachev's goal.

This match could have been ranked much higher if it were not for the result of the return match - in Moscow, Bayern cut the daring upstart to smithereens - 5:0. In the end, Munich won the UEFA Cup, and the defeat from the Russians was the only one for them in the entire tournament.

9th place: Lokomotiv 2-0 Real Madrid

• Date: October 30, 2001.
• Match status: first group stage of the Champions League.

Another high-status opponent, and the low place in the rating is due to the fact that Real, having already solved the tournament problems, brought a semi-reserve squad to Moscow for the last round match.

But Russian clubs in official games not so often they beat the “royal” club to neglect this match. In addition, after this victory, Loko took third place and got the right to play in the UEFA Cup in the spring.

8th place: Anderlecht - Lokomotiv 1:5

• Date: October 24, 2001.

And a week earlier, the railway workers won their first victory in the group stage of the Champions League. They had one point in their assets, Anderlecht had 2, and both teams could no longer count on more than third place.

Lokomotiv conceded in the 2nd minute, but already in the first half they equalized and took the lead, and in the second they brought the matter to a rout.

7th place: Lokomotiv 3-1 Tyrol

• Date: August 7, 2001.
• Match status: 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League.

This victory gave Lokomotiv the opportunity to qualify for the main Champions League tournament for the first time. The match turned out to be difficult - the Austrians responded quickly to Jacob Lekheto's quick goal, and even the second goal, scored by , did not give Loko a comfortable advantage. Only in the 79th minute, after an accurate strike, the score became more acceptable.

Then there was a victory in Innsbruck, the cancellation of the result of this match, the hassle of a replay that ended in a 1-0 victory for Tyrol, but in the end everything ended well for Lokomotiv.

6th place: Galatasaray - Lokomotiv 1:2

• Date: October 29, 2002.
• Match status: Champions League first group stage.

In the 2002-2003 season, Lokomotiv for the first time overcame the first group stage of the Champions League, although the start of the tournament was terrible - just one point in four matches.

The first victory was obtained in Istanbul thanks to the goals of Dmitry Loskov and Vadim Evseev.

5th place: Lokomotiv 2-0 Brugge

• Date: November 13, 2002.
• Match status: Champions League first group stage.

In the next match, the railway workers, in addition to winning, needed a mandatory loss of points by Galatasaray in a meeting with Barcelona.

Both conditions were met, and Lokomotiv moved on to the next stage of the tournament. The goals were then scored by the Brazilian Julio Cesar and Dmitry Loskov.

4th place: Nice 2-3 Lokomotiv

• Date: February 15, 2018.
• Match status: first match of the 1/16 finals of the Europa League.

A very recent match in which Lokomotiv won a strong-willed victory, practically prejudging the outcome of a two-match confrontation.

By the end of half an hour of the game, the railway workers received two goals from Mario Balotelli, which they responded with three accurate blows Manuel Fernandes.

3rd place: Lokomotiv 3-0 Maccabi Haifa

• Date: March 4, 1999.
• Match status: First Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final match.

The defeat of the Israeli club brought Lokomotiv a ticket to the semi-finals of the then second most important European trophy.

All three goals were scored by the Georgian legionary of Muscovites Zaza Janashia, and the hat-trick turned out to be a classic one - the forward scored all the goals in the second half.

2nd place: Lokomotiv - AEK 2:1

• Date: March 19, 1998.
• Tournament stage: Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final second leg.

A year earlier, Loko had already played in the semi-finals of this tournament, but that victory was much more dramatic. The match in Athens ended in a goalless draw, at home the railway workers took the lead after a goal by Evgeny Kharlachev in the 54th minute, but the Greeks soon equalized the score.

The draw, which suited the guests, lasted until the second added minute, when Igor Chugainov nevertheless scored a goal, snatching a ticket to the semifinals for his team. This was fair, since earlier the referee did not count two clean goals of the railroad workers.

1st place: Lokomotiv 3-0 Inter

• Date: October 21, 2003.
• Tournament stage: Champions League group stage.

The coolest victory of the Moscow club. In the third round, Loko, which had one point, took the lead with 100% Inter, and had no right to misfire.

As part of the Milan club, Javier Sanetti, Marco Materazzi, Christian Vieri, Alvaro Recoba and other stars arrived in Moscow.

But Loko won without question, and this victory turned out to be decisive in the distribution of places in the group - Lokomotiv was ahead of Inter in additional indicators.

I hope that in the autumn the railway workers will give me the opportunity to correct this rating.

The Eurocup Blog and UEFA Coefficients continues the series Russian Clubs in European Cups. This time, in an article presented in two parts, we will talk in detail about the Semin team.

Part one: 1993 - 2001.

1993/94. In Soviet times, the Moscow "Locomotive" did not gain success, allowing it to participate in European competitions, being known as "the fifth wheel in the cart of Moscow football." From departure from major league according to the results of the 1991 season (last place), Lokomotiv saved the collapse of the USSR.

But the following season, the railroad took 4th place, which allowed them to participate in the UEFA Cup.

The draw is strict with debutants, the opponent is the current UEFA Cup winner, who was 3rd in the then UEFA club rankings Juventus.

The historic match for Lokomotiv took place on September 15, 1993 at the Renato del Aro stadium in Bologna. After a goalless first half, the future winner of the Golden Ball -1993 soloed Roberto Baggio. He scored two goals himself, another goal after hitting the "tail" finished Ravanelli into the net. 3:0.

Lokomotiv's Eurocup debut as a stadium took place on 28 September. The only goal was scored by Giancarlo Morocco.

UEFA Cup, 1/32 finals, 2 matches, 0-0-2(wins-draws-losses), 0-4 (goals scored and conceded). Without the points scored, Lokomotiv did not get into the club ratings.

Let me remind you that the club rating was then compiled by summing up the indicators of 5 recent seasons, and the season score was considered as the division of the points earned during the season (for a win - 2, for a draw - 1) by the number of games played, i.e., the average seasonal score.

Points scored by the club are indicated in parentheses.

1995/96. Again the UEFA Cup, again Lokomotiv is not seeded, and again he is threatened with a grand. This time it was Bayern.

Olympiastadion, Munich, September 12, 1995. The first European goal (Kharlachev) brings the first victory and the first euro points. No one knew Lokomotiv in Europe, and the 0:1 result was regarded as a sensation (however, it was one).

In the return match, inexperienced Muscovites did not play from the score, trying to catch the opponent on the counterattacks, but decided to finish off the Bavarians, who were “wounded” in Munich. The clock struck midnight, there were five unanswered goals in Loko's goal.

UEFA Cup, 1/32 finals, 2 matches, 1-0-1, 1-5. Scored two points in the TC and one point in the club rating. In the seasonal ranking, he shared 48th place with ten clubs, in the ranking of clubs with one, he was in 134th place.

1996/97. In 1996, Lokomotiv won its first Russian Cup, as a result of which it made its debut in the Cup Winners' Cup.

The victory over Bayern was not in vain, and in the 1/16 finals, the railway workers were seeded.

Dropped Croatian "Varteks". In the home match, a 1-0 victory was recorded - the only goal in the 12th minute was scored by Cherevchenko; guests did not take advantage of the numerical advantage after the removal of Kharlachev in the 61st minute. In Varadzhin (the city that Varteks represent), Kosolapov scores at the end of the first half, and the Croats now need to score three. Vugrinets makes a double, but with the score 2:1, Lokomotiv goes on.

In the next stage, the railway workers are no longer seeded, and the rival is the Lisbon Benfica. In the match at Da Luz, the only goal was scored by Joao Pinto. In the debut of the Moscow match, Solomatin restores the balance, the first half ends 1-0.

The goal was scored in the 8th minute, and in the 11th and 29th minutes Gurenko received a yellow card, and Benfica were in the majority. At the beginning of the second half, Lokomotiv scores the second goal, but the referee, after a side signal about offside, cancels it. The Portuguese immediately equalize. The match ended 3:2 in favor of the guests (1:0 Solomatin 8′, 1:1 Panduro 48′, 2:1 Garas 59′, 2:2 Donizeti 63′, 2:3 João Pinto 89′).

« I am the main culprit of the defeat.- Gurenko is self-critical after the match. — If not for my stupidest removal, I have no doubt that we would have passed Benfica. After all, it all started well...(About violations) First I hit the ball after the whistle. I swear this happened for the first time in my life. I don't even know what came over me at that moment. And in the second episode, I was not going to shoot down the Portuguese, but my foot went on a slippery field, and I accidentally hooked him».

Cup of Cups, 1/8 finals, 4 matches, 2-0-2, 4-6. 2 points were scored in the TC, 0.5 points were added to the club rating. He is 77th in the season rankings, and moved up to 111th in the clubs rankings (1.5 points).

1997/98. The second Cup of Russia, the second ticket to the Cup Cups.

In the first stage (1/16 finals) the Belarusian "Belshina" falls out. Lokomotiv is already a seasoned European cup fighter, and does not give any doubt about its own superiority - 1:2 wins away and 3:0 at home.

In 1/8, the railway workers are still seeded, the Turkish Kocaelispor is drawn by lot. The first match took place at Lokomotiv, after Kharlachev's goal in the 1st half, the Turks leveled the score in the 73rd minute, but Janashiya with a header in the 84th minute brought victory to the Muscovites.

The match in Izmit ends 0-0, and Lokomotiv for the first time in its history enters the spring part of European competition.

The first match of the quarterfinal in Athens against AEK came out fighting. The teams earned 7 warnings for two, and in the 75th and 90th minutes, the players of the Greek club earn a red card.

Markus Merk was the soloist in the second leg. With the score 1:0 (Kharlachev, 54′), Lokomotiv gets a dubious penalty, AEK sets the score 1:1, which completely suits the Greek club. Then Janashiya scores, but referee team sees Kharlachev offside, then Kharlachev himself scores, but again the goal is not counted due to offside.

At the end of the match, Nigmatullin runs into someone else's penalty area for a set piece, the Greeks fight back. On the last seconds In the second stoppage minute (“Lokomotiv” has already fallen on a frank bulk), Kharlachev makes a cross from the goalkeeper's corner and Chugainov sends the ball over the goal line from a couple of meters with his head.

Winners' Cup semi-final, possible opponents: Vicenza, Chelsea and Stuttgart (not seeded at this stage). Got the winner of the German Cup. The first match was held in Stuttgart, the opponents responded to Janashia's goal with goals from Akpobori in the 43rd minute and Bobic in the 90th. In the second leg, the same Bobic scored the only goal.

Cup of Cups, 1/2 finals. 8 matches, 4-2-2, 10-6. 12 points (2 bonus points) were scored in the TC, 1.5 points in the club rating. In the rating of the season, Lokomotiv is in 14th place, in the club rating with a coefficient of 3.0 it has risen to 56th place.

For the first time, Lokomotiv makes a significant contribution to the country's shopping mall. In addition, after the first successful European season, the club becomes the second among Russian teams in the UEFA club rankings.

1998/99. For the third time in a row, Lokomotiv participates in the Cup Winners' Cup (in the Russian Cup final it lost to Spartak, which qualified for the Champions League).

In 1/16, the club from the former USSR, CSKA Kyiv, again dropped out. Two wins: 0:2 away and 3:1 at home.

In the next stage, they met with the Portuguese "Sporting" from Braga, known to us simply as "Braga". The hero of the match was 18-year-old Dmitry Bulykin, who scored a double and was close to a hat-trick (in the 89th minute, goalkeeper Paulo Morais fouled him and was expelled from the field for a last-ditch foul). Match score 3:1.

In the return game, the Portuguese opened the scoring in the 13th minute, but Lokomotiv kept the advantage of the Moscow match. For the second year in a row, the railway workers entered the spring stage.

In the quarter-finals against Maccabi Haifa, Janashia scored a hat-trick (3-0), and, in fact, everything becomes clear even before the second leg. Away Chugainov scores the only goal from the penalty spot.

The first semi-final match against Lazio takes place in Russia. Muscovites manage to hold back a couple of Salas-Vieri attacks, and in the 60th minute Janashia opens the scoring. Eriksson successively replaces forwards with Boksic and Mancini, and the Croat brings his club to a 1-1 draw. In Rome, the match ends goalless and the Italians advance to the final.

Loko repeated last year's success - reaching the semi-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup. It should be noted that due to the high rating, the Russian club was seeded at all stages until the semi-finals (in the semi-finals, the draw was blind without seeding).

Cup of Cups, 1/2 finals. 8 matches, 5-2-1, 13-4. 14 points scored in TC (2 bonus points). In the club rating, which is considered from this season on a different basis, the same 14 points. 13th in the seasonal rating of Lokomotiv, 33rd in the club rating with a score of 43.912 .

Lokomotiv-1999 makes the main contribution to TC - half of all points scored, for the first time the club becomes the first among Russian teams in terms of points scored during the season.

1999/2000. In the qualifying round of the UEFA Cup, Muscovites met with BATE Borisov. Accounts 1:7 away and 5:0 at home speak for themselves. Matches with the Danish "Lyungby" were also confident. In Copenhagen, a victory was won 1:2, at home - 3:0.

In the 1/32 finals, despite the seeding of the Russian club, the leader of the English Premier League, Leeds, got it. In the first half of the English match, Lee Boyer makes a double. In the second half, Alan Smith, performing a kick through himself, first hits Pashinin's head with his foot, then the ball. The referee counts the goal, and Pashinin is forced to leave the field. In the 80th minute, Loskov's goal gives hope for a successful outcome, but after 4 minutes Kewell sets the final score at 4:1.

In the return match, Lokomotiv, which had nothing to lose, immediately picked up the pace and began to continuously attack the British. Leeds took advantage of the open areas and earned a penalty in a counterattack. 0:1 in the 15th minute, and the railroad workers need to score 4 goals. In the 28th minute, Michael Bridges scored the team's second goal and scored a brace before the break. 0:3 in the second leg.

6 years later, in the autumn of 2005, the ex-head coach of Leeds O'Leary was on a visit to Moscow. Semin (at that time the coach of the Russian national team) said hello to him: “ Please tell my colleague: a fast team like his Leeds English Premier League no so far».

UEFA Cup, 1/32 finals. 6 matches, 4-0-2, 18-9. 6 points were scored in the TC of the country, 4 points in the club rating. Lokomotiv ranked 67th in the seasonal rankings, and dropped to 39th in the clubs ranking with 48.637.

2000/01. The second place in the championship of Russia allowed to play in the Champions League from the 3rd qualifying round. Vice-champion of Turkey "Besiktas" did not leave a stone unturned from the Russian vice-champion: 3:0 in Istanbul and 1:3 in Moscow. Lokomotiv continued to play in the UEFA Cup.

In the 1/64 finals, the Bulgarian "Neftohimik" was passed: 4:2 at home and 0:0 away. In the next round, two wins over Inter Bratislava: 1:0 at home and 1:2 away. Round 1/16 against the Spanish "Rayo Vallecano" was the last. On the frozen field of the Moscow stadium, a 0-0 draw was recorded, in Madrid the Spaniards win 2-0.

Champions League, 3rd quarter round, 2 matches, 0-0-2, 1-6. UEFA Cup, 1/16 finals, 6 matches, 3-2-1, 7-5. Total: 3-2-3, 8-11. Scored 8 points. In the seasonal ranking 48th place, in the ranking of clubs 34th place with a score of 53.854.

2001/02. The third qualifying round of the Champions League, the opponent is the Austrian Tyrol.

Lekheto opens the score in the second minute, Kirkhler equalizes in the 19th minute. Izmailov scores the winning goal, and Ignashevich's free-kick in the 79th minute makes the advantage more significant.

In the second leg, Maminov scored the only goal from a free-kick in the 51st first minute. The Austrians filed a protest with the UEFA FTC. The fact is that the referee in the 72nd minute showed yellow card Pimenov, who was second to the striker. But he entered the name of Maminov in the notebook and did not delete anyone.

At first, the situation did not seem so serious. Draws were made for the next rounds of European competitions, Lokomotiv clearly participated in the draw for the group stage of the Champions League (i.e., there were no reservations, it was not the winner of the pair, but the Russian club), which fell to Real Madrid, Roma and Anderlecht (1st, 2nd and 4th pots respectively), and Tyrol participated in the UEFA Cup draw, which got Victoria from Zizkov.

However, after 5 days, a fax from UEFA came to Lokomotiv's office. His 9 points were devoted to the technical error of the referee, the fact that Lokomotiv had to finish the match in the minority, and this is what prevented the Austrians from scoring 3 goals. The result of the match on August 22 (that is, the return match) is canceled and a replay is scheduled (you can find the full text of the document on the website of the Sport-Express newspaper). An appeal from the club was sent to UEFA, as well as a letter from the head of the RFU Koloskov (text). True, the latter immediately warned that he did not count on a positive decision.

As a result, there was a replay, full match, and not 19 minutes from a score of 0:1, and Pimenov's disqualification following the results of the canceled match was upheld.

The replay became Nigmatullin's benefit performance, his exemplary match. He still conceded one goal, but the Tyroleans did not like the score 1:0.

As a result, the railroad went not to visit Zizkov, but for the first time in history made it to the group stage of the Champions League.

In the 1st round, Lokomotiv hosted Anderlecht at home. Semin let it slip before the match that a victory is good, but a draw will do for the debut. And so it happened: in the first half, the rivals exchanged goals, where they stopped, the result was 1:1. In the 2nd round, Real Madrid completely outplayed the Russian club at the Santiago Bernabeu, finishing it at the end to a score of 4:0.

Double matches against the champions of Italy were coming, and Lokomotiv should have learned from the defeat. As a result, despite 0 points scored, Muscovites showed a different football and were close to winning points. In the Roman match, they opened the scoring, but did not keep the advantage, in the second leg, the only goal flew into the goal, not least because of the rebound.

After the 4th round, Lokomotiv, with one point scored, lost the chances of reaching the playoffs of the Champions League, but could easily compete with Anderlecht, who scored 2 points, for reaching the UEFA Cup. True, the Brussels match did not start according to our scenario: in the 2nd minute, Anderlecht took the lead. But Loko was not embarrassed, and not only won, but defeated the Belgian club in its own lair: 1:1 Izmailov 13′, 1:2 Sennikov 28′, 1:3 Pimenov 58′, 1:4 Buznikin 63′, 1 :5 Buznikin 69′.

IN last round Real Madrid, who had booked the first place ahead of schedule, left a number of stars in Spain, came to Moscow. 2:0 in favor Russian team, which goes to 1/16 of the UEFA Cup.

In the UEFA Cup Hapoel Tel Aviv. The first match took place in Israel. Osterz opened the scoring, in the second half Izmailov scored the return goal. In the 77th minute, Osterts earned a penalty, Nigmatullin rescued the team after Gershon's regular penalty kick. The match was coming to an end with the score 1:1, which suits the railway workers, but in the 90th minute, Hapoel scored the winning goal. After 2 minutes, Cherevchenko lost his nerve, and he receives a direct red card for a rough foul in the middle of the field.

In the second leg, Lokomotiv did not show its the best game, and the same Osterz scored the only goal in the match.

Champions League, 3rd place in the group stage. 8 matches, 3-1-4, 12-11. UEFA Cup, 1/16 finals. 2 matches, 0-0-2, 1-3. Total: 10 matches, 3-1-6, 13-14. 7 points were scored in the TC (one bonus), in the club rating - 6 points. 62nd in the seasonal rating, Lokomotiv ranked 32nd in the club rating with a score of 57.645.

Railway workers, despite the average performance (7 points), scored the maximum number of points among Russian clubs for the second time. In the club rating, Lokomotiv is located after the long-term European Cup leader Spartak.

Next season, Russia in European competition will be represented by Spartak, CSKA, Zenit, Krasnodar and Lokomotiv. About who can be rivals of our clubs in the international arena - in our material.

Spartak – Champions League group stage

The Red-Whites have returned to the main European Cup after four years, and thanks to the victory in the Premier League, their starting positions seem very attractive. The capital club, as befits the champion of Russia, got into the first basket, which means that it will avoid meeting with at least Real Madrid, Bayern, Chelsea, Juventus, Monaco, Benfica and Shakhtar , although with the latter, for obvious reasons, he would have been bred anyway. Perhaps this is so far the only one hundred percent prediction that can be made regarding the future of Spartak in the group stage of the Champions League. The opponents of the Russian champion will be announced at the draw ceremony in Monaco on 24 August.

In addition to him, 21 teams have already entered the group stage: Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Atlético (all Spain), Bayern, Leipzig, Borussia D (all Germany), Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City, Manchester United (all England), Juventus, Roma (both Italy), Monaco, PSG (both France), Benfica, Porto (both Portugal), Shakhtar (Ukraine), Anderlecht (Belgium), Feyenoord (Netherlands), Besiktas (Turkey), Basel (Switzerland).

CSKA - 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League

Unlike fellow countrymen, the army team will have to take two steps before the group stage, or rather four, given the number of matches they will have to play. Recall that the qualification of the main European Cup is divided into two branches - the path of the champions and the path of the representatives of the leagues. CSKA will be in second place, which also included Dynamo (Ukraine), Ajax (Netherlands), Victoria Plzen (Czech Republic), Brugge (Belgium), Steaua (Romania), Young Boys (Switzerland) ), "Istanbul" (Turkey) and "Nice" (France). A little later, the second team of the Greek Superleague will join them. Now AEK, PAOK and Panathinaikos claim victory in the mini-tournament for the second ticket to the Champions League from Greece.

All ten participants in the third qualifying round will be split into five pairs according to their odds. On account of the army team 39.606 points, which allows them to be guaranteed to get into the number of "seeded" teams. Accordingly, Steaua (35.370), Young Boys (28.915), Nice (16.833), Istanbul (10.340) or a representative of Greece can fall into his rivals. The Romanians or the Swiss certainly look like a more favorable lot than the French or the Turks, but in general CSKA should be up to the task, whoever comes across it. The draw for this stage will take place on 14 July.

The main test will await Muscovites at the next stage, where representatives of the European top championships will enter the game. It is already known that Sevilla (Spain, 112.942), Liverpool (England, 56.135), Napoli (Italy, 88.666), Sporting (Portugal, 36.866) and Hoffenheim ( Germany, 15,899). The first three will definitely be among the “seeded”, so if at least two teams from the trio pass from the third round to the playoff round - Dynamo Kiev (67.526), ​​Victoria Plzen (40.635), Ajax ( 67.212), then the army men will no longer be "seeded". At the same time, representatives of the Czech Republic and the Netherlands will become potential rivals for CSKA. With a high degree of probability, at this stage, our team will get a very serious opponent. Who exactly it will be, we will find out on August 4, the first playoff matches are scheduled for August 15 and 16, and the second - for the 22 and 23.

Zenit and Krasnodar - 3rd qualifying round of the Europa League

Both Russian club will begin their performance in the second most important European Cup two stages before the group stage, and in qualifying they will have approximately the same fate. In the third round, the rules are exactly the same as in the Champions League, but there are almost six times more participants - 58. The distribution into "seeded" and "unseeded" is also carried out in accordance with club rating. Both Zenit (87.106 points) and Krasnodar (32.106) are guaranteed to be in the first group, so frankly weak opponents will face them.

It is too early to guess who exactly it will be, since more participants will be those who pass the previous stages. But to roughly represent the level of resistance, you can name the Norwegian "Branne", the Swedish "Oestersund" or the Polish "Arka". Our teams will recognize their opponents on July 14, on the 27th they will play the first matches with them, and on August 3 - return matches.

But at the playoff stage it will be much more difficult, since those teams that will fly out of the third qualifying round of the Champions League, from where CSKA begins its European Cup season, will also get there. In the event of a defeat to Zenit and Krasnodar, the army team will not get caught, but among the above-mentioned colleagues of Muscovites there are many serious clubs. Another thing is that the odds of both our teams will allow them to be among the "seeded", so that they should come across quite passable opponents. In any case, there will definitely not be clubs that can be classified as giants. The play-off draw will take place on August 4, and the matches will be played on the 17th and 24th, respectively.

Lokomotiv – Europa League group stage

As the winners of the Russian Cup, railway workers will bypass the qualifying rounds and immediately enter the autumn stage. Over the past five years, Lokomotiv has not spoiled fans with success in the international arena, so its rating is not so high - 97th place with 20,606 points in the asset. With a high degree of probability, this will allow Muscovites to rely only on the third basket. There is a chance to get into the second, but for this it is necessary that several clubs with a higher rating drop out of the tournament in qualification at once. Rivals by group stage Lokomotiv will find out in Monaco on August 24.

In addition to him, Villarreal, Real Sociedad (both Spain), Cologne, Hertha (both Germany), Arsenal (England), Atalanta, Lazio will definitely play in the Europa League in the autumn (both Italy), Vitoria G (Portugal), Lyon (France), Zulte Waregem (Belgium), Vitesse (Netherlands) and Fastav (Czech Republic).