The layouts took second place in the RPL. Russia can still get the Champions League!.
Dynamo, CSKA and Sochi have hope for the Champions League. Who will take the silver?
After the connection of Dynamo from Ural, the struggle for second place in the RPL intensified. It is quite possible that the title of vice-champion of Russia will give the players and coaches not only silver medals and mental stability, but also a ticket to the Champions League qualification. The day before, UEFA President Alexander Ceferin made an offer expressing the hope that Russian clubs will nevertheless play in European competition next season. In this case, the organization will prove that it is ready to follow the motto “Sport out of politics”.
“Russian and Belarusian athletes lead to restrictions on their own, although they are not to blame for the normalization. This follows a good revolution and an incident that is against Russian athletes, not against the Russian people. Athletes should not suffer,” Ceferin said in an interview with the Slovenian edition of Vecer.
The fate of our clubs in international competition is likely to be decided in the next two weeks. If Russia has turned into European cups, then Zenit, as a champion, will play in the group stage of the Champions League. And either Dynamo, or CSKA, or Sochi will qualify for the qualification. Whose chances are higher? “Sport Day by Day” calculates the team calendar and predicts the results of races for second place.
“Dynamo”
Match calendar: Krylya Sovetov (a), Lokomotiv (a), Sochi (h).
The last two rounds were unsuccessful for the Dynamo team: the white and blue derby defeats of their competitor CSKA (0:1) and sensationally lost to Ural (2:3). However, judging by the form of the team in the selection in matches, Dynamo scored five more points than the same CSKA (nine against eight). Therefore, it is too early to talk about a serious decline.
Sandro Schwartz’s team is preparing to go to Samara, another metropolitan derby against Lokomotiv, as well as a meeting at the end of the season with a competitor from Sochi. The calendar could have been simpler. It is quite possible that the white-and-blues will perform worse in the remaining rounds, led by the army team and Sochi, but the points reserve should be captured in order to finish the championship in second place. Recall that Dynamo last competed in the 2009/2010 Champions League, where in the third qualifying round they lost on aggregate to Celtic (1:0 away and 0:2 at home).
Prediction: 56-58 points
“Sochi”
Match calendar: CSKA (a), Nizhny Novgorod (h), Dynamo (a).
Vladimir Fedotov’s team, having defeated Rubin in Kazan with an amazing score of 6:0, was at least a day ahead of CSKA in the standings. In the next round, Sochi will just play with the army team in Moscow. A lot will depend on the result of this match. Then the southerners have a home match with Nizhny Novgorod, which seems to be the easiest for them at the end of the season. Finally, in the final round of the championship, Fedotova had another meeting with a competitor – she goes to visit Dynamo. In general, everything is in the hands of Sochi players. We hardly believe that the southerners will win all three remaining matches, even two victories, most likely unsuccessfully to catch up with the Dynamo. Naturally, the second place was the best in the history of Sochi: this club has never played in the Champions League.
Prediction: 54-56 points
CSKA
Match calendar: Akhmat (d), Sochi (h), Krasnodar (d), Rostov (h).
The army team has a game in hand compared to its competitors – today the team of Alexei Berezutsky will play away with Akhmat. Then CSKA is waiting for a key meeting with Sochi. The finish is simpler: going south to Krasnodar, weakened without legionnaires, and playing at home with Rostov.
The team of Alexei Berezutsky is not as good as in the first spring rounds, but it is expected that the army team will take ten points in the future football championship. It can grab to bypass Dynamo. However, it is more likely that CSKA completes the caliber. In the Champions League, the red and blue did not play with the 2018/2019 season, when amazing events all over Europe took place in a group event over Real Madrid (1:0 in Moscow and 3:0 in Madrid), nevertheless, all the same, everyone took the last place in the quartet with the Spaniards, “Roma” and “Victoria Pilsen”.
Prediction: 56-57 points
So, Dynamo should be in the Champions League, and CSKA and Sochi should be in the Conference League. Then everything depends on Čeferin and UEFA.