Boris Ignatiev, the former head coach of the Russian national team, shared his expectations from the central match of the 17th round of the Russian Premier League (RPL), in which Lokomotiv will host Zenit. In a conversation with socialbites.ca, the expert talked about the disqualification of Loko coach Mikhail Galaktionov and team captain Dmitry Barinov and expressed the opinion that this would not critically affect the team.
“I will not dwell on Galaktionov’s absence. He will still be in the process, he will move from rank zero to rank one and he will also participate. This always applies to coaches who have been disqualified for a period of time.
It will all depend on how the teams approach the match. While Zenit was defeated in the Cup, Lokomotiv could not bring the matter to a logical conclusion. Therefore, both teams will have the desire to renew themselves and score points.
Lokomotiv is playing at home and we hope that it will have the support of a large army of fans. I expect them to come to the match and do everything possible to improve the team’s ranking and reputation.
While Zenit had more strength in terms of resources, Lokomotiv lost its captain. This is a person who is involved in all processes in the locker room – and Barinov is exactly like that – and is extremely necessary for the team during the match. Of course, this must have an effect, but I am not a supporter of the version that everything collapsed and went to hell because of one football player. I think there will be a draw,” said Ignatiev.
Lokomotiv and Zenit will face each other on Sunday, December 3, and the match will start at 16.30 Moscow time. Competitors will be judged by Alexey Sukhoi. At the end of 16 weeks, Zenit is the leader in the RPL rankings with 33 points, while Lokomotiv is in eighth place with 25 points.
Previously Balakhnin statedThat CSKA and Rostov were interested in the players before the meeting in the RPL.