MOSCOW: Lokomotiv Moscow, fresh from their midweek Russian Cup victory, go into Sunday’s match at lowly Ufa in pole position to join champions Zenit St Petersburg in next season’s Champions League group stage.
Lokomotiv, who beat Ural Yekaterinburg 1-0 in the final to claim their eighth Russian cup, are currently second in the league table, level on 53 points with third-placed Krasnodar with just one match remaining.
Only newly crowned champions Zenit and the team that finishes second are assured of a place in the group stage of next season’s Champions League, while third-place finishers advance into the third qualifying round.
Lokomotiv skipper Vedran Corluka said the outcome of the final match of the season was more important to the club than the cup final.
“We’re happy to win the cup,” the former Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur defender told Russian TV. “It’s a great achievement but the match with Ufa is much more important as we have a chance to qualify automatically for the Champions League.
“We’re ahead of Krasnodar on head-to-head and our fate is in our own hands. We don’t have much time for recovery but we need to give everything we have for the win on Sunday.”
Krasnodar, who have never played in Europe’s most prestigious and lucrative club tournament, have already booked their place in the qualifiers but are hoping to go better by winning a ticket to the group stage.
“Last week in Tula we performed quality football and claimed a deserved win,” Krasnodar boss Murad Musaev said.
“That win has already put us into the Champions League qualification. It’s a great success for us but we have a chance to make even more significant progress.”
The freshly-minted champions Zenit will try to bounce back from last week’s 1-0 defeat at Rostov when they take on Yenisei Krasnoyarsk, who are already relegated, to finish the season on the winning note.
Manager Sergei Semak, who led Zenit to their fifth Russian title in his first season at the helm, said the team had an off day in Rostov. - AFP
