Red Star Belgrade (Serbia) 2-1 (1-0) FC Krasnodar (Russia)
Goals: Radonjić, 6 (1-0), Kanga, 46 (Milić, 2-0), Granqvist, 82, penalty kick (2-1).
Red Star Belgrade (Serbia): Borjan, Stojković, Savić, Rodić (Gobeljić, 51), Frimpong, Milić (Račić, 70), Donald, Radonjić (Pešić, 76), Kanga, Srnić, Boakye.
FC Krasnodar (Russia): Sinitsyn, Petrov, Granqvist, Martynovich, Ramírez, Kaboré (Zhigulyov, 46), Gazinskiy, Mamayev (Pereyra, 60), Wanderson, Claesson, Smolov (Ivan, 66).
Yellow cards: Radonjić, 7 (unsporting behaviour), Donald, 41 (unsporting behaviour), Kanga, 47 (unsporting behaviour), Borjan, 83 (unsporting behaviour), Savić, 90+3 (unsporting behaviour), Boakye, 90+3 (unsporting behaviour) – Kaboré, 11 (foul play), Ramírez, 52 (attack breakdown), Granqvist, 90 (unsporting behaviour),
Referees: Stieler, Seidel, Gittelmann (all Germany).
24 August 2017. Belgrade. Rajko Mitić Stadium. Clear. 22 degrees. 50 719 spectators.
FC Krasnodar traveled to Belgrade for the second leg game of the UEL play-off round with a one-goal advantage in their possession. This advantage was rather shaky due to the two goals they conceded at home in the first leg. Meanwhile Red Star Belgrade could enjoy as many as three serious benefits before the game tonight. The first advantage, universally acclaimed as such both in Russia and Serbia, was the overcrowded Marakana stadium in Belgrade that could totally become the twelfth player of Crvena zvezda on a field of play.
The second factor could profit the home team even more that their supporters would, and it ultimately did. The so-called natural turf of the Rajko Mitić Stadium was really in a sorry state, to say nothing of a fact that the visitors were deprived of a right to stage their pre-match mandatory training there. It lacked grass in some spots, but there were an excessive amount of bumps within every square meter instead and, the most important part, small pebbles that littered the whole ground. Well, and that is the primary stadium of a country that is far from the bottom in the European football standings. Serbia national team holds their international matches there, for one thing. The home team was naturally accustomed to playing on a pitch like that, but it was a completely different story for the Bulls, as their combinational football demanded an ideally flat surface. It was obviously difficult for the black-greens to adapt for the Marakana turf even without testing it first during the pre-match training.
Freshness became the third advantage of the Serbian team. Red Star Belgrade had moved their regular Serbian SuperLiga fixture scheduled for last Sunday to some other day, hence they could spend the whole week preparing purposefully for a clash with FC Krasnodar. As for the players led by Igor Shalimov, they had had a most difficult and energy-consuming RFPL match in Rostov-on-Don four days before sacrificing a lot of power and emotions at the Olimp-2 stadium there.
Red Star Belgrade scored an opener while the away team was still trying to adjust themselves for the ball acting incoherently with those bumps. Milić took a solid shot on Sinitsyn’s goal as early as on the 6th minute, and even though the Krasnodar keeper managed to parry the ball aside, the second ball was won by Nemanja Radonjić right away. The latter took another shot making the ball bounce from the ground and follow a steep trajectory precisely into the net also hitting a crossbar in the process.
It was absolutely impossible to play short and medium pass on a pitch like that, so the Krasnodar players tried switching for a more vertical type of football. They did not achieve much though. Mid through the first half they launched a decent attack along the right flank, but as Claesson was supposed to finish it from the penalty spot area he shot the ball into a player of opposition. A bit later Smolov attempted a strong shot from a free kick sending the ball next to the goalpost. As the half-time approached his another shot, not strong enough this time, was caught by the keeper. The Belgrade team had worse ball possession, but their chances against Sinitsyn’s domain were more dangerous. One of their shots, that took place during a counterattack on the 40th minute, hit the goalpost. The first half ended with a 1-0 score that the Serbian team was quite okay with.
The second half began with a substitution that replaced Kaboré (his performance before the half-time did not go well) for Zhigulyov… and another goal scored by the home team. No more than thirty seconds had passed after the kick-off when Guélor Kanga succeeded with his shot from outside the penalty area. Since it was one of those shots that cannot be saved, the situation with the Krasnodar team became virtually hopeless now.
The black-greens never gave up as they went on trying to find their way to Borjan’s goal through the Marakana bumps. The Serbian team was enhanced by the furious support of their fans, and they did not hesitate to kill time that remained. Red Star medical staff also spent slightly less time on the pitch in the second half than their players did. And yet, FC Krasnodar was finally able to shorten the gap to a single goal on the 82nd minute. Ivan the Romanian striker, who had substituted Smolov, proceeded with a decent piece of activity in the home box making Stojković commit a foul. The German referee Stieler ordered a penalty-kick, and the team captain of the Bulls, Andreas Granqvist, left no chance for the Serbian keeper.
Alas, the Bulls failed to achieve a better success even though they never ceased their attacking actions until the very full-time. Granqvist (he acted as a centre-forward at the death) just barely missed scoring again, but his header was parried by the goalkeeper. On another occasion Pereyra was to execute a free kick ordered 18 meters from the home goal, but what he did was getting the ball stuck in a defensive wall with his shot. 2-1 as a result, and due to a better amount of away goals Red Star Belgrade have advanced to the UEFA Europa League group stage, whereas for FC Krasnodar their European campaign this season is now over.