MOSCOW: FC Krasnodar were held to a 1-1 draw by struggling Amkar Perm on Monday, leaving Zenit St Petersburg on the brink of winning the Russian Premier League title.
The result allowed second-placed Krasnodar to extend their unbeaten run in the Premier League to 16 matches and left them two points clear of CSKA Moscow in the battle to qualify for next season's Champions League.
But it also leaves them eight points adrift of leaders Zenit with only three games still to play, meaning Andre Villas-Boas's side -- 3-0 winners against Rostov on Sunday -- are on the brink of becoming champions for the first time since 2012 and could wrap up the title when they go to Ufa next Sunday.
Krasnodar are set for their highest finish in the Russian top flight since coming up in 2011 and took the lead early on through Uruguayan midfielder Mauricio Pereyra.
However, Pole Janusz Gol pulled the away side level before the interval and they held on for a point, although Pereyra did have a second-half penalty saved.
Elsewhere, Spartak Moscow's hopes of qualifying for Europe took a major knock as they went down 4-2 to 10-man Terek Grozny.
Vyacheslav Krotov had put Spartak ahead before the hosts had skipper Oleg Ivanov sent off, but a brace by Senegalese Ablaye M'bengue turned the game around.
Dutchman Quincy Promes equalised for Spartak but Brazilian Ailton Almeida scored twice in the final minutes to secure a remarkable victory.
Meanwhile, Arsenal Tula remain in the automatic relegation places after going down 1-0 away to Mordovia Saransk.
Elsewhere on Monday, the Montenegrin Miodrag Bozovic stepped down as coach of Cup finalists Lokomotiv Moscow, a day after a 3-1 home defeat to CSKA left the capital side without a win in five league games and in seventh place in the table.
Lokomotiv are due to face Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian Cup final on May 21.
Comments
Comments are closed.