On Monday, starting at 16:00, FK Ufa – Lokomotiv Moscow will be played in the first round of the first Russian leagues.
The two bands have met so far 10 times in Russia’s domestic competitions. The team in the capital leads with the score of 5-3, also registering 2 draws. At the same time, we can point out that only two of the ten parties scored more than one goal, the rest of the parties stand strong under the sign of balance.
FK Ufa finished sixth in the first Russian league last season and was given the right to participate in this edition of the Europa League due to the fact that Tosno, the winner of the Russian Cup, did not submit his license documentation in due time. In this team we find three figures familiar to Romanian football, Ionut Nedelcearu, transferred from Dinamo in the winter of this year, Kehinde Fatai was in Farul and Astra, and Moldovan international Catalin Carp, which was under contract with CFR Cluj, FCSB and Viitorul Constanta.
Lokomotiv Moscow is Russia’s enormous champion, succeeding to win the title after a 14-year break under Yuri Semin’s baton. We can remember that the Polish team Grzegorz Krychowiak from Paris Saint-Germain, the Peruvian Jefferson Farfan, and the Portuguese hero from Euro 2016, Eder, were lent to the band. Team performance last season was remarkable but also improbable, managing to triumph for only the third time in history in the Russian championship. Semin-led moscowes also made a very good European season, being eliminated only by the future winner, Atletico Madrid, in the finals of the Europa League final. This season start for Lokomotiv with a defeat, score 0-1 after extensions, in front of TSKA Moskova in the Supercup of Russia.
We think it will be a very balanced match, where the two bands will face great difficulties in obtaining many opportunities for the goal and, at the same time, from the fact that FK Ufa is a very rewarding band on the ground (only 3 defeats in the 2017-2018 season).
PREDICTION: Both teams to score / NO @ 1.55
