Couldn't score against Krasnodar either

Today in Dubai, Latvian champion "Riga Football Club" lost 0:1 to Russian Premier League club "Krasnodar". January 31 game against the Belarusian champion Soligorsk "Shakhtyor".

"Riga" played the first test match in Dubai on February 8, when they lost 0:4 to Zenit from St. Petersburg, the champion of the Russian Premier League. After a week of hard training, the team faced last year's 3rd place "Krasnodar".

Against "Krasnodar" we started with the same starting lineup as against "Zenit". "Krasnodar" footballers demonstrated a high level of individual mastery in the first half. This gave the Russian club a lot of ball control and a number of goal-scoring opportunities. Already at the beginning of the game, the goalkeeper Nils Puriņš saved after the opponent's shot from the penalty area. Although this was a friendly game, there were several conflict situations. In the 23rd minute, Magomed Shapi was shown a red card. "Riga" created only few moments in the first half. The only goal was scored in the 38th minute when Eduard Spercyan scored from penalty spot - 0:1. Minimal deficit after 45 minutes.

At the beginning of the second half, Riga was able to take the initiative. Felipe Brisola had a great opportunity, after which Krasnodar was saved by the goalkeeper. In the 60th minute, our coach completely changed lineup. The game was close, but in the attack we lacked mutual understanding. "Krasnodar" sat down and gave ball control to us and was not so active in the attacking. At the end of the match, Gabriel Ramos made good shot, but ball went just wide. Loss with 0: 1.

The next game on January 31 against the Belarusian champion Soligorsk "Shakhtyor". The game starts at 14:00 Latvian time.