"Krasnodar" and "Lokomotiv" vs. judges: results of scandalous match in Moscow

The boiling point in Moscow: the judges’ contradictions and the will to save overshadowed the sports struggle in the match of Lokomotiv and Krasnodar.

The match of the eleventh round of the Russian Premier League season 2026/2027 between Lokomotiv Moscow and Krasnodar, held on Saturday, October 17, will be remembered not only for six goals scored, but also for judging scandals and heavy emotional background. The meeting, which was served by a brigade of referees led by Nikita Novikov from Petrozavodsk, ended in a battle draw with a score of 3:3, but the main attention was focused on the work of the arbitration brigade and the systemic crisis of the Krasnodar club.

The script of the game developed rapidly and dramatically. Already in the fifth minute, Krasnodar extreme striker Joao Batchi punished the hosts for the mistake of defender Alexander Silyanov, hitting the gates with a long shot. It seemed that the bulls confidently took the thread of the game into their own hands, but in the sixteenth minute, railway midfielder Nikolai Titkov regained his balance. This was followed by a segment in which Lokomotiv seized the initiative. In the seventy-first minute, the extreme striker of the red-greens Alexander Rudenko led his team forward with a head blow, and in the seventy-eighth minute midfielder Alexander Kovalev brought the advantage of the hosts to a crushing score of 3: 1.

However, Krasnodar showed the character that was so lacking in recent matches. In the eighty-sixth minute, defender Lucas Olasa played one goal, and in the added time, in the ninety-first minute, forward John Cordoba set the final 3: 3, saving his team from a painful defeat.

However, the sporting component of the match has faded into the background due to egregious refereeing decisions. The main newsmaker of the meeting was Nikita Novikov, whose work caused a flurry of criticism from both sides. The epicenter of the scandal was the thirty-fifth minute when Locomotive defender Gerzino Nyamsi was due to leave the field. Having received the first yellow card in the twelfth minute for a hard kick against João Batci after a technical marriage, Nyamsi after twenty minutes first held for the shirt of Lucas Olasa on the flank, and then with a foul interrupted John Cordoba's spurt into the front square. The referee ignored both episodes, not using the help of VAR, which deprived Krasnodar of a numerical advantage in the most important fight.

The situation was exacerbated by a complete lack of communication. The head coach of Krasnodar Murad Musayev tried to get clarifications from Novikov and the reserve referee, but instead of a dialogue he faced ignorance. The bull mentor expressed extreme indignation at the actions of the arbitration team, stressing that the decisions of the referee depend not only on sports results, but also the well-being of the families of coaches and players. Musayev noted that it was the unscheduled removal of Nyamsi that was the key moment that turned the course of the meeting. The coaching staff of Krasnodar was disappointed by the closedness of the referees and their unwillingness to enter into a dialogue. Musayev pointed out that the reserve judge only summoned the chief arbiter to escalate the conflict and show the card, instead of clarifying the controversial situation. At the same time, the coach of the bulls admitted that his team is too easy to give goals, allowing three goals in the second match in a row, which is an alarming symptom that requires immediate work. However, he praised the players for not giving up and continued to look for a way to the opponent's goal, going for the fourth goal even at 1-3.

He did not stay away from the judging theme and the mentor of Lokomotiv Mikhail Galaktionov. Despite the fact that his team missed the victory, Galaktionov expressed a misunderstanding of the criteria that guided Nikita Novikov. Coach Muscovites pointed to inconsistency in the punishment of players. In particular, he questioned the validity of the yellow card shown to César Montes in the first minute. Although objectively Montes did rudely and frankly hit Cordoba's back on the flank with exposed elbows, Galaktionov saw this as a double standard against the backdrop of Nyamsi's aggressive but unpunished actions and a similar tough foul at the end of the match against a Lokomotiv player who was left unattended by the referee. Galaktionov lamented the missed victory against a high-profile opponent, admitting his team played structurally defensively and combinedly in attack, but could not hold onto the advantage by allowing the opponent back into the game.

For Krasnodar, this draw was only a confirmation of the protracted crisis. The team extended the losing streak in the championship to five matches. In the last five rounds, Musayev's wards drew four times with the Samara "Wings of the Soviets", Togliatti "Akron", "Orenburg" and the capital "Lokomotiv", and also suffered defeat from St. Petersburg "Zenit". The last victory of the bulls in the championship dated August, when in the sixth round was beaten by Rostov with a minimum score of 1: 0.

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The match in Moscow once again raised acute questions about the level of refereeing in the Russian Premier League. When referees become the protagonists, and coaches of both teams are forced to look for truth in emotional post-match comments, the entertainment and fairness of football suffers. “Krasnodar” due to fighting qualities avoided defeat, but the accumulated problems in defense and systemic issues to the referee corps require close attention in anticipation of further tournament battles.