Lokomotiv M – Rostov

Lokomotiv should beat Rostov at home

Three days before the semi-final meeting between Lokomotiv Moscow and Rostov in the Russian Cup semi-final met in the Premier League on the pitch of the southern team. Having the opportunity to watch the match at the stadium, the Moscow team's lack of readiness for the match was striking. Lokomotiv allowed Rostov to get rocked pretty quickly and often failed in defence. Rostov opened the scoring midway through the first half capitalising on a terrible mistake by the Railwaymen's goalkeeper. Also in the opening 45 minutes, Rostov failed to realise two or three more chances, after which the actual winner of the game could well have been established. Instead of establishing a comfortable scoreline in the second half, the Rostov goalkeeper returned the favour to his capital colleague and fouled ridiculously in his own penalty area. As a consequence - a penalty, a goal and the final score 1:1. In the national cup will be a different game, here the objectives of the clubs are more clearly outlined, and therefore, the value of the match is much higher. Bookmakers have identified the home team as the favourites for the upcoming game, offering odds of 2.07 on their victory. Lokomotiv were very good in the first half of the season. "Railwaymen" kept in the leading company along with Krasnodar and Zenit, taking points from both competitors in the course of the championship. However, after the winter break, the Moscow club began to perform much worse. After the 26th round, Lokomotiv not only lost the chances for the first place, but also do not reach the top 3. In the national cup, the Muscovites quite calmly entered the play-offs, but already at the quarter-final stage on the results of a penalty shootout lost to Dinamo Moscow. Having been eliminated in the Way of the Regions, Lokomotiv fought their way to the semi-finals through the obstacles of Dinamo Makhachkala and Akhmat, both of whom they beat 2-1. Rostov did not change their status as a mid-table side in the current championship. At the end of 2024 still Karpin's wards pleased their fans with six victories in a row. However, the success was episodic and in 2025 Rostov more often misfires than wins. In the Russian Cup, Rostov lost to Zenit in the semi-finals in both encounters, dropping into the Way of the Regions. In the last eleven matches involving the Rostov team only once more than three goals were scored.