Equal Fight With Bulgarian Champions

Lokomotiv lineup against the Bulgarian champions was somewhat experimental. Magomed Ozdoyev filled in the attacking midfielder position, Sergey Tkachyov covered the left midfield and Roman Pavlyuchenko spearheaded attacks.

The game started with bad news for Loko. First, Dmitriy Tarasov was tackled hardly and had to leave the pitch to allow the doctors inspect him. Thankfully, soon he came back.

Soon Ludogorets scored an opener. Jan Durica made a mistake on the left wing and let his vis-a-vis break away. The ball immediately was sent to the box where Abalo picked it up and sent home.

Soon Tarasov was down again and this time it was serious. The cap had to leave the pitch, the move that made Magomed Ozdoyev work as a centre-back and shift Aleksey Miranchuk in the hole.

Actually, that was the last notable episode of the first half. The teams fought hard in midfield and tried to employ wings but their defence made no mistakes.

In the second half both managers made two substitutions. The freshmen added potential to Lokomotiv's attacking which eventually led to an equalizer. Ludogorets fouled near the box and Sergey Tkachyov was confident from the free kick - like in the previous game.

In the last ten minutes Leonid Kuchuk allowed almost all young players have a go. At some moment there were eight of them on the pitch.

Probably the lack of experience was the main reason why Loko conceded another goal. Bezjak lost his marker and broke into the box. With nobody to stop him, the score was set - 2:1.

Despite the defeat, Lokomotiv performed well against the team who are on the final stage of preparation for the Europa League play-off games. Tonight the team are heading to Moscow, and on February 14 they will go to their final training camp before the restart of the season.

Lokomotiv - Ludogorets 1:2 (0:1)

Goals: Abalo, 11 (0:1). Tkachyov, 70 (1:1). Bezjak, 90 (1:2).

Lokomotiv: Abayev (Shirokov, 66), Yanbayev (Seraskhov, 59), Corluka (Belyayev, 56), Durica (Lystsov, 72), Denisov (Shishkin, 46), Tarasov (Aleksey Miranchuk, 24), Diarra (Ondua Gael, 46), Samedov (Tkachyov, 62. Turik, 82), Ozdoyev (Anton Miranchuk, 83), Tkachyov (Grigoryev, 46), Pavlyuchenko (Koryan, 69).

Ludogorets: Stoyanov, Mantyla, Minev, Moti, Kaisara (De Sousa, 83), Alexandrov (Lumu, 62), Espinho (Zlatinski, 46), Abalo (Misidjan, 68), Dyakov, Marcelinho (Mejia, 72), Quihada (Bezjak, 46).

8th of February. Chiklana de la Frontera. «Novo Sancti Petri» stadium.