Krasnodar thrash Anzhi to keep in touch with leaders Zenit

MOSCOW: Krasnodar moved onto the shoulders of Russian Premier League leaders Zenit St Petersburg with a 5-1 romp at lowly Anzhi Makhachkala.

Goals by Fedor Smolov, Viktor Claesson, Tornike Okriashvili and a brace from Brazilian Wanderson on Saturday fired Krasnodar to a well-deserved win, which lifted them into second spot, equal on 21 points with Zenit, who take on Ufa today.

“It was a positive match for us in every aspect,” Krasnodar manager Igor Shalimov said.

“We’ve scored five and had chances to score more.”

Smolov opened the scoring six minutes before the interval after an Anzhi defensive blunder.

Claesson made it 2-0 in the 55th minute while second-half substitute Wanderson added a brace before Anzhi defender Vladimir Poluyakhtov reduced the deficit.

Okriashvili rounded off the scoring 11 minutes from time.

Six-time former champions CSKA Moscow beat Rostov 2-0 to go fourth, one point behind city rivals Lokomotiv.

CSKA, fresh from their 2-1 Champions League win at Benfica in midweek, opened the scoring through a Vasily Berezutsky header after half an hour.

Brazilian Vitinho added the second goal in the 68th minute, beating Rostov goalkeeper Ilya Abaev with an angled close-range shot.

“We knew that Rostov play well in defence and it was very important to score an early goal,” CSKA manager Viktor Gancharenko said.

“After we opened the scoring everything went our way and we could have scored more goals.”

Roberto Mancini’s Zenit, who whitewashed the Macedonian minnows 5-0 in Skopje on Thursday, will be the favourites to bag the three points in today’s match.

Zenit striker Alexander Kokorin, who tops the scorers’ chart with six goals, said his team needed a victory after the potentially damaging loss of points in two draws with Rostov and Dynamo.

“Those draws were like defeats. We need to start winning again,” said Kokorin. — AFP