Lokomotiv Moscow take on the visitors Schalke 04 at the RZD Arena in the Round 2 of the UEFA Champions League Group D. The match will be played in Moscow on Wednesday, October 3rd.
Lokomotiv Moscow often failed in the starting matches of the previous seasons. They always were able to rehabilitate though. However, even though they beat Baltika in the 1/16-finals fixture of the Russian Cup in the extra time last week they are unlikely to show a good performance on Wednesday. The Red-Greens have been having lots of problems in their defense lately. In their last three matches they conceded seven goals which was quite a lot. Their upcoming opponent is in the lower part of the Bundesliga at the moment but don`t forget that basically any middle or outsider team from the most prestigious German league could compete for the gold in the Russian Premier League. It`s worth noting that the key striker of the Railroaders Fyodor Smolov is out with an injury. The other key players in the team are the Miranchuk brothers, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Eder but they one not the ones who could get the victory by themselves only. It seems like the playing style of Yuri Semin is outdated now. His team has been showing uninteresting and weak performances recently. They are able to compete for the gold neither in the Champions League, nor in the Europa League. The main goal for the Parovozy is to earn as much money as possible. By the way, the recent failures of the Russian team could be connected to the physical shape of the footballers. A lot of them took part in the World Cup last summer and a lot were new to the team. The Red-Greens are likely to reach their peak shape only by the end of the fall. They are obviously not the favourite in the lead-up to the upcoming fixture. In their last three matches Lokomotiv Moscow beat Akhmat Grozny with a 2-0 score, Baltika with a 3-2 score in the extra time in th1 1/16-finals fixture of the Russian Cup and lost to Zenit Petersburg with a 3-5 score. In the Round 1 of the UEFA Champions League Group D they lost to Galatasaray with a 0-3 score.
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Schalke 04 have been failing in the Bundesliga lately. One could think that they would not concentrate on the UEFA Champions League exactly because of that. However, realistically they are likely to start showing good performances both in the Bundesliga and the UEFA Champions League soon. Their recent failures have been happening due to a lot of their key players being injured and their low productivity. Even though Die Konigsblauen are not the ones to lock in their defense they have a pretty bad defensive line. Last season the team of Domenico Tedesco was great at taking free kicks, penalty kicks and corner kicks. Now they are not special at all. It`s worth noting that the head coach of the team has been trying to change the playing style of Schalke 04 lately. Even though the results have not been for them there yet their performances have been getting better. Die Knappen lost their key players Max Meyer and Leon Goretzka last summer. They have been playing weak in the midfield zone lately, the team has been lacking compactness. Despite all of that they are likely to get some points in their upcoming fixtures. They have already shown good performances lately so they need to do only a little bit more in order to get better results. In their last three matches Schalke 04 beat Mainz 05 with a 1-0 score, lost to Freiburg with a 0-1 score and to Bayern Munich with a 0-2 score. In the Round 1 of the UEFA Champions League they drew against Porto with a 1-1 score.
Lokomotiv Moscow have a very small chance of winning in the upcoming fixture. The only way they could get some points on Wednesday is them scoring a goal from a long distance, with a ricochet, from a free kick or something like that. Schalke 04 should not be as underrated as they are at the moment. Even though a lot of people predict the Red-Greens to get some points because of their home crowd advantage Die Konigsblauen will get a draw in the upcoming match almost for sure. If they draw in Moscow on Wednesday it will be a very good result for them. Despite everyone comparing Schalke 04 to Manchester United right now the team of Domenico Tedesco is not as bad as the Railroaders.
Prediction for the match: Schalke 04 to win with 0 handicap.
