In the final matches of the Europa League at the playoff stage, CSKA had the best chances among Russian teams. After all, the first game with the Swedish club AIK not only ended with a 1: 0 victory for the army team, but also took place on a foreign field, in Stockholm.
Considering the result of the away meeting, as well as the quite mature, high-quality football demonstrated by the army team lately, CSKA was considered the clear favorite before the return game. And if we add to this the factor of "home walls" and the fierce support of their fans, the success of the Russians on the sum of two meetings seemed to be almost 100%.
Alas, apparently, this confidence played a cruel joke with the army team. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain how already at the very beginning of the match in the 6th minute a gross mistake was made in defense, as a result of which the player of the Swedish team Ampos Karikari freely shot the gates of the Russians. 1: 0 - the Swedes took the lead. Such an unexpected, discouraging start inspired the AIK players: after all, a task that had just seemed almost impossible to do, suddenly became quite real. CSKA players, on the contrary, this goal literally broke psychologically. After all, they had an overwhelming territorial and game advantage, created a lot of dangerous moments, inflicted almost thirty shots on the Swedes' goal, of which ten were on target! But the ball, as if enchanted, stubbornly did not fly into the net.
And already in stoppage time, the Swedes filed a corner, and the second shot on our goal, which came on target for the entire match, led to the second goal! With a 2-0 score in their favor, the jubilant Swedes went back to Stockholm, while CSKA, alas, dropped out of the Europa League competition. Both the players of our team and its fans were simply shocked.
Our other team, "Anji" from Makhachkala, on the contrary, made the fans happy. In the return match, she met in the Dutch city of Alkmaar with the local club A3. The first game, which took place in Russia, ended with the victory of Makhachkala residents with a score of 1: 0. Guus Hiddink's charges could well afford to play away to keep the score, going into defense and occasionally conducting sharp counterattacks. However, our players scored two unanswered goals in the first half, and after the break they scored three more, bringing the score to a devastating one. 5: 0 is more than a convincing victory, and even on a foreign field!
Thus, "Anji" together with another Russian team (Kazan "Rubin") overcame the playoff stage, and now its players will strive for victory in the group stage. CSKA and Dynamo, alas, did not make it there.
