TipResumen

INTRODUCTION

Last Friday evening, the reigning Champions of Russia Lokomotiv Moscow lost the Super Cup to city rival CSKA Moscow and now they will be gin their title defence playing away in Ufa who had surprised everyone when they finished in sixth spot.



FK UFA

Ufa will hope to create problems to Champions Lokomotiv Moscow in this first round clash and they will once again look to their home form as last season they played much better at home then on their travels. But this season they will no longer have the services of manager Sergei Semak after he has left the team to coach Zenit St Petersburg. His former assistant 37-year old Tomarov will take charge of the team in the meantime. Tomarov does know the players well whom as assitant manager they managed to finished sixth and qualified for the Europa League. However in the first leg of the second qualifying round, Ufa could only managed a 0-0 draw with Slovenian Domzale away from home. He sent out almost all the same players who played last year, other then midfielder Stotskiy who left the team in the summer. However due to ionjuries, stopper Nikitin and striker Sysuev did not featured.



LOKOMOTIV MOSCOW

Lokomotiv Moscow won the title rather easily as they led the standings early in the season and were never troubled at any time in the season. However in the end they finished with just two points more then CSKA Moscow. True the team which was led by manager Semin has taken their foot off the gas towards the end of the season but luckily they still managed to win the championship. Now after a long absence they will once again feature in the group phase of the Champions League. Last season they made a name for themselves in the Europa League and they were only eliminated in the last 16 by Atletico Madrid. However last Friday they missed a good chance to add a trophy to their trophy cabinet as they were beaten by city rival CSKA by 1-0 after extra time. With regards to the team news, in the transfer window, only stopper Pejcinovic and striker Ari departed the side, while they brought in the likes of defender Idowa, midfielder Krychowiak and striker Zhemaletdinov.