Refereeing scandal in the first round: Rubin lost to Krasnodar, and Chistyakov was threatened

Without Spertsyan and Cordoba, Krasnodar secured a victory in the first match of the new RPL season

Rubin opened the 2026/27 Russian Football Championship with a match against Krasnodar. In the past season, the “bulls” allowed Zenit to win the RPL gold only in the last round. Although the southerners approached the meeting with Rubin with two important losses — without Eduard Spertsyan (this summer, the midfielder moved to Al-Ahli) and John Cordoba (injured at the 2026 World Cup while playing for the Colombian national team) — nevertheless, there was no reason to doubt the strength of Murad Musaev's team.

The position of center-forward was filled by Dmitry Vorobyov, who transferred from Lokomotiv. And Nikita Krivtsov moved to the playmaker position, the “number ten.”

In the press before the season, there was much discussion about how Krasnodar would compensate for the loss of Spertsyan in the center of the field. Who would be responsible for creativity and unconventional solutions for the “bulls.”

Yesterday, we clearly saw that both Krivtsov and Juan Boselli are capable of being the playmakers of Krasnodar's attacks. The second goal of the “bulls” was a sight to behold: in a quick combination, Boselli back-heeled the ball to Krivtsov, and Nikita, with a crisp, one-touch shot with filigree elegance, sent the ball into the net of Evgeny Staver.

Ilya Rozhkov's red card in the 18th minute broke the flow of the match and predetermined Krasnodar's triumph

Krasnodar dominated in the second half and, in a certain sense, with class and championship ambitions, put pressure on Rubin. However, the course of the match at the beginning could have promised the southerners a loss of points in the capital of Tatarstan. The fact is that the guests conceded first. With a long pass, Staver found Mirind Daku; the Albanian escaped the marking of a Krasnodar defender and fired past Stanislav Agkatsev, who was recently named the league's best goalkeeper at the RPL season awards.

Rubin took the lead as early as the 10th minute and, as Frank Artiga later admitted at the press conference, played brilliantly in the opening segment of the game. But then came Ilya Rozhkov's red card in the 18th minute. During a challenge with Boselli, the Rubin defender swung his arm. The Uruguayan's nose started bleeding, and the match's chief referee, Artem Chistyakov, after a VAR review, determined that the foul warranted a red card.

Both Frank Artiga and Rozhkov himself vehemently disagreed with the red card. The young Rubin player even allowed himself to use foul language towards the referee when leaving the field, so outraged was he by the red card.

Later, Chistyakov's colleagues recognized that the referee's decision was legitimate. Nevertheless, it certainly broke the game. After the 20th minute, it gradually became clear that Rubin would retreat with ten men to the settings of Rakhimov's football: they would play simpler, more pragmatically, without any adventurism. After Rozhkov's red card, the team had several bright moments to score; Daku himself had several good chances to score a brace. However, the match result was in Krasnodar's hands.

Just before halftime, Juan Boselli equalized with a direct free kick. In the 53rd minute, Krivtsov put Krasnodar ahead, and in the 94th minute, Christian sealed the result of the match. The Brazilian became the third foreign player in the “bulls'" history to score in his debut game for Krasnodar.

After the match, referee Artem Chistyakov was threatened by an unknown person

Frank Artiga maintained his composure at the press conference, not allowing himself loud statements about the referee or the opponent. But the Spanish coach was clearly upset by how the game unfolded after Ilya Rozhkov's red card.

— No comments on the match. The only thing I can say is that football ended in the 19th minute. I assessed the Rozhkov incident during the match. Daku? While there was football on the pitch until the 19th minute — Daku scored a goal. All the remaining time we played with ten men. The whole team fought — I can praise the players for their dedication. Rozhkov as a winger? We don't have reinforcements yet, so we have to look for different options, — Artiga summarized the match.

Rubin's debut game in the Russian Championship turned out to be scandalous. Primarily because of the refereeing precedent. As became known after the match, Artem Chistyakov was even threatened after the game. The identity of the person who threatened him has not been established, but this episode was recorded in the match report.

Rubin's next match in the RPL will be against Akron on August 1 away. The match start is scheduled for 14:00 Moscow time.

Rubin (Kazan) — Krasnodar — 1:3 (1:1)
July 26. Ak Bars Arena
1:0 — Daku, 12
1:1 — Boselli, 45+5
1:2 — Krivtsov, 53
1:3 — Christian, 90+6

Rubin: Staver, Teslenko (Lobov, 87), Nizhegorodov (Maldonado, 64), Vujacic, Arroyo, Bezrukov (Sive, 64), Rozhkov, Grip shi (Samoshnikov, 46), Saavedra, Khoja, Daku
Krasnodar: Agkatsev, Tormena, Jubal, Olaza, Vakhania, Douglas Augusto, Bachi, Chernikov (Ozdoyev, 80), Krivtsov, Vorobyov (Christian, 80), Boselli (Utkin, 77)
Warnings: Krivtsov (45+1), Grip shi (45+5), Augusto (45+5), Christian (90+6)
Red card: Rozhkov (17)