The opponent is tough, but interesting

Different route

After returning from Samara, our team had one day off, and then continued to work in Krylatskoye with a full roster to restore the shape worthy of the sole leader of the championship.

On Thursday morning, the “army men” went on a trip, the most logistically difficult one this season. The route was ordinary: the red-and-blues loaded onto the club bus in the morning, went to Sheremetyevo, flew to Stavropol on an Aeroflot charter, jumped on the bus again and checked into a Krasnodar hotel by late evening. On Friday afternoon, Emil Rajkovic's team watched the video and held a practice in the Basket Hall.

But after the game, the team will follow another, yet unknown, route. This time, CSKA will immediately after the game head to the railway station and take the evening train to the airport in Adler. From there, the army men will return home by charter early Sunday morning.

Prizes for everyone

Meetings with Lokomotiv have been difficult and memorable for Muscovites lately. This season in Megasport the rivals played a real thriller for the audience. The hosts got back from a double-digit deficit twice during the game and took the lead in the end. Everything was decided by Jalen Burford's tough three off the backboard. After this, the red-and-blue team shot from distance three times to force overtime, but luck turned against the team.

By the way, Burford is gradually regaining his role as the first violin in the red-green offense, now he is averaging 15.1 points and is second only to Devon Akoon-Purcell (16.1).

An important step for the Krasnodar side was the dismissal of the center Jordan Morgan. This step freed up time and opportunities for Andrei Martyuk, who not only returned to excellent shape, but also earned the title of December co-MVP in the United League (15.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.5 blocked shots during the month) - along with Anton Astapkovich. On Saturday, both basketball players will receive a well-deserved prizes together.

“Our games vs Loko are always very interesting, and you should not expect anything different this time,” says CSKA head coach Emil Rajkovic. “Our opponents kept their core of players and maintained the same system, they are progressing during the season. As always the goal will be, first of all, to match their level of toughness and control the boards. We must establish our own game rhythm early and stay focused all game long.”

Past matchups

Win-loss ratio: 69-16,
in Moscow: 37-6, in Rostov: 9-1, in Krasnodar: 22-8, on the neutral court (Berlin): 1-0.

Game of the 2023-24 season:

12-Nov-2023. CSKA – Lokomotiv-Kuban: 88-91 (-3)

Brief dossier

Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar, Russia
Founded: 1946
Colors: red, green, white
Home court: Basket Hall (7,500)
President: Andrey Vedishchev
Interim head coach: Aleksandr Sekulic
Website: www.lokobasket.com
Trophy case: Euroleague bronze winner (2016), EuroCup winner (2013), 2-times VTB United League runner-up (2013, 2023), BEKO PBL bronze winner (2011/12), Eurochallenge runner-up (2011), FIBA Europe Cup runner-up (2005), Russian Cup winner (2018)