Lokomotiv steam ahead in Russia
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Two-time former champions Lokomotiv Moscow went top of the Russian Premier League table following a 3-1 away win to Ural Yekaterinburg.
Goals by Alexander Samedov, Baye Oumar Niasse and Maicon set the railway-backed side on their way to a well-deserved win, which left them one point clear of champions Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow, who will face Ufa and Amkar Perm on Sunday respectively.
In the 28th minute Samedov had the 200 Lokomotiv supporters, who had travelled to Yekaterinburg, on their feet as he sent the ball into the net with a 35-yard free-kick. Senegalese forward Niasse added his goal five minutes before the break when he beat Ural goalkeeper Dmitry Arapov with a powerful shot from the edge of the box.
After the interval, Ural moved up a gear and midfielder Alexander Yerokhin pulled one back with 17 minutes remaining but Brazilian striker Maicon restored Lokomotiv's two-goal advantage in injury time.
Elsewhere, Mathieu Valbuena scored Dynamo Moscow's winner after his club battled back from a goal down twice to chalk up their first win this season with a 3-2 success at ten-man Anzhi Makhachkala. Midfielder Ilya Maximov put Anzhi into the lead in the fifth minute when he slotted the ball in from seven yards but Alexei Kozlov levelled matters 15 minutes later with a header off a well-struck free-kick by Valbuena.
French forward Yannick Boli lifted Anzhi 2-1 up with a Panenka-style spotkick in the 35th minute after he was brought down in the area. But Slovak Tomas Hubocan levelled again in first half stoppage-time, lobbing the ball into the net with a header from just inside the penalty box.
Valbuena netted the winner from the spot in the 79th minute after Alexei Ionov was fouled in the area by skipper Ali Gadzhibeckov, who was shown a direct red card for his foul.