Marked for Sergey Pinyaev
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Dec 2026
Maxim Khokhlov damages knee ligaments — 88 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 88 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sergey Pinyaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Nobody could get near Lucas Vera
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Khokhlov
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Lokomotiv Moscow may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Dec 2026
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Artem Karpukas was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergey Pinyaev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Maxim Khokhlov
105 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Lokomotiv Moscow lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Sergey Pinyaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I did not go to Chernomorets to sit and watch. I want to come back to Lokomotiv Moscow and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 14 matches say the rest.
Squad7 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gerzino Nyamsi, and the manager let it.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match14 Nov 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Zenit was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match14 Nov 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Lokomotiv Moscow are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Nov 2026
César Montes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Pinyaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad5 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokomotiv Moscow will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match30 Sep 2026
Textilschik are out and Lokomotiv Moscow go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match3 Oct 2026
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Rubin will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Rossi takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Rossi, 33, rolls back the years — 7.97
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.97 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 42 days on the sidelines for Sergey Pinyaev, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match3 Oct 2026
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Maxim Khokhlov is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Sep 2026
Sergey Pinyaev wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Sergey Pinyaev found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Orenburg went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Sergey Pinyaev at 21 — 8.01
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sergey Pinyaev did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Lucas Vera runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sergey Pinyaev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of César Montes
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sergey Pinyaev has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad14 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Lokomotiv Moscow will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Pinyaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ilja Lantratov, and the manager let it.
Match5 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nikolay Komlichenko. 1‑0 against Akron, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.97, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.14 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Lokomotiv Moscow had the best player on the pitch.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Nizhniy Novgorod? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The shirt belongs to César Montes now
At 29 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Lokomotiv Moscow have a decision that made itself.
Loan watch31 Aug 2026
3 appearances at Neman and the goals keep coming. Lokomotiv Moscow are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Chances created: 4. Somebody has to open a door before anybody can walk through it, and he spent the afternoon opening doors.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
César Montes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Pinyaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match15 Aug 2026
Losing 0‑1 is one thing; losing to Spartak Moscow in a derby is a wound that takes months to close.
Market17 Aug 2026
CSKA Moscow paid $11.6M and Lokomotiv Moscow took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Alexey Batrakov was one of the reasons people came, and $11.6M does not replace that by itself.
Squad17 Aug 2026
César Montes in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Lokomotiv Moscow this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Danil Prutsev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Lucas Vera scored in the 85th minute, Zenit had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Lokomotiv Moscow took the lot.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gerzino Nyamsi commits to Lokomotiv Moscow for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
César Montes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
Lucas Vera wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Lokomotiv Moscow training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergey Pinyaev is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match1 Aug 2026
Three points for Lokomotiv Moscow, 2‑1 the final word against Zenit in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.