The Russian championship continued this weekend with playoff semifinal matches. Both match-ups played two legs of the semifinal and Sinara Yekaterinburg seems to be on course to the final, having defeated KPRF two times. In the second match-up, Tyumen and Norilsk Nickel both won one match and now their series is tied.
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Sinara Yekaterinburg recorded two victories against KPRF. In their first match, Sinara won 7-4, but only after extra time. Bagirov equalized for KPRF in the last seconds of the match, but Sinara's Abramov scored a hat-trick in the extra time, securing the victory for his team.
In the second match, Sinara again won, but this time we saw much fewer goals. The final result was 2-1 for Sinara, with Abramov scoring both goals.
In the second match-up, Norilsk Nickel defeated Tyumen 4-1. The team from above the arctic circle scored all goals in the second half and once they started scoring they were in control until the end.
The second match, though, was quite a treat. First half finished with a 3-3 result, after Norilsk took a 3-0 lead, only for Tyumen to equalize by the break. Tyumen then took the lead, but things got turned around thanks to two Norilsk's goals. Nevertheless, Tyumen equalized once again just a few minutes before full time.
We didn't lack drama in the extra time as well. Norilsk took the lead, but Tyumen managed to equalize two minutes before the end, which led the match to penalties.
In the roulette of penalties, it was Tyumen players who came on top, with Norilsk missing two of their shots.
These teams meet again on Thursday, 3 June. Sinara will travel to KPRF's venue and if they manage to win one match against their rivals, they will qualify to the final of the Russian championship. If anything, the first two matches showed that these two teams are close.
Tyumen will now host Norilsk for two matches. If any of the teams manage to win both of them, they will qualify for the final. If not, the fifth match decider awaits us.
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