The start of the second half of the season turned out to be quite telling for the semifinal opponents in the Russian Cup. CSKA Moscow became one of the two main newsmakers of the winter period, remembered not only for its transfer campaign but also for its results on the field. For the first time in its history the Army men won the Winter Cup of the Russian Premier League, which is annually contested among the best Russian clubs in Abu Dhabi. With all three opponents in the tournament, Celestini's charges drew, beating two of them in a penalty shootout. As for transfers, the Moscow club seemed to have worked effectively on the arrivals. After losing Igor Diveev, the team was reinforced by Matheus Reis, Dmitri Barinov, Danila Kozlov, and Luciano Gondu. Three of the four newcomers have substantial experience playing in Russia, and therefore should not have faced a long adaptation period. The absolute positivity around CSKA cooled the fans' ardor so much that a defeat in the first official match of the second half of the season in Grozny came as a shock. Moreover, the defeat was entirely deserved. Akhmat produced two to three goal-scoring chances and also had two goals ruled out, winning 1-0. Krasnodar during the winter break followed the strategy of the previous season. Sergei Galitsky's club showed no activity on the transfer market, adding only Juan Boselli from Pari NN. Moreover, from the outset it was obvious that the Uruguayan would not get a place in the starting eleven. Murad Musaev is not a proponent of rotating the squad and not inclined to break what works. Meanwhile, the Bulls' ranks saw the departure of Gaetan Perrin, Gustavo Santos, and the aforementioned Kozlov. Krasnodar's first official match of 2026 was played at their own stadium against Rostov. Given the opponent's status, the Russian champions' fans expected a comfortable win for the Bulls. In practice, Musaev's team scored one more goal, but the nerves of the local crowd were fairly frayed. The match referee, together with the VAR, also contributed by making several ambiguous decisions. Surely in Moscow Musaev will give a chance to play several players from the immediate reserves. His team enters a stretch of three away matches in a row. In turn, Celestini, after the away-game fiasco, does not have the right to lose the second consecutive official match.