The match of the 8th round of the Russian Premier League, held at VTB Arena, ended with a score of 2:2.
Our team came out in their usual combination in midfield and attack, but in the center of defense, Maksim Osipenko was paired with Bakhtiyor Zaynutdinov. Andrey Lunev, who took his place in goal, and Konstantin Tyukavin, who was included in the match application for the first time in six months, also recovered from injuries.
The opening minutes of the game were spent in a tight fight in the center of the field. Denis Makarov was remembered for his activity and execution of a dangerous free kick, which hit the wall. Bitello quickly played another set piece, Danil Glebov accurately rolled the ball to the penalty line, from where Daniil Fomin shot at the post.
And then Spartak's goal came out of nowhere: Lunev was going for a long throw, but Zaynutdinov unsuccessfully threw the ball past him, and Levi Garcia hit an empty net. However, Dynamo reacted correctly and equalized the score after 7 minutes. Bitello, with his head bandaged after a hard collision with Daniil Denisov, executed a free kick from the left flank brilliantly - Zaynutdinov confused Aleksandr Maksimenko with his jump, and the ball, without touching anyone, landed in the right corner of the goal!
Soon our team managed a perfect vertical attack, which was thwarted by the visiting team's newcomer Aleksander Djiku at the cost of a yellow card. This time Maksimenko figured out Bitello's plan and coped with the Brazilian's free kick. At the end of the half, Dynamo made great use of high pressure - Glebov, after a first-time tackle, threw the ball into the penalty area, where Ruslan Litvinov rushed at the last moment to meet Makarov's killer strike.
Already in added time, Anton Miranchuk softly threw the ball to Bitello, and the Brazilian sent the ball into the far corner with a beautiful strike - 2:1! At the same time, the head coach of the red-and-whites, Dejan Stankovic, dissatisfied with the referee's decision in the previous attack, ran onto the field and negotiated for a red card.
The second half began with pressure from the guests and a shot that hit the crossbar from Garcia. Spartak made a couple more shots from outside the penalty area, after which the white-blues managed to move the game away from their goal. However, in the 63rd minute Spartak scored again from an unobvious situation: the ball flew over the Dynamo penalty area several times, after another throw-in three defenders failed to figure it out, and the ball, bouncing off Osipenko, went to Garcia, who scored a double.
The game became even more tense and nervous. 15 minutes before the end, the long-awaited return of Tyukavin took place, replacing Ivan Sergeyev and receiving a standing ovation from the entire stadium. Four minutes later, our striker got a chance to score – the Dynamo players quickly played out a penalty again, Bitello received the ball on the right flank and rolled it to Tyukavin, who shot from a good position into the hands of Maksimenko.
At the end of the half, Lunev played superbly twice, first deflecting a difficult shot from Manfred Ugalde from the penalty area, and then neutralizing a point-blank shot from Pablo Solari.
In the next match, Dynamo will play away against Sochi on Wednesday, September 17, as part of the Russian Cup.
