The match of the 2nd round of the Russian Premier League, held at VTB Arena, ended with the victory of our team with a score of 1:0.
Compared to the opening match of the season, only one change occurred in the Dynamo lineup – Dmitry Skopintsev was replaced on the left flank of the defense by Alexander Kutitskiy. At the same time, Skopintsev and Diego Laxalt remained in reserve.
Rostov traditionally started with very high pressure, which Dynamo preferred to break up with the help of long passes, but they rarely reached the addressees. The only shot in the first 10 minutes was made by Yaroslav Gladyshev, while the ball passed a couple of meters from the far post.
The teams knew each other out well and did not allow to create dangerous moments. Set pieces came to the rescue. First, Daniil Fomin earned a foul on the right flank – Gladyshev checked Rustam Yatimov's reaction with a direct hit, and the goalkeeper of Rostov did not fail. Soon Yaroslav quickly threw in an out, Juan Caceres made a perfect cross to Ivan Sergeev, who jumped out from behind the defender and scored his debut goal for Dynamo!
After the goal was scored, the game opened up a little, Dynamo's ball went faster, but there was quite a lot of mistakes in the final third. But at their goal, Muscovites did not allow the guests to create anything. At the end of the half, Roberto Fernandez was injured, Skopintsev replaced him, and Kutitskiy shifted to the center of defense.
The second half began with two dangerous moments for Rostov: Timur Suleymanov and Viktor Melekhin hit the headers after crosses from the flanks, and both times Andrei Lunev deflected the threat in a beautiful jump. Dynamo responded with a quick exit from the defense and a beautiful attack, which ended with a strike by Nicolas Ngamaleu, after which the ball hit the defender's heel and went to the corner.
The blue and whites confidently controlled the game, spending most of the time in attacks. The first reshuffle in the second half was the exit of Denis Makarov instead of Ngamaleu, while the coach of Rostov used up all his substitutions by the 78th minute. However, fresh players did not make a breakthrough in the course of the match.
In the last 10 minutes, Valery Karpin released Leon Zaydenzal and El-Mehdi Maouhoub on the field, and Dynamo switched to playing with three central defenders. Rostov failed to create anything, and the blue and whites scored the second goal. After a corner, the ball reached Skopintsev, and he sent it to the net. Unfortunately, a beautiful goal was canceled due to Makarov's offside.
Dynamo on Tuesday, July 29, will host Sochi at the start of the cup campaign. Buy tickets to VTB Arena on our website.
