The match of the 9th round of the Russian Premier League with Rostov, held in Rostov-on-Don, ended with the victory of our team with a score of 3:0.
Konstantin Tyukavin returned to the starting lineup after serving a suspension; otherwise, the team remained unchanged. Joining Maximiliano Gutiérrez on the bench was a second new signing, Josué Casimir.
As expected, the match began with high intensity; within the first minute, Juan Cáceres received a yellow card for catching Timur Suleymanov with his arm during a challenge. By the 15th minute, three players had already been booked, with Arthur and David Semenchuk also making their way into the referee's notebook. Amidst the constant physical battles, both teams also looked to attack. Olakunle Olusegun delivered the match's first attempt — a header — but it went wide.
Up front, the Dynamo players looked to get the ball to Tyukavin, who was eager for action after his layoff: Yaroslav Gladyshev found him in the box with a clever pass, but a defender blocked the captain's shot; a couple of minutes later, Juan Cáceres sent in a promising cross, only for the ball to be snatched off Tyukavin's head at the last moment. Finally, in the 25th minute, Tyukavin received the ball at the edge of the penalty area, took a touch, and fired a shot over the crossbar from 16 meters out.
Sandro Schwarz immediately made his first substitution, bringing on Nicolás Marichal to replace Cáceres. The next burst of action came ten minutes before the break. First, Andrey Lunyov pulled off a double save against close-range shots from Suleymanov, after which the referee whistled for a foul. Then, in the 36th minute, Dynamo launched a lightning-fast attack: Artur played the ball to Gladyshev, who passed it on to Tyukavin, and Kostya finished the chance perfectly!
The hosts could have equalized quickly, but Lunyov once again performed brilliantly on the goal line, diving to save a header from Oumar Sako following a corner kick. The first half ended with our team holding a narrow lead. After the break, Viktor Okishor came onto the pitch, replacing Artur, who was already on a yellow card.
Early in the second half, Lunyov twice headed the ball away outside his own penalty area. On the first occasion, the ball fell to Ivan Komarov, and Maksim Osipenko had to use his chest to stop the ball from entering the unguarded net. In the second instance, the defensive cover for our goalkeeper proved much more reliable.
At the other end of the pitch, Okishor set up Bitello for a shot with a superb pass, forcing Artyom Petrov to dive and pull the ball out of the top near corner. From then on, the "White-Blues" managed the game intelligently, preventing the opposition from reaching their penalty area while launching quick counter-attacks.
Daniil Fomin and Gutiérrez entered the fray for the final 20 minutes; Gutiérrez took up a position on the left flank of the attack, while Okishor shifted to the right. The tactical switch paid off: Gutiérrez beat two defenders, Tyukavin played the ball left to Bitello—who sent a pass across the face of the penalty area — Fomin let the ball run to Okishor, and Vitya fired it precisely into the corner with his left foot!
Moments later, Okishor set up Fomin for a shot, forcing Petrov to show off his reflexes and save his team from a rout. Ultimately, however, the hosts could not avoid a heavy defeat. Sako brought Tyukavin down in the box in the 87th minute, and the striker confidently converted the penalty to secure a brace. In stoppage time, the goalpost helped Lunyov keep a second consecutive clean sheet by denying a shot from Viktor Melekhin.
Dynamo claimed their fifth consecutive league victory, reaching 19 points and moving up to second place in the standings — just two points behind leaders Krasnodar. In the next round, they will play an away match against Rubin Kazan on October 11.
