The match of the 4th round of the Russian Premier League with Zenit, held in St. Petersburg, ended with a score of 0:3.
Sandro Schwarz decided to stick with his winning lineup and fielded the same 11 players as in the match against Dynamo Makhachkala. It was worth noting the first appearance on the bench for 15-year-old goalkeeper Ruslan Dzhioev, who made his debut for the second team this season.
The Blue-Whites started the match with intense pressure in the opposing half and forced the hosts into a mistake at one point. But the first opportunity came practically out of nowhere: after a long clearance from the center of the field by Kurban Rasulov, Konstantin Tyukavin rushed toward the ball and, with his second touch, tried to chip Denis Adamov, but ended up sending it over the net.
Our team also had their first shot on target. Tyukavin conveniently rolled the ball to Bitello, but the Brazilian's shot hit the Zenit goalkeeper. Yaroslav Gladyshev had a good opportunity, heading Artur's cross from close range, but his effort was off target.
Zenit held out for a long time, then scored twice in five minutes. First, Alexander Sobolev earned a penalty after falling after a light contact with David, and then converted it himself. Then the hosts managed a quick counterattack, which was finished by Sobolev after a perfectly placed pass from Maxim Glushenkov. Ultimately, a strong first half by our team ended with an illogical score.
The second half began similarly to the first, with Tyukavin's powerful strike from outside the penalty area. This time, the ball went on target, leaving Adamov to work hard. A little later, Gladyshev almost curled the ball into the far corner from about 25 meters out, just wide of the post. This proved to be his last action on the field, after which he was substituted for Ivan Sergeyev.
And soon our fresh striker made his mark near his goal, dashing halfway across the field and preventing Sobolev from finding himself one-on-one with Rasulov after a quick counterattack. Miranchuk and Okishor, who had made excellent substitute appearances a week earlier, came on for the final 20 minutes.
This had an effect – the Dynamo players began to combine more in front of the penalty area, and dangerous moments were not long in coming. Rubens fired a powerful shot from 20 meters out, but Adamov made a diving save. Maksim Osipenko then finished off a superb pass in the penalty area, and the home team's goalkeeper was once again up to the task. And in the end, the ball found its way back into our net after what was either a shot or a cross from Glushenkov from a free kick.
The final score was 14-4 in our favor in shots, but 0-3 on the scoreboard. Dynamo will play Krasnodar in their next match on August 19 in the FONBET Russian Cup group stage. Tickets for VTB Arena are available on our website.
