The meeting of the group stage of the Winline Winter Cup of the RPL, held in Abu Dhabi, ended with the defeat of the blue and white with a score of 0:1.
Unlike the meeting with Krasnodar, on Friday our lineup turned out to be as close as possible to the main one. Igor Leshchuk took the place in the goal this time, and from the first minutes Luis Chavez, Diego Laxalt, Arthur Gomez and Bitello, who missed the first game of the tournament, appeared on the field.
Our opponent also fielded all the strongest, and already in the second minute Spartak leader Ezequiel Barko burst into the penalty area and almost spun the ball into the far corner. At the opposite gate, Bitello was active, twice finding himself on the lawn after the harsh actions of the red-and-white defenders.
Chavez, who pulled a muscle, had to be changed in the 15th minute - Jorge Carrascal entered the field. The first scoring moment of the blue and white was created by Konstantin Tyukavin, who got into the penalty area very well and made a well-adjusted canopy on Arthur, whose shot was sent from close range to the corner by Daniil Denisov. After the standard, Nicolas Marichal struck his head over the crossbar.
At the end of half an hour of the game, Arthur received the ball on the left flank, swung Denisov and cunningly punched into the far corner next to the nine. And then Dynamo scored themselves: Marichal casually gave back, Leshchuk barely reached the ball, and from his foot he crossed the goal line. A ridiculous own goal briefly unsettled the blue and white, and only in the last minute of the half there was danger at the gates of Alexander Maksimenko: Fabian Balbuena's shot was blocked by the defenders, and Nicolas Ngamaleu's attempt was recorded by the goalkeeper.
There was only one substitution during the break – instead of Alexander Kutitskiy, Eli Dasa appeared on the right flank of the defense. Dynamo could quickly recoup: Maksimenko repelled a tight Carrascal strike in front of him, Balbuena had to finish off the crossbar, after which the red-and-white goalkeeper pulled him off the ribbon. Three minutes later, Roberto Fernandez checked the crossbar for strength once again.
Spartak scored its first shot on target only in the 54th minute, when Leshchuk confidently deflected a shot by Marquinhos from the penalty line. A couple of minutes later, Igor again played brilliantly, parrying a dangerous blow from Manfred Ugalde.
After the 60th minute, there were massive substitutions, and many young players appeared on the field. There was more marriage, less sharpness, but cool moments still appeared. First, Leshchuk eliminated Mikhail Ignatov's exit, and a little later Denis Bokov had a great deal in the penalty area with Daniil Khlusevich, after which he twisted into the far corner – Ilya Pomazun reflected the ball in a jump.
At the very end, Daniil Fomin missed an excellent opportunity to even the score, having struck above the gate after a cool throw by Viktor Okishor. As a result, our team lost for the second time in the tournament with a minimum score and will now play in the match for the 5th place with Rostov on February 10. The meeting will begin at 15:00 Moscow time.
