The first match of the semi-final of the Russian Cup, held at VTB Arena, ended with the victory of our team with a score of 5:2.
Compared to the first match of the year, Roland Gusev made two forced changes to the starting lineup: the suspended Daniil Fomin and Nicolas Marichal were replaced by Alexander Kutitsky and David Ricardo, who was making his debut.
The start of the match was extremely eventful. In the fifth minute, Anton Miranchuk sent Bitello on a breakaway down the left flank. The Brazilian made a subtle pass to Nicolas Ngamaleu in the penalty area, who fired a precise shot past Alexander Maksimenko – 1-0!
Five more minutes passed, and the ball was back in the visitors' net. Miranchuk took a free kick, Maksimenko blocked it in front of him, and Maksim Osipenko scored from two meters out. Unfortunately, the referee called an offside and later sent off our team's chief analyst, Andrey Panov, from the bench. The Red-Whites' goalkeeper was visibly nervous and made several poor clearances, once passing accurately to Miranchuk, whose shot deflected off a defender's leg and went just wide of the post.
Spartak created its first dangerous moment in the second half: Ezequiel Barco rolled a free kick to the near post, where Manfred Ugalde hit Andrey Lunev. In the 30th minute, the Costa Rican forward finally got his way, heading in Roman Zobnin's cross to level the score.
Dynamo's players returned to their activity at the end of the first half. First, Ngamalyo made a great run past Zobnin on the flank, burst into the penalty area, and fired a shot toward the near corner, which Maksimenko parried. A little later, Bitello moved inside and curled toward the far corner, but the visiting goalkeeper was up to the task. In stoppage time, Lunev saved his team after Gedson found himself one-on-one.
The second half began with another goalkeeping feat from Lunev, who saved Barco's shot from close range. The Red-and-Whites' leader came even closer to scoring, attempting a clean sheet from a corner, but the ball clipped the tip of Konstantin Tyukavin's boot and hit the post. Our goalkeeper confidently dealt with the Argentine's third attempt from a tight angle.
Dynamo's players also didn't sit back in defense and tried to create combinations near the opponent's penalty area. Rubens fired a powerful shot from distance, but Maksimenko blocked it in front of him, leaving no one there to take the rebound.
In the 65th minute, Gusev made what turned out to be a perfect double substitution: Miranchuk and Kutitsky were replaced by Yaroslav Gladyshev and Timofey Marinkin. A couple of minutes later, Gladyshev carried the ball into the penalty area, beat Zobnin, and crossed. The ball bounced to Marinkin, whose poor shot turned into a perfect pass to Ngamalyo, who smashed the ball into the net from a few meters away!
And then something incredible happened – the balls started flying into Spartak's goal one after another. Bitello took a corner, and David Ricardo scored his first goal on his second attempt – 3-1. Gladyshev robbed Alexander Djika and set up Tyukavin in an empty net – 4-1. Another corner from Bitello, and an unmarked Osipenko made it 5-1!
The referee also disallowed Bitello's precise shot from the penalty area for offside. Spartak only recovered in stoppage time, when Levi Garcia hit the crossbar and Christopher Martins finished off a lucky rebound.
The return match will take place on March 18, and Dynamo will play their next RPL match away against CSKA Moscow on March 8.
