The meeting of the 4th round of the Russian Premier League, held in Sochi, ended with a score of 1:1.
Valeri Karpin had to make new changes to the starting lineup: Bakhtiyor Zaynutdinov appeared from the first minutes for the first time, and in the position of central defender, and Denis Makarov took a place on the right in attack. Bitello returned to the field after two matches missed due to injury.
The first half was played with an overwhelming advantage of the white-blues, who practically did not let the opponent into their half of the field. In the 7th minute, Dynamo played a great corner: Bitello rolled it to Makarov, who then to Juan Caceres, under whose shot Ivan Sergeyev put his foot - the ball went near the post.
Rubens looked great on the left flank, who first broke into the penalty area well - his cross was stopped by Alexander Degtev - and a little later demonstrated a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, which went over the crossbar. Denis Makarov's long-range shot was more accurate, and the goalkeeper jumped and diverted it to the corner.
In the 18th minute, Dynamo drew up a great combination – Zaynutdinov, Sergeyev and Bitello brought the ball to Makarov in one touch, and he hit the far corner. Unfortunately, the video referees saw a microscopic offside for Ivan. Soon, Nicolas Ngamaleu found himself alone in front of the Sochi penalty area and hit the post with a shot from the semicircle.
Finally, in the 37th minute, the score was opened. After a fight in the center of the field, the ball bounced to Makarov, who immediately passed the ball to Sergeyev. Ivan's shot shook the left post again, and Makarov was the first to the finish – 1:0. With such a game, even Caceres felt like a forward and soon broke into the penalty area, but his shot was not accurate enough. The hosts did not bother Andrey Lunev even once in 45 minutes.
The Sochi players started the second half more actively, they gave Sergeyev and Rubens yellow cards, but our goal did not become more dangerous. Plus, to strengthen the defense, Aleksandr Kutitskiy appeared on the field, replacing Zaynutdinov, who played almost 60 minutes.
Dynamo gradually moved the game away from their goal, and Makarov had another chance, responding to a cross from Ngamaleu and heading it over the crossbar. In the middle of the half, the hosts managed to hit Lunev's goal, but Martin Kramaric's goal was disallowed due to Artem Makarchuk, who was making the cross, being offside.
Makarov almost made a "dry sheet" from a corner - Degtev reached the ball. A little later, Denis found Sergeyev in the penalty area with a classy pass, whose shot was blocked by a defender at the last moment. Sochi's return goal came out of nowhere: after a clearance from the goal, Saul Guarirapa won the aerial duel, Maksim Mukhin picked up the ball and hit the near corner from 18 meters.
In the remaining time, Dynamo was closer to snatching victory. Fomin and Rubens made Degtev work hard with long-range shots, and Yegor Smelov had the most realistic chance to score – his shot from the center of the penalty area was blocked by a defender.
In the next match, the white-blues will host Krasnodar on Wednesday, August 13, as part of the FONBET Russian Cup. Buy tickets for VTB Arena on our website.
