The match of the 15th round of the Russian Premier League, held at VTB Arena, ended with the victory of the guests with a score of 2:1.
Maksim Osipenko escaped with a minor injury in the cup match and was able to start alongside Roberto Fernandez. Danil Glebov was replaced in defensive midfield by Alexander Kutitsky, while the usual trio of academy graduates Ulvi Babayev, Konstantin Tyukavin, and Yaroslav Gladyshev was already in attack.
Dynamo locked the visitors in their own half from the start and began systematically besieging Vitaly Gudiev's penalty area. However, most of the crosses were successfully blocked by defenders, and Kutitsky's header was blocked by the Togliatti goalkeeper. The visitors, playing without the injured Artem Dzyuba, rarely crossed the halfway line and were often caught offside after balls forward.
Just before the half-hour mark, our team launched a successful attack with a quick passing attack – Bitello moved the ball into the center of the penalty area, Tyukavin chested it down to Babayev, and Ulvi's shot went inches wide of the post. Another opportunity occurred late in the half, when Tyukavin passed the ball to Gladyshev, who raced into the penalty area and fired a low shot right into the goalkeeper's hands.
The second half began in the same vein – the home team tried to create something offensively, while the visitors defended skillfully. A superb move came in the 53rd minute, when Daniil Fomin spotted Gladyshev's acceleration down the flank and then found himself open near the penalty area – Ifet Djakovac had to stop him, earning a yellow card. Yaroslav curled a free kick under the crossbar, but Gudiyev confidently deflected it for a corner.
And then, unexpectedly, the visitors opened the scoring. After an interception in his own half, Khetag Khosonov crafted a perfect pass to Dmitry Pestryakov, who beat Kutitsky with a flick and fired home into the near corner. Valeri Karpin immediately made a double substitution: Viktor Okishor and Ivan Sergeev came on for Kutitsky and Babayev.
Rubens soon had a good opportunity, but Gudiyev parried a shot from a tight angle with his foot, and the Brazilian's follow-up hit Sergeyev. Dynamo stormed the penalty area and conceded again: Fernandez, interrupting a long pass from the opposition, hit Rubens, and the ball bounced to a lone Stefan Loncar, who fired past Kurban Rasulov.
In the remaining time, Dynamo created enough chances to at least equalize. First, Tyukavin produced another brilliant backheel pass, but Gudiyev won the duel with Sergeyev. Fernandez then fired from five meters and hit a visiting defender. Finally, in the 88th minute, Juan Caceres crossed into the penalty area, Tyukavin won the aerial challenge, and Sergeyev sent the ball into the net. Unfortunately, Dynamo was unable to finish off the opposition in stoppage time.
The blue-and-whites will play their next match at home against Dynamo Makhachkala on November 23. Tickets for VTB Arena are available on our website.
