The opening match of the RPL Winter Cup ended with a score of 2:1 in favor of the St. Petersburg club.
Konstantin Tyukavin and Ivan Sergeyev found room on the field again. Dmitry Skopintsev lined up at left back, while Nicolas Marichal and Roberto Fernandez formed the central defenders.
Dynamo pressed hard early in the match and created their first scoring opportunity in the fifth minute: Sergeyev stole the ball near the Dynamo penalty area and passed it to Tyukavin, who passed it to Bitello, who fired a shot that Bogdan Moskvichev saved. In another incident, Bitello crossed to the far post, Juan Caceres tripped up, and the ball flew over the goalkeeper and landed on the crossbar.
At the opposite goal, Douglas Santos joined the attack and, after a backheel pass from Alexander Erokhin, fired from 10 meters out, but Andrey Lunyov saved the shot. Our goalkeeper also handled Yaroslav Mikhailov's long-range shot confidently.
The under-pressure teams clearly lacked speed and precision in the final third. After intercepting Bitello, Tyukavin tried to put Sergeyev one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but his first-time pass was too powerful. Zenit newcomer Jhon Jhon, however, played the ball perfectly into the feet of Vyacheslav Karavaev, whose close-range shot was parried by Lunev.
But even he was powerless in the 33rd minute, when, after a corner, Jhon Jhon crossed into the penalty area, and Aleksandr Erokhin headed the ball into the far corner. The blue-and-whites dominated possession for the remainder of the game, trying to play vertically, and created a great opportunity late in the half: Bitello responded to a diagonal pass from Roberto Fernandez in the penalty area and fired a sharp shot towards the near corner. Moskvichev parried the ball in front of him, and Vanya Drkušić prevented Tyukavin from finishing.
At halftime, Dynamo made three changes: Kurban Rasulov replaced Lunev, Maksim Osipenko replaced Fernandez, and Anton Miranchuk replaced Sergeyev. Early in the half, Anton committed a foul near his own penalty area, and Douglas Santos hit the post from 18 meters. Zenit dominated possession but were unable to create any chances from open play.
In the 59th minute, Miranchuk delivered a delicate pass to Tyukavin, who had found himself behind the defenders. Mikhail Kerzhakov came out of his goal just in time to parry Kostya's shot, but Bitello was first to the rebound, sending the ball into the net to make it 1-1. For the final half hour, both teams fielded completely new lineups: Zenit's was as close to its starting lineup as possible, while Dynamo fielded a large number of young players.
Ulvi Babayev and Gleb Miroshnichenko quickly brought Viktor Okishor into a scoring position, but the defender managed to trip him up, and the ball ended up in Kerzhakov's hands. Soon after, Rasulov reacted brilliantly to a deflection off Alexander Kutitsky's chest and dived to avert the danger.
In the 76th minute, Zenit took the lead again with a set piece: Yuri Gorshkov crossed into the center of the penalty area, and Nino leaped higher than anyone else, beating Osipenko and Rasulov. Soon after, Alexander Sobolev received a pass in our penalty area, flicked the ball past Rasulov, and Osipenko, cleverly putting his foot in front of the St. Petersburg striker, saved the goal. The teams didn't have time to create any more dangerous chances.
The Blue-Whites will play CSKA Moscow in their next match of the tournament on Friday.
