The match of the 13th round of the Russian Premier League, held in St. Petersburg, ended with the victory of the hosts with a score of 2:1.
Valeri Karpin was forced to make three forced substitutions: Daniil Fomin, who had picked up a card, and Bakhtiyor Zaynutdinov and Anton Miranchuk, who were injured. As a result, Dynamo started the game with three central defenders, Danil Glebov and Bitello in the center, and a forward trio of Ivan Sergeyev, El-Mehdi Maouhoub, and Konstantin Tyukavin, who was given the captain's armband.
The teams played very tightly at the start of the match, not allowing the opponent any space. Kurban Rasulov was the first to make a serious impact, moving well outside the penalty area in the 12th minute to beat Maxim Glushenkov, who was racing for the ball. A couple of minutes later, he also parried the first shot on target from the same Zenit midfielder.
Bitello's first attempt at the home team's goal, from about 25 meters out, went just a meter wide of the right post. The Brazilian's next attempt changed the score. In the 26th minute, Maouhoub carried the ball brilliantly from his own half almost to the Zenit penalty area, passed to Glebov, who perfectly rolled the ball left to Bitello, who converted his chance spectacularly! Literally in the next attack, Maouhoub flicked the ball past Wilmar Barrios and fired a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty area over the goal.
The St. Petersburg team dominated the final 15 minutes. First, Nino headed the ball against the post after a Pedro free-kick, and in the 42nd minute, Andrei Mostovoy restored parity by back-heeling Glushenkov's cross. Tensions flared towards the end of the half, with Pedro and Sergeyev receiving yellow cards after a brief skirmish, followed shortly by Karpin.
At halftime, Maxim Osipenko was replaced by Dmitry Skopintsev, and Rubens moved into the central three. The game continued in the same vein – Zenit pressed harder, while Dynamo tried to counterattack at every opportunity. Rasulov worked tirelessly: he twice parried dangerous shots from Luis Enrique, neutralized a one-on-one with Pedro after a poor backpass from Rubens, saved his own shot from the top corner, and then won a duel with Wendel, who was shooting from close range.
In the 65th minute, Tyukavin left the field as planned, and Alexander Kutitsky reinforced the midfield. In a rare Dynamo attack, Juan Cáceres spotted Bitello's opening, and the number 10 of the white-and-blues fired wide from the half-circle. Soon after, the Paraguayan himself volleyed over the bar.
Yet the hosts took the lead in the 71st minute, when, after a quick attack, Kutitsky blocked Enrique's shot, but Gustavo Mantuan was first to the rebound, leaving Rasulov no chance. Dynamo rushed to equalize and conceded a counterattack, during which Rasulov ran far outside the penalty area and collided with Luciano Gonda, earning a straight red card. Fortunately, after a video review, it was changed to a yellow card.
Dynamo failed to create any scoring chances in the remaining time and suffered a disappointing defeat. Now in their next match they will play away against Kazan Rubin on November 1.
