The meeting of the 29th round of the Russian Premier League, held at VTB Arena, ended with the victory of our team with a score of 2:1.
The only change in the starting lineup compared to the victorious derby was the exit to the right flank of the defense of Eli Dasa, who last appeared on the field more than a month ago. Juan Caceres suffered a slight injury and was not included in the squad for the match.
The guests started the game, Ionut Nedelcharu opened up for a pass from the flank and struck above the goal from 10 meters. Dynamo responded with a rapid vertical attack, which was completed by Bitello – the defender blocked the shot.
In the 16th minute, Jorge Carrascal earned a corner kick, Bitello made a cross to the near post, where Daniil Fomin hit the ball with the back of his head, sending it along an unattainable trajectory for the goalkeeper to the far corner. Immediately Dynamo ran away 2 to 1, Carrascal brought Yaroslav Gladyshev to the shooting position, but this time Sergey Volkov saved his team.
Nicolas Ngamaleu twice found himself on the lawn after hard tackles by rivals and twice responded to this with dangerous long–range strikes - Volkov hardly coped with the first, the second passed close to the top corner. Once again Moumi did everything perfectly, beating the defender and rolling the ball to Carrascal, but Jorge shot higher from 8 meters.
At the end of the half, another great moment was created at the Akron goal – Gladyshev and Carrascal hit from several meters within 10 seconds, and both times Volkov demonstrated his reaction. As a result, only one goal was scored in the first 45 minutes of the game.
The second half began with a shot by Sherzod Esanov from close range, which Andrei Lunev coped with, and the replacement of the injured Dasa by Dmitry Skopintsev. Next, Artyom Dzyuba won the aerial duel after a corner kick, and Roberto Fernandez helped Lunev save the net.
With the release of El-Mehdi Maouhoub, the game moved to Akron's half of the field. The Moroccan earned the most dangerous free kick 20 meters from the goal – Fomin shot over both the wall and the crossbar. Then Gladyshev got the ball on the right flank, burst into the penalty area and hit it hard into the near corner – Volkov saved it. Ngamaleu beautifully threw the ball past two defenders and twisted into the far corner, but missed it.
The open game continued until the final whistle. Dzyuba in the penalty area with his heel rolled the ball to Stefan Loncar, who struck hard from the left, and after the ricochet Lunev made a great save. At the opposite goal, a similar moment turned out with the participation of Ngamaleu, after whose strike and ricochet Volkov pulled the ball out from under the crossbar. And in the 80th minute, the guests equalized: Dzyuba threw the ball into the penalty area, where Artur Galoyan was the first on the rebound and hit the far nine.
In the remaining 10 minutes Dynamo must have scored more than once. At first, a penetrating pass went to Danil Glebov, but he let the ball go too far and did not have time to shot. Then, in one attack, Bitello hit the crossbar, Maouhoub hit the post, and from Gladyshev the ball bounced into the goalkeeper. Nevertheless, perseverance was rewarded: Skopintsev shot at the near post, Marat Bokoev hit the ball right at Maouhoub, who paused and drove it into the near corner from under the defender!
Dynamo scored 56 points and reached the intermediate third place in the standings, passing CSKA, which will meet with Lokomotiv on Monday. In the final round, the blue and whites will play away against Krasnodar on May 24.
