Cup classics at VTB Arena: Dynamo will play Zenit

The first match in St. Petersburg, by many accounts, was the best under Valeri Karpin. Dynamo outscored their opponents in shots and scoring chances, earning a deserved 3-1 victory. All the action unfolded in the second half. First, Ivan Sergeev scored against his former club, then Pedro leveled the score, and in the end, the trio of Dynamo alumni Babaev, Tyukavin, and Gladyshev decided the match with two goals.

Incidentally, Sergeev is one step away from Oleg Veretennikov's all-time Russian Cup goal record (24) and could at least equal the legendary striker's tally as early as Thursday.

Dynamo now needs to avoid losing by two or more goals in regulation time to advance to the RPL Path semifinals, where they will face two Moscow derbies in March. Their opponent will be either Spartak or Lokomotiv – the Red-Whites also prevailed 3-1 in the first leg.

The loser of this match will advance to the second stage of the Regional Path quarterfinals, where they will play Baltika Kaliningrad, who defeated Torpedo Moscow 2-0 on Tuesday, in early March.

The match against Zenit will be Dynamo's final home match of 2025. The teams recently closed out their schedule at VTB Arena: Zenit and Dynamo were both leaders in the standings heading into the championship game on December 12, 2021. From the current lineup, Daniil Fomin, Denis Makarov, Konstantin Tyukavin and Dmitry Skopintsev, who was destined to become the most noticeable figure of the match, took to the field.

Early in the game, Sergei Karasev awarded a penalty for his rather controversial foul on the edge of the penalty area, which Claudinho missed. The Brazilian made amends before the break and gave his team the lead, and in the 72nd minute, Skopintsev scored a return goal, latching on to a Guillermo Varela cross. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

Another interesting fact about Dmitry Skopintsev: in all four cup matches against Zenit in which he started, his team won (Dynamo three times and Rostov once). Rolan Gusev should take note.

The 2022/23 season was the first in which the Russian Cup was played under the new double-elimination formula. Back then, in March 2023, Dynamo eliminated the St. Petersburg team in the second stage of the Regions' Path quarterfinal stage. Nicolas Ngamaleu's goal 12 seconds into the match was the second-fastest in our club's history, and Igor Leschuk's two saves in the penalty shootout made him the game's hero (1-1, 5-4). Unfortunately, Dynamo were then stopped on their way to the final by Akron, who had surprised the entire football community that season.

The following season, Dynamo and Zenit met again in the playoffs, at the same stage as this one. A 1-0 home victory, scored by Fyodor Smolov after a perfect counterattack, was not enough to advance to the semifinals. In the second game, which took place three and a half months later in St. Petersburg, Zenit gained revenge, winning 2-0. Ultimately, the St. Petersburg team won the Cup, while Dynamo again lost in the home semifinals of the Regionals' Path, this time to Spartak.

Finally, Dynamo and Zenit did not meet in the Cup last season, but they were tied by a common enemy. CSKA first defeated the blue-and-whites in the RPL Path semifinals, and then eliminated Zenit in the two-legged final. Dynamo, who had advanced past the RPL quarterfinals for the first time that year, lost again to Spartak in the Regions' Path semifinals, after which Marcel Licka was temporarily replaced as head coach by Rolan Gusev.

On Thursday, Rolan Aleksandrovich will take to the field in a cup match for the first time as Dynamo's acting head coach. We have no doubt he will be able to get the team in the right frame of mind for this crucial match, as Dynamo will need to perform at their best to take another step forward!