Dynamo is getting closer to Zenit

In the final match of the 17th round of the Russian Championship, Dynamo beat Rubin at home – 1:0. The victory allowed the blue and white to maintain their place in the top three and get closer to Zenit.

In the Dynamo-Rubin match, teams met that had not lost in the championship for a long time. The Muscovites went on a streak of seven matches without defeat, and the Kazan team achieved positive results for six rounds in a row. Moreover, if the blue and white won three victories in this period, then Rashid Rakhimov’s team won five, and they also did not concede a single goal. As a result, somehow unnoticed, “Rubin” crept up to the group of leaders.

Before the head-to-head confrontation, the clubs were separated by only three points. But Dynamo, of course, wanted to restore the position in the top three that they lost during the 17th round, which Krylia Sovetov entered with 29 points. Besides, they had already seen the back of Zenit. They had a chance to reduce the gap to two points, which it was a shame not to take advantage of. By the way, last week Marcel Lička’s team, even with a minority, defeated the St. Petersburg team in the play-offs of the Russian Cup and only confirmed that they are in good working order.

Rubin, having already completed its cup campaign, spent the whole week purposefully preparing for the match with Dynamo and held a training camp in Novogorsk near Moscow. Although it is unlikely that the Kazan team could have imagined that the blue-and-white central defender Roberto Fernandez, who dropped out due to disqualification, would be replaced by defensive midfielder Daniil Fomin.

However, paired with such a “Minister of Defense” as Fabian Balbuena, he quickly got used to the new role and did not give reasons for criticism.

But Rubin, with its three heroes in the center of defense, looked monolithic, no matter how the technical Dynamo South Americans Jorge Carrascal, Bitelo and Diego Laxalt tried to shake it. Perhaps the Brazilian tested Yuri Dupin’s vigilance from a set piece, deciding to unexpectedly shoot at a very acute angle. The visiting goalkeeper Bitelo figured out the plan and fished the ball from under the crossbar.

Nevertheless, even in the absence of scoring chances, the hosts managed to open the scoring. Dmitry Skopintsev wedged himself into the penalty area from the left and crossed in the direction of Konstantin Tyukavin, whose scoring instincts have not failed him lately. Despite the not-so-convenient pass height, the striker, who recently extended his contract with Dynamo until the summer of 2028, instantly took in the situation and transferred the ball into the goal with his chest.

Tyukavin scored the eighth goal and caught up with the closest pursuers of the best sniper of the current championship, Mateo Cassierra.

But Rubin did not capitalize on their chance in the first half. Mirlind Daku and Lazar Randjelovic ran away together against one defender, who turned out to be none other than Fomin. And the newly minted center back did not lose his head in this difficult episode, managing to prevent Randjelovic from delivering a targeted shot. True, the Serb was probably still obliged to at least hit the target.

In the opening of the second half, the Kazan team specifically attacked Igor Leshchuk’s goal, and he had to save Dynamo when Ivu Ugochukwu opened the hosts’ defense with a vertical pass and brought Nikola Chumich into free space in the penalty area. Another Serbian legionnaire from Rubin made a good shot, but Leshchuk averted the threat with his foot. The Muscovites tried to counterattack, and Carrascal pretty much warmed up Dupin, who had already begun to freeze without work. And most importantly, they gradually knocked down the opponent’s offensive impulse and confidently played to zero, just in the style of Rakhimov’s team.

The guests nevertheless found a gap in Lička’s defense when Valentin Vada and his partner entered the penalty area through the wall and made a smart move into the far corner. During training, the Argentine probably executes such shots regularly, but now the ball flew a little higher. In the end, Rubin finally opened up, and then the blue and white squandered several dangerous raids on the Kazan gates.

Dynamo won 1:0 and scored 31 points. Now the capital’s club is not only close to Zenit, but also close to the leading Krasnodar.

Alexander Ilyin