Guests of the capital were left without glasses – Newspaper Kommersant No. 194 (7395) dated 10/19/2022

The second round of the group stage of the Cup of Russia opened with two matches in Moscow, in which the hosts got the better of the guests. Dynamo beat – 3:1 – Rostov, and Lokomotiv defeated – 1:0 – Khimki, effectively throwing them out of the tournament.

The Dynamo match against Rostov in the fourth round of the group stage of the Russian Cup began with the feat of the Rostov goalkeeper Sergei Pesyakov. Konstantin Tyukavin hit his head from about the goalkeeper’s line, he hit well – tightly, away from the goalkeeper. Pesyakov managed to react, jump to the ball and deprive the opponents of the right goal. And it was far from the last match he won against Dynamo in the first half of the meeting. None of them had such wonderful moments as those of Tyukavin, but there were just enough great moments. For example, Denis Makarov once shot from half a dozen meters. Now Pesyakov got the ball in time with his foot thrown to the side.

Actually, these constant appearances of his to the fore only emphasized the already obvious: that evening, Dynamo were much more aggressive, more assertive. Segments of Rostovites looked crushed by someone else’s arrogance and persuasiveness, but the goalkeeper’s cool tone kept them afloat. However, before the break, the Dynamo also beat Pesyakov. Rescued by the thinnest pass of Daniil Fomin to Makarov, who this time did not let us down.

The Dynamo reserve, created in such torment, was squandered after the break out of the blue.

Roberto Fernandez, fighting for position, grabbed the jersey of Nikolai Komlichenko in the penalty area, who entered the field from the bench, so tenaciously that it was incredibly difficult to interpret it otherwise than as a foul. Judge Artem Lyubimov appointed a penalty kick, but Dmitry Poloz did not ruin it.

The Dynamo substitutions, however, also worked as they should, and the decisive goal was the fruit of the efforts of, above all, the two “jokers”. Less than ten minutes remained before the final whistle, when Fedor Smolov demonstrated amazing composure. He received the ball in the center of the Rostov penalty area surrounded by several opponents and kept it exactly as long as it took for Vyacheslav Grulev to jump out of the depths to help. Smolov’s pass to his partner was also flawless, and Grulev sent the ball into the corner. And then Smolov scored himself. The victory allowed Dynamo to at least temporarily climb to the top spot in the Group C table, a point ahead of both Rostov and Akhmat, who were in the lead before this round. But Grozny have a game in reserve against Orenburg on Wednesday.

Lokomotiv’s match with Khimki for some time persistently reminded that both of its participants now have problems up to their necks. Football was freshish, with mistakes on both sides. Lokomotiv were more persistent, but in half a time they carried out only one really sharp attack – when Stanislav Magkeev, after intercepting with the outside of the foot, managed to cut a surprisingly thin pass to Wilson Isidor. Khimki goalkeeper Vitaly Gudiev resisted.

But the railroad almost lost this fragile advantage when their defender Maksim Nenakhov, far from his penalty area, for some reason rolled forward with his feet into Nemanja Glavcic so decisively, as if he believed that he should never stretch on the field until the break. Lokomotiv was lucky: referee Alexei Amelin, who had been studying the replay of the episode for a long time, considered that a yellow card was enough for Nenakhov.

The railroad seems to have been helped by misfortune. Shortly after Nenakhov’s jump, Ivan Ignatiev was injured – actually one of the most energetic players of the hosts. But Girano Kirk, who came out instead of him, entered the game perfectly, immediately reviving it sharply. And at the end of the first half, Khimki not only held back Lokomotiv, slightly straining, but they survived, fighting back somehow.

Kirk played a key role in the attack, which brought Lokomotiv a goal after the rest. He broke through on the right flank, and Isidor competently adjusted himself under the cross. Covering the ball with his body from Alexei Nikitin, he forced the Khimki player to commit a foul, and Anton Miranchuk converted a penalty.

In the last minutes, the game became more fun. Khimki still wanted to go forward, and Lokomotiv was happy to catch them on the counterattacks.

One made his players even celebrate the goal, but VAR canceled it, proving that Isidor knocked the ball out of Gudiev’s hands. Khimki could equalize in the last seconds, but Lokomotiv was saved by repelling “dead” shots by goalkeeper Guilherme and Nair Tiknizyan, who was insuring him. Having won, the railroad actually deprived Khimki, which still has one point in its asset, of any prospects to get at least to third place in Group A, and hence to the Cup play-offs. Within reach for them is only Pari Nizhny Novgorod, which is playing its fourth round match against Krasnodar on Wednesday. But it’s still far away – as many as four points.

Alexey Dospekhov