“Spartak” defeated the capital’s “Dynamo” in the group stage match of the Russian Cup

The penultimate round of the group stage of the “Road of the RPL” “Fonbet” Russian Cup was decorated with the second consecutive dramatic match between two Moscow giants. Spartak lost the lead twice in the away match with Dynamo, but was able to turn the corner in the second half and win - 3:2, which secured first place in Group A.

These two grandees seem to have gotten the hang of it. A week and a half ago they put on a fun, four-evenly-shared performance in the championship. Before the Cup match, it was as if they had decided that there was no point in lowering the level of excitement in their confrontation and that the spectacle in it was worth more than bread.

It started with Dynamo's demonstration of painstaking and creative work in training.

This was, of course, a version of the corner that was tested many times during them. The option is tricky, and rarely succeeds even for real football giants if they decide to do it. At Dynamo it went off with a bang. Jorge Carrascal crossed, but not where they usually cross - closer to the goalkeeper, under the fight in the air, but to the far corner of the penalty area. Of course, he is not watched so closely, and his own player may find himself alone in this far corner - well, like Eli Daza. True, he needs to execute a difficult volley kick to touch, but Dasa’s was almost flawless.

Spartak soon responded with an attack, after which VAR turned on. However, the task that the episode posed to him did not seem exceptionally difficult. The ball sent by Theo Bongoda into the Dynamo penalty area hit Nicolas Marichal's hand, which was too far to the side to forgive such a sin. The penalty was, of course, entrusted to Ezequiel Barco, who, after moving to Spartak, had already scored four penalty kicks. The fifth one also scored, although rather miraculously: Dynamo goalkeeper Igor Leshchuk guessed where Barco would aim, but managed to fly over the ball.

“Spartak” continued the match with their own mistake, which was completely ridiculous. It's not like Srdjan Babic had a shortage of options when he advanced from his own penalty area. He chose almost the worst one at his disposal: he passed it somewhere at random in the center. Luka Gagnidze intercepted the unfortunate pass, and his partners made good use of the loss. Carrascal deftly penetrated to the front line and brought El-Mehdi Mauhoub to the empty goal, who was so invigorated by his luck that after a couple of minutes he almost opened the Spartak defense without any help from his comrades.

For some time, Dynamo’s attack so cruelly tormented Spartak’s defense that one would think that Spartak and all its ambitions were about to be left with their horns and legs.

But nothing, the guests suffered, suffered and, without conceding, at the end of the first half they themselves caused Dynamo a lot of problems. There were several sharp moments, and Ricardo Mangas, opening up to Marquinhos' pass, even seemed to hit Leshchuk. The goalkeeper, who was unlucky with Barco's penalty, this time got out of the way, catching the ball that had already passed between his legs.

The agility with which Spartak, whose coach Dejan Stankovic was in a hurry to refresh the squad with players, played immediately after the break, added poles to the fire of intrigue. And it’s even surprising how this match, which so persistently hinted at something extraordinary, gradually turned into a tedious routine. That is, “Spartak” continued to press, but somehow without passion and without invention. And Dynamo suddenly got rid of the falseness that had been abundant in its game until recently.

Towards the end of the second half, the hosts' coach Marcel Lička sent three of his key players onto the field from the bench at once - Konstantin Tyukavin, Bitella and Daniil Fomin, probably thinking that his team was already strong and calm with them, will not miss the victory again. But this meeting still held something terribly interesting in reserve.

“Spartak”, which seemed to have already turned sour, equalized the score after a corner kick, which was answered by Shamar Nicholson.

He sent the ball into the post, but Christopher Martins managed to rebound. And after this, Stankovic’s nerves failed him, he lost his temper after the referees canceled the goal after, it must be said, Nicholson’s indisputable offside. The second yellow card turned into a red one, and the Spartak team had to finish the match without a coach.

And they ended it triumphantly. Willian Jose, like Nicholson and Martins, came on as a substitute in the second half. And it fell to him to shoot the penalty kick from two and a half dozen meters from the goal. The forward pierced some overly flimsy Dynamo wall, and Spartak, which had just been heading straight for defeat, achieved a win.

One round before the end of the group stage, he secured first place in Group A. Dynamo, on the other hand, risks dropping from second place to third, from which they enter the “lower” playoff bracket. On a par with it is the Makhachkala club of the same name, which lost in a penalty shootout after a draw in regulation time - 3:3 - to Krylia Sovetov, who were eliminated from the competition. He is playing at home against Spartak in the sixth round. Moscow "Dynamo" meets "Wings" on the road.

Alexey Dospehov