“Spartak” overtook “Dynamo”, and “Krylya Sovetov” became the leader of the Russian football championship. Match review

In the central match of the Russian Football Championship on Saturday, Spartak Moscow beat another capital club, Dynamo, with a score of 1:0. In addition, after three matches played in the ninth round, the leader of the championship changed. For at least one day, Krylya Sovetov took first place, beating Sochi at home.

The previous time “Spartak” and “Dynamo” met relatively recently, at the end of August, as part of the group stage of the RPL Path of the Russian Cup. And then red and white took over – 4:1, scoring their four goals in the first 24 minutes of the game. One of the main reasons for the blue and white’s failure was the confusion in their own penalty area. Dynamo head coach Marcel Licka decided to play with three nominal defense players and also left one of his leading defenders, Uruguayan Nicholas Marichal, in reserve. Now the composition of the guests looked clearly more balanced. In addition, he was strengthened by the Brazilian midfielder Bitello, who, having moved to Dynamo just before the closure of the summer transfer window, had already distinguished himself in the recent cup match against Krasnodar. In turn, Spartak started the meeting without its captain Georgiy Dzhikia, who has been increasingly on the bench lately. Head coach Guillermo Abascal fielded a Paraguayan-Serbian pair of central defenders in Alexis Duarte and Srdjan Babic, and sent a strike trio into the attack – Russian Alexander Sobolev, Congolese Theo Bongonda and Dutchman Quincy Promes.

And at the beginning of the match, Spartak’s attack again outplayed Dynamo’s defense. The decisive element of the quick counterattack, which was launched by Duarte in the seventh minute and continued by Promes, was Sobolev’s precise assist to Bongonda, an elegant touch that left goalkeeper Anton Shunin out of action. However, there was no talk about the prospect of defeat in this case.

In general, Spartak looked sharper before the break, but Dynamo could have equalized the score at least twice.

Bitello had a chance, who, taking advantage of the slowness of the opposing defenders, found himself in the penalty area and shot close to the post, and the Mexican midfielder of the blue and white Luis Chavez, who hit the crossbar with a long-range shot.

The second half of the match turned out, perhaps, even more meaningful – due to the fact that Dynamo added to the lead. However, Spartak was rescued time after time by goalkeeper Alexander Maksimenko, who after the break replaced the injured Alexander Selikhov. Konstantin Tyukavin, Luis Chavez, and Colombian Jorge Carrascal lost their duels with the red-and-white goalkeeper. Spartak also repeatedly threatened the opponent’s goal, but, as a rule, it was not so dangerous, except for two consecutive moments with the participation of Promes. In the 89th minute, he did not realize a one-on-one with Shunin, letting the ball go too far and failing to throw it over the goalkeeper, and in the 90th, having already outplayed the Dynamo player, he missed his left foot into the empty net.

The result is 1:0, and besides the victory itself, Spartak fans are warmed by the fact that their team did not concede in the third official match in a row.

And by gaining 16 points, Spartak rose in the standings from sixth place to fourth, pushing Dynamo to fifth place with 15 points.

Two more matches took place on Saturday. “Baltika” met at home with “Terek”, Thanks to an own goal by Grozny defender Evgeniy Kharin, they won with a score of 1:0 and, having scored seven points, left the direct relegation zone. Won at home and Samara “Wings of the Soviets”, which hosted “Sochi”. The visitors responded to the goals of Nikita Saltykov and Amar Rakhmanovich before the break, only in stoppage time with a precise penalty from Christian Noboa. As a result, it was 2:1, and at least until Sunday evening, Krylia Sovetov took the lead. They have 18 points, just like Krasnodar, which hosts Ural at home on Sunday. True, Zenit, which has 17 points and is facing Lokomotiv at home, can also come out on top at the end of the round.

Evgeniy Fedyakov