Zenit beat Dynamo and reached the semi-finals

In one of the main matches of the opening round of the play-offs of the Fonbet Russian Cup, Zenit took revenge on their field for their defeat in the first quarterfinal match of the RPL Path, held last year, against Dynamo. The revenge turned out to be extremely convincing. The St. Petersburg team beat Dynamo – 2:0 – thanks to Mateo Cassierra’s double and an amazingly reliable defensive game, reaching the semi-finals of the tournament’s “upper” bracket and sending the opponent to the “Path of the Regions”.

This game immediately suggested that Zenit was terribly tired of slaps in the face from Dynamo: last season – relegation after a cup clash with them, this year – a home loss in the championship. Plus a defeat with a score of 0:1 in the first quarterfinal match of the new Russian Cup. An inconvenient opponent. I want to punish this person to the fullest extent.

And Zenit played so tightly, so reliably, that it was clear that they had prepared properly. True, it seemed that trouble would knock on Dynamo’s door from one of the flanks. All the most interesting things happened there for a long time, where the Zenit team promoted their leisurely attacks, but literally sparkling with threats. But she came from a completely different zone.

As it turned out, Zenit also had a plan B – a clear, well-thought-out one in case it did not stick to the main one. The idea was that, having tormented Dynamo with horizontal transfers of the ball, its control, one day invite it to your half: and try control too. The guests, a team always looking forward, agreed with pleasure. And in vain, because a perfect tackle by Wendel resulted in a perfect pass from Claudinho to Mateo Cassierra. But the Dynamo defenders somehow miscalculated where the offside line was, and Cassierra, without meeting any resistance, ran off to deal with goalkeeper Igor Leshchuk. I figured it out not without grace – with a subtle throw of the ball.

And then Zenit took another corner at the goal of the already tormented opponent. Or rather, he did not serve, but played, having managed to make sure that the most obvious methods of delivering the ball into the penalty area did not work well. But in any case, it all came down to the serve and the second mistake of the Dynamo central defenders. It would be nice if they let Mateo Cassierra, who stole the ball from Roberto Fernandez with a beautiful movement of his foot in the air, shoot once from point-blank range. But they also allowed him to pick up the rebound after Leshchuk’s heroic jump. And here the goalkeeper, of course, was helpless.

And Zenit continued its cunning policy. And Dynamo did not find the strength to ignore his traps – they climbed into the other half, receiving sharp attacks in response and forcing Leshchuk to be on guard all the time. In general, it was impeccable St. Petersburg football, in which there was more than enough of everything – tactics, technology, reason.

After the break, Dynamo, however, added – in anger, in density. But he still didn’t have any chances. In search of a way to force the St. Petersburg defense to finally tremble at least slightly, Dynamo coach Marcel Licka even made a triple substitution in the middle of the second half. And among those who took to the field, of course, was Fedor Smolov. “Dynamo” needed reinforcements at the forefront, since neither Konstantin Tyukavin nor Bitellou could break through the Zenit fortifications, which were especially strong that day.

But it didn’t work out with Smolov either. Moreover, the feeling has matured that Zenit is quite comfortable playing in this mode – when it is being put under pressure. He knew everything about Dynamo, read all its moves without delay. And he fought back and tried to bite. And sometimes he bit so hard that coach Sergei Semak clutched his head, regretting the missed great chance – as, for example, in the episode in which Cassierra almost scored a hat-trick, closing the cross.

But there was no retribution for the mistakes. Zenit’s defense in this match was fantastically strong. And Dynamo, despite all its efforts, never came very close to scoring. Well, except that the pile-up in stoppage time looked dangerous. The loss threw Dynamo into the second quarterfinal stage of the “Path of Regions”, while Zenit broke through to the semi-finals of the “RPL Path”.

Before this match, two other Russian Premier League clubs played in the first stage of the Path of Regions quarterfinal round. And unlike the previous day, Krasnodar overcame it in the clash with Khimki. “Ural” beat Moscow “Rodina” on penalties after a draw – 1:1, “Akhmat” – 2:1 – Astrakhan “Volgar”.

Alexey Dospehov