The encounter of the Mir Russian Premier League first round, which was held at VTB Arena, ended in a 3:1 win for the hosts.
In the season opener, Marcel Licka could not count on six footballers of the main squad at once, so the defensive line looked experimental, including Stanislav Bessmertnyi, Ivan Lepskiy, Milan Majstorovic and Eli Dasa, who played on the unusual left wing.
And two minutes after the starting whistle the first goal came from that zone – Dasa interplayed with Nicolas Ngamaleu, who suffered a foul on the sideline. Bitello delivered a great cross right into the center of the penalty area, Lepskiy jumped above everyone and clipped the ball right into the corner. The 19-year-old centre-back scored the debut goal in his third match for the first team.
Such a start gave confidence to the team. The young defensive line followed the hints of the experienced Andrey Lunyov and calmly dealt with the opponent's attacks. The Dynamo counterattacks were one more dangerous than the other. First, Konstantin Tyukavin shot after a corner kick – the ball came out a little higher. Soon the White-Blues' striker hit the right post of Aleksandr Belenov's goal. The ball flew to the opposite wing to Ngamaleu, and the Cameroonian winger drilled it into the net.
By the end of half an hour of the match, the score became bigger. In the fall, Bitello managed to assist on Yaroslav Gladyshev, who threw the ball over Belenov into the far corner – 3:0! Tyukavin could have scored the fourth one right there, but he failed to finish his one-on-one run with the goalkeeper of the visitors.
Everything was going too perfectly until the 39th minute, when the accident happened. Daniil Fomin, who came to the pitch with the captain's armband, hit Irakli Kwekveskiri with spikes in the shin and saw a direct red card in front of him. Getting the man advantage, the Voronezh side could create two chances – Vladimir Ilyin and Yevgeny Markov shot wide aiming at the left corner.
During the break, Dmitry Skopintsev replaced Bessmertnyi, who had received a yellow card in the first half. Dynamo switched to the counterattacking play. In one of them, Tyukavin rolled the ball out to Gladyshev, who decided to beat the defender, and his shot had been blocked. Fakel responded with a dangerous strike by Mohamed Brahimi over the crossbar from the center of the penalty box.
Then, Markov hit hard from 20 meters away – Lunyov moved the ball to the corner with one hand. Khyzyr Appayev, who came on as a substitute after the break, beat Dasa inside the penalty area, but shot higher from a favorable position. And yet, the visitors scored a consolation goal. The former Dynamo players tried their best: Igor Kalinin made a cross from the right wing, and Markov sent the ball into the net from close range. Checking this episode, the VAR team did not find offside.
Dynamo footballers did not allow Fakel to create anything else. Skopintsev showed nice dribbling, Ngamaleu collected fouls on himself. And at the very end the referee equalized the squads by showing Sergey Bryzgalov the second yellow card for a foul on Vyacheslav Grulyov. Ngamaleu's free kick went just over the top corner. In added time, Viktor Okishor's debut happened.
Dynamo beat Fakel for the first time since 2001. In the RPL second round encounter the White-Blues will face Lokomotiv Moscow at VTB Arena on July 27.
