The meeting of the 18th round of the World of the Russian Premier League, held at VTB Arena, ended with the victory of the blue and white with a score of 4:1.
After a not very successful match in Grozny, Marcel Licka updated the starting lineup by almost half: Andrei Lunev returned to the goal, Fabian Balbuena – to the center of defense, and Diego Laxalt - to the defensive zone. The three attacks this time were Bitello, Yaroslav Gladyshev and Konstantin Tyukavin.
Dynamo cheerfully started the meeting and spent the first half with an overwhelming advantage. The first dangerous moment arose after Jorge Carrascal earned a dangerous free kick, from which Bitello twisted into the near corner – Nikita Kokarev transferred the ball to the post, it flew into the second post, and Gladyshev, finishing from a meter, once again hit the goalpost.
However, the bad luck of the blue and white did not last long. In the 14th minute, Bitello received the ball on the left edge and rolled to the center of the penalty area, where Tyukavin jumped out from behind the defenders and sent it into the net in a fall!
Having led in the score, Dynamo continued to put pressure on the opponent's goal. Balbuena made an impressive pass from his half of the field to the penalty area and rolled back to Gladyshev, who shot over the crossbar from his favorite position. In one of the rare attacks of Khimki, Alexander Rudenko broke into the penalty area, where Nicolas Marichal interrupted a dangerous shot on Ilya Sadygov in time.
In the end, the blue and white were close to the second goal. At first Gladyshev found a great Tyukavin pass, he led the goalkeeper around and gave it back to Laxalt, after which the defender knocked the ball out of the empty net. Then Bitello brought Daniil Fomin to the strike position very well – the ball passed centimeters from the left post. Khimki, in the absence of their main striker Anton Zabolotny, did not create a single truly dangerous moment and delivered only one inaccurate blow.
Immediately after the break, the score doubled. Bitello took the corner, the ball darted around the penalty area, Tyukavin threw it past the defenders with his heel, and Carrascal shot Kokarev's goal from three meters. Another corner draw ended with a tight shot by Alexander Kutitskiy from the penalty line – this time the goalkeeper of the guests saved the goal in a jump.
And then suddenly Khimki won back one ball: Lunev unsuccessfully gave to Laxalt, who was robbed by Butta Magomedov, Rudenko was prevented from hitting an empty goal by a defender, but the ball bounced to the newly replaced Resiuan Mirzov, who sent the ball into the net. Soon Lucas Vera had a great hit from the middle distance, and this time the goalkeeper of the blue and white played great.
Muscovites quickly gathered and brought down a new wave of attacks on the opponent's goal. Bitello and Tyukavin repeated one at a time with the first goal, but this time Kokarev saved his team. Gladyshev had three good opportunities to score in five minutes, but it was clearly not his day.
In the 74th minute, a double substitution took place: Carrascal and Gladyshev were replaced by Arthur and Nicolas Ngamaleu. Less than five minutes later, the Cameroonian gave out a cool pass from the flank to the penalty area, where Tyukavin turned around and struck – the ball touched the defender's leg and flew into the goal along a beautiful trajectory.
The fate of the match was decided, and both coaches made a number of substitutions. Dynamo played again. Artur screwed Petar Golubovich on the left flank and shot into the penalty area, where Vyacheslav Grulev put his foot in, setting the final score in the match.
Dynamo scored 35 points and occupy the fourth place in the standings. In the first match after the winter break, the blue and white will play away from Rostov.
