The encounter of the Mir Russian Premier League 3rd round that was held at St. Petersburg, ended in a 3:2 win for Dynamo.
Marcel Licka made only one forced change to the starting line-up in comparison with the previous round in Samara. Eli Dasa stayed in Moscow due to injury, and Sergey Parshivlyuk came out as a right-back. Fabian Balbuena kept the captain's armband.
The beginning of the match turned out to be really hot. In the second minute, Nicolas Ngamaleu and Konstantin Tyukavin organized a great goal. The Cameroonian winger picked up the ball after an unsuccessful pass by Robert Renan, interplayed with Tyukavin and crossed low to the centre-forward – Kostya had only to finish.
Seven minutes later the hosts equalised. Douglas Santos robbed the ball of Arsen Zakharyan, Claudinho passed towards Mateo Cassierra, whose assist to the far post was unsuccessfully interrupted by Balbuena. In the next attack, Claudinho fired from the penalty area into the left corner – Anton Shunin stopped the Brazilian's effort in a jump.
The game was held at the highest speed that led to a number of wrong passes. Dynamo played mainly on counterattacks, and one of them brought a positive result. Balbuena made an amazing diagonal pass behind the defenders' backs to Tyukavin, who elegantly beat Mikhail Kerzhakov with the second touch – 2:1!
Unfortunately, Dynamo needed to replace Arsen Zakharyan due to injury. Denis Makarov came out on the pitch. He was highly motivated and this fever resulted in several fouls and a yellow card shown to him – the only one in the first half.
During the break, the hosts made a triple substitution and rushed to come back. Wendel headed the ball and it seemed he did it for sure, but Parshivlyuk put his shoulder under the shot and neutralised the threat. Then Shunin saved the team after a powerful strike by Gustavo Mantuan.
In the 58th minute, Licka decided to strengthen the defensive group of the team and released Saba Sazonov with Luka Gagnidze instead of Ngamaleu and Smolov. Dynamo started playing with three centre-backs, while the St. Petersburg side, on the contrary, fielded another striker Ivan Sergeyev.
The White-Blues calmly withstood the pressure of the hosts, not allowing them to create anything dangerous. Vyacheslav Grulev and Stanislav Bessmertnyi, who made his debut in the RPL, appeared on the pitch for the last 15 minutes. The fresh forward soon earned a dangerous free-kick 17 meters from the goal, and Daniil Fomin hit the crossbar.
The end of the match turned out to be even more fiery than its beginning. In the 90th minute Sergeyev finished Wendel's shot and scored an equaliser. The Petersburg side continued to push, but suddenly they remained ten-men after Barrios' dismissal.
And that wasn't a culmination. In the last attack, Laxalt shifted to his favorite left wing, ran to the penalty area and spun the ball to the far post, where Grulev sent it to an empty corner. There is Dynamo first away victory over Zenit in the RPL since 2014 and the first win this season!
The White-Blues will now face Krasnodar at VTB Arena on Wednesday, August 9.