The meeting of the 1st round of the group stage of the Fonbet Cup of Russia, which took place at the «Lukoil Arena», ended with the victory of the hosts with a score of 3:0.
Marcel Lický changed the starting lineup more than halfway for the cup match. For the first time this season, Igor Leshchuk, Luis Chávez and Denis Makarov appeared on the field, the central pair of defenders were Ivan Lepskiy and Aleksandr Kutitskiy, and Viktor Okishor played on the left edge of attack.
It was he who had the first scoring chance in the match at the end of the first ten minutes. Dmitry Skopintsev received a pass on the left flank, reached the penalty area and after a series of feints rolled to the eleven-meter mark, from where the 17-year-old midfielder struck into the corner, and only Srdjan Babic, who rushed under the ball, sent it to a corner.
The Dynamo players used high pressure well, and soon Okishor intercepted an unsuccessful pass by Aleksandr Selikhov, instantly returned the ball to the penalty area, where Konstantin Tyukavin tried to throw the goalkeeper over — again, Babic saved his team, heading the ball off the line. After a corner kick, Luka Gagnidze famously struck from the air a meter away from the right post.
The next segment was left to the hosts, who had a lot of possession in the half-field of the blue-whites, but it almost did not come to sharpness. Leshchuk confidently coped with the only shot on target by Daniil Zorin. After a good cross from a free kick by Daniil Fomin, Tyukavin hit with his head — Selikhov was in place.
Spartak still went to the break with an advantage. Zorin struck powerfully from the penalty line, Leshchuk parried the blow, and Manfred Ugalde was the first to finish. For the second half, instead of Lepskiy, Okishor and Makarov, Milan Maystorovich, Nicolas Ngamalé and Yaroslav Gladyshev came out.
The beginning of the second half passed relatively calmly, and at the 60th minute, Lichka made another substitution, releasing Bitello instead of Gagniadze. The Brazilian midfielder immediately figured out his opponent and found Ngamalé in the penalty area, who shot at Tyukavin, but the defenders managed to knock the ball out for a corner. Immediately Chaves made a cool cross to Skopintsev, and Selikhov parried his shot. Shortly thereafter, Chaves gave way to 19-year-old debutant Yegor Smelov.
Spartak made the score big in 7 minutes. First, the home team earned a penalty kick: Kutitsky was late in the penalty area and knocked Jesús Medina down. The victim himself converted the kick from the spot. Then Anton Zinkovsky made a cross from the left flank, and Pavel Maslov struck from under Fomin right into the corner.
In the remaining time, Dynamo players tried to make the score less one-sided, and Tyukavin could have done it when he beautifully struck from a turn in the center of the penalty area, but the blow hit Selikhov exactly. As a result, we suffer the first defeat of the season.
The next match, the blue-whites will play away in Samara against Akron on Saturday, August 3. In the Cup, on August 14, our team will host Dynamo Makhachkala. Purchase tickets for VTB Arena on our website.
