The regular time of the Betcity Russian Cup quarterfinal that was held at the Kaliningrad stadium on Tuesday, ended in a 1:1 draw. The White-Blues tilted the balance in their favor in penalty shootout – 5:4.
Following the Cup tradition, Igor Leshchuk and Konstantin Tyukavin started the match against Baltika. Dmitry Skopintsev took the left-back position coming on the pitch of the well-known arena where he had netted 11 goals in nine months. Diego Laxalt missed the quarterfinal for medical reasons.
The hosts started actively and even tried to put pressure on Dynamo players. However, the Moscow side seized the initiative as soon as possible. Denis Makarov crossed twice from the right but Baltika keeper was the first on ball.
The best chance of the first half came to Dynamo. Tyukavin hit the crossbar with his header converting Zakharyan's brilliant free-kick. Then Arsen appeared himself on the offensive and shot wide.
A fierce episode happened in Dynamo penalty box at the turn of half an hour. Maksim Tishkin smashed Nikola Moro's face in an aerial duel and Sandro Schwarz was forced to replace the Croatian midfielder for Vyacheslav Grulev. The White-Blues opened the scoring immediately – Makarov curled the ball from the sideline. The goalkeeper stood confused and watched it finding the net.
After the interval Guillermo Varela was replaced for Sergey Parshivlyuk who was already booked. Baltika were not far from scoring a comeback goal but Maksim Barsov and his namesake Kuzmin couldn't beat Igor Leshchuk.
Yevgeny Latyshonok also did not stay out of work making an incredible save after Balbuena's header.
Five minutes before the final whistle Baltika organized a good attack. Ishkhan Geloyan made a sweep and shot technically into the bottom corner – 1:1.
According to the rules of the tournament, no extra time was planned. So the penalty shootout started after a short break. Leshchuk denied the first effort from the hosts' player, while Dynamo didn't miss. Sebastian Szymanski, Fedor Smolov, Arsen Zakharyan, Daniil Lesovoy and Daniil Fomin were accurate and brought the Muscovites a tough away win at Kaliningrad.
The draw for semi-finals will take place later. This Cup round is scheduled for May 11-12.