The encounter of the Mir Russian Premier League 12th round that was held at RZD Arena, ended goalless.
Among all the players who had joined their national teams during the October international break, only Luka Gagnidze found himself in the starting line-up. He formed a tandem with Diego Laxalt in the midfield. Fedor Smolov came out as a centre-forward, while the trio Daniil Lesovoy – Bitello – Yaroslav Gladyshev lined up under him.
The first half was marked by a slight advantage of the hosts who attacked a lot and shot more often. Igor Leshchuk was at the ready. Dynamo goalkeeper really saved the team several times. The best chance came to Artem Dzyuba who sent the ball under the crossbar with his header, but Leshchuk played confidently in a nice jump.
Sergey Pinyaev was the most active footballer among the Railwaymen. The Russian talent created opportunities on the left wing and shifted regularly to the center. Already in the 6th minute, he penetrated into the penalty box and shot into the near corner, forcing Leshchuk to demonstrate his skills. A couple more of his long-range strikes turned out to be less dangerous.
Dynamo combined a lot, reached the penalty box skillfully, but lacked some creativity and bright passes. In one of the attacks Eli Dasa found Lesovoy with a clever cross, but the winger failed to curl the ball into the far corner. By the half-time whistle, the Israeli right-back benefited from Aleksandr Silyanov's mistake, but he didn't succeed in making the decisive assist.
During the break, Marcel Licka made a double substitution – Nicolas Ngamaleu and Denis Makarov replaced Lesovoy and Gladyshev on the pitch. The White-Blues added in aggression, while almost conceding an early goal, when Ilya Samoshnikov hit the crossbar from 20 meters.
The game calmed down and the main danger came from the set-pieces. After a corner kick, Nicholas Marichal assisted on Gagnidze who struck powerfully into the left corner, but Dzyuba managed to block this effort. At the opposite goal, Silyanov missed the target shooting over the crossbar from several meters.
Smolov made a good run to the penalty area and struck next to the bar. Then he left the pitch for Konstantin Tyukavin and passed the captain's armband to Laxalt. Immediately, Bitello cut the ball to Makarov and Tyukavin was sent one-on-one with Ilya Lantratov. The Railwaymen goalkeeper registered his first save in the match.
None of both sides agreed to a draw, and the end of the match was marked by sharp attacks. Vyacheslav Grulev was the closest Dynamo player to score a goal but the ball flew wide after his shot from behind the penalty box. In the last minute, Dmitry Barinov struck powerfully from 15 meters, and Leshchuk had to play superbly at goal and kept another clean sheet.
Dynamo earned 18 points and occupy the intermediate fifth place in the table. In the next RPL fixture our team will host Ural at VTB Arena on October 29.