The encounter of the Mir Russian Premier League ninth round that was held at Otkrytie Bank Arena, ended in a 1:0 win for the hosts.
Marcel Licka chose an attacking version of the line-up for the oldest Russian derby, fielding Fedor Smolov and Konstantin Tyukavin at the helm. Nicolas Ngamaleu, Bitello and Jorge Carrascal settled behind them. In the absence of the injured players such as Daniil Fomin and Diego Laxalt, Luis Chavez played as a defensive midfielder, while Nicholas Marichal came out on the left wing of defense. This was an unexpected move made by the Czech coach.
Teams started the match actively. In one of the first attacks, Bitello made a killer pass to Tyukavin, but Aleksandr Selikhov gained the upper hand in this duel. Soon Aleksandr Sobolev missed a good opportunity being interrupted by Roberto Fernandez. In the 7th minute, Quincy Promes and Sobolev delivered the ball to Theo Bongonda, who ran one–on-one with Anton Shunin and hit the far bottom corner – 1:0.
After the conceded goal, Dynamo seized the initiative by the efforts of their attacking group – Ngamaleu constantly moved from the left to the right wing, and Bitello looked solid playing a lot with the ball. The hosts periodically used their most dangerous quality – fast counterattacks. In one of them, Promes crossed dangerously to the center of the penalty area, where Bitello prevented Daniil Denisov from scoring another goal.
After half an hour Dynamo created several chances at once. First, Selikhov denied a powerful shot by Chavez, then Smolov struck over the crossbar from 15 meters after a clever corner kick. Bitello continued to threaten missing the target from the center of the penalty area. In the 39th minute, Chavez was close to equalise but the Mexican hit the crossbar.
During the break, Spartak made a forced substitution of the goalkeeper – Aleksandr Maksimenko replaced his namesake Selikhov. The teams lacked the final touch when reaching the penalty box. Carrascal found himself twice in a promising position, but Daniil Khlusevich prevented him from scoring. Then Tyukavin couldn't beat Maksimenko in both attempts – the goalkeeper stood firm and vigilant.
It is worth of remark that it wasn't always quiet at the white and blue goal either. At first Shunin outplayed Bongonda in a tackle, and a little later Marichal managed to take the ball off the leg of Promes, who remained alone in the penalty area. In the 65th minute, Licka released Dmitry Skopintsev and switched to a formation presuming three centre-backs. They could equalize the score soon: Fabian Balbuena and Roberto Fernandez tested Spartak goalkeeper twice, however Maksimenko saved his team.
Denis Makarov and Yaroslav Gladyshev came to the pitch for the last 20 minutes, and Dynamo continued to put pressure on the opponent. Unfortunately, Maksimenko was on fire and prevented Ngamaleu and Skopintsev from sending the ball into the net. By the final whistle, Dynamo went ahead en masse, and Promes ran away one-on-one with Shunin twice, but our goalkeeper did not let the hosts' leader celebrate a goal.
Dynamo stay fifth on 15 points in the table. On October 1, the White-Blues will face Akhmat Grozny on the road.