Dynamo suffer defeat to CSKA Sofia in Turkey

Sandro Schwarz preferred to field a young starting line-up with six Dynamo Academy prospects at once. Andrey Mazurin, Konstantin Tyukavin and Kirill Zhukovskiy formed an attacking trio. They scored 5 goals for three in the previous match against the Qatari Military football team (12:0). 28-year-old Guillermo Varela became the most experienced starter of the Moscow side.

The Army team is going to resume the efbet League performance in two weeks. That’s why they came on the pitch in almost optimal formation. Only the Bulgarian side's top scorer Jordy Caicedo was absent due to his call-up to the Ecuador national team. The CSKA players were more active during the first ten minutes.

But since that period the White-Blues started threatening the Bulgarian goal. Sebastian Szymanski tried his best from the free-kick sending the ball over the crossbar. The Pole came out with the captain’s armband and led his teammates through the first half.

In the 23rd minute Igor Leshchuk stopped Yanic Wildschut's dangerous breakthrough who raced into the penalty area. Our keeper's movement seemed to be correct, but the referee saw an incautious hook and awarded the visitors a penalty. The Bulgarian national team right-back Ivan Turitsov confidently took a spot-kick.

Despite the conceded goal Dynamo players continued to find some luck in the attack. At the end of the first half, the Army team doubled their advantage: Leshchuk made a marvelous save pulling the ball out of the top corner after Graham Carey's free-kick, but Bismarck Charles was the first to hit the target. As a result, the Muscovites finished the first half two goals down the opponent.

Six players of our club were not available following the medical staff’s recommendations, so it was not possible to fully replace the eleven men after the interval. Leshchuk, Mazurin and Saba Sazonov remained on the pitch, while another prospect of the Dynamo Academy Denis Osokin made his debut as a right-back.

The hosts took the initiative and were rewarded for this. In the 60th minute the White-Blues scored due to Arsen Zakharyan's efforts who found Ivan Ordets’ header from a corner kick. The Ukrainian defender repeated his trick from the derby against Spartak.

A funny incident forced the referee to suspend the game for a couple of minutes – a Turkish cat ran onto the pitch and did not want to leave it for a long time. Hiwever, the pause didn't change much in this friendly.

Dynamo newcomer Fedor Smolov acted on all fronts of the attack. In one of the episodes, the Russian international shifted to the left wing and struck powerfully into the near top corner. The CSKA goalkeeper was attentive. At the end of the match, the Bulgarians could score again: Mauricio Garces capitalized on a one-on-one situation rolling the ball past Leshchuk.

In the next friendly match, the White-Blues will face Yenisey Krasnoyarsk on January 31.