The encounter of the Mir Russian Premier League 23rd round, which was held at VTB Arena, ended in a 2:1 win for the visitors.
Marcel Lička was able to field all the strongest players, opting for Dmitry Skopintsev and Nicholas Marichal on the defensive wings. We also note Nicolas Ngamaleu's first appearance in the starting line-up in 2024.
The Cameroonian started the game actively on the right wing, where the early goal came from. Marichal made a long throw to Diego Laxalt, and Nail Umyarov intercepted the flight of the ball with the hand in his own penalty box. After watching the video replay, the referee pointed to the eleven-meter spot – Luis Chavez puzzled the goalkeeper by shooting into the right corner!
By the end of the 10th minute, the visitors finally moved onto Dynamo's half of the pitch, and Daniil Khlusevich made a dangerous long-range shot that flew past the right post. Immediately after, Fabian Balbuena delivered a superb diagonal ball to Skopintsev, who entered the penalty area and made a low cross – the ball touched a defender's leg and landed nicely on the crossbar.
The White-Blues gave up the initiative to the visitors for a while, but continued to organize dangerous counterattacks. Thus, Jorge Carrascal boldly took on two opponents, the ball rebounded to the penalty line, from where Chavez fired low. Aleksandr Maksimenko denied the effort of the Mexican international. In another episode, Carrascal went past half the opposing team, after which Ngamaleu hit the far corner. Unfortunately, the referee flagged for offside.
The Spartak players were not distinguished by anything other than nonthreatening long-range shots. Marichal quickly adapted to the unfamiliar right-back position, confidently joined the attacks, and almost became an assist maker. The Uruguayan found Konstantin Tyukavin in the center of the penalty area, who shot on the turn – Maksimenko managed to react in time.
The second half began in the same manner: Dynamo's pressure forced the Red-Whites to constantly make mistakes and commit fouls. Thus, within the first 10 minutes, yellow cards were shown to Umyarov, Jesus Medina, and Aleksandr Sobolev.
The hosts continued to create chances at the goal of the Red-Whites. After a corner kick, Marichal hit the near post with the header, and Tyukavin almost repeated the trick of Vladimir Rykov from six years ago, shooting from his own half of the pitch. But this time Maksimenko was able to turn the ball to a corner at the last second. The nicest chance came to Kostya a few minutes later – by a wonderful pass, Laxalt led him one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but our forward's strike passed next to the post.
Spartak surprised with a quadruple substitution and managed to equalize, suddenly finding themselves in the majority. Chavez got injured, and while a substitution was being prepared, the visitors organized an attack – Mikhail Ignatov shot from outside the penalty area, Leshchuk couldn't hold the ball, and Sobolev finished it from several meters out. Daniil Fomin and Fedor Smolov, who replaced Tyukavin, came to the pitch right after that.
Dynamo footballers rushed forward to retake the lead, and they had several good chances, but the finishing let them down. However, Spartak managed to score a twin goal with the participation of the same players and snatch a comeback victory.
Dynamo stayed third on 38 points in the league table. In the next RPL match, the White-Blues will play against Ural on the road on April 14th.
