The first leg of the Fonbet Russian Cup quarterfinal that was held in Samara ended in a 2:1 win for the hosts.
Slavisa Jokanovic decided to return Anton Shunin to goal in Russian Cup fixture for the first time in two years, when the Muscovites faced the same Krylya Sovetov. Vyacheslav Grulev has fully recovered from collarbone injury and appeared in the starting XI as a right winger.
He came to the fore in the 5th minute trying to convert a poor kick by Ivan Lomayev. The Samara side captain Aleksandr Soldatenkov reacted quickly and saved his team. Dynamo continued to create chances. In the attack that followed Nicolas Ngamaleu has been outstarted by the goalkeeper of the hosts after a clever pass by Arsen Zakharyan.
The White-Blues played with desire forcing the opponent to make mistakes on its half of the pitch. Both teams moved actively taking –12 into consideration.
The hosts managed to change the game a little bit by the 25th minute. They organized several positional attacks together with set-pieces that turned out to be dangerous. Grulev cleared the ball at the near post and prevented the Bosnian Amar Rahmanovic from scoring. Dynamo players responded with a swift attack. Smolov dragged the ball to the penalty box and fired low. Ngamaleu was the first on rebound, but missed from a nice position.
By the half-time whistle Shunin did his job well palming the ball into the crossbar after a tremendous strike by Yury Gorshkov. At the start of the second half the visitors received cold shower. Rahmanovic made an interception in the middle of the pitch and rolled the ball to Vladimir Pisarskiy who drilled it into the left corner.
The Samara side seized the initiative that pushed Slavisa Jokanovic to make double substitution. As a result, Denis Makarov and Konstantin Tyukavin replaced Grulev and Smolov.
This replacement brought a necessary result soon. Tyukavin finished a cross made by Yaroslav Gladyshev from the left wing scoring an equaliser. Both teams were not satisfied with the draw and the end of the match was marked by sharp mutual attacks.
The Samara side got more luck in this football rally. In the 88th minute Aleksandr Zuyev struck accurately into the right bottom corner securing a win for the hosts.
The second leg encounter will be held at VTB Arena on March 1.