Grulev’s brace helps Dynamo thrash Arsenal

# RPL

The encounter of the RPL 15th round that was held at the VTB Arena ended in a 5:1 win.

In comparison with the previous match against Krasnodar, Sandro Schwarz made one change in the starting lineup: Kutitsky ceded the place to Fomin, who had served the suspension and entered the starting eleven. Zakharyan and Varela partially trained during the week and expectedly remained on the bench.

The White-Blues knocked down the opponent in the first half. Sebastian Szymanski opened the scoring with a cleverly placed finish from Konstantin Tyukavin’s layoff 15 minutes after the kick-off. Seba also took part in the second goal. The Polish international executed an outswinging corner and found the head of Balbuena who registered his first goal for Dynamo.

Then three-minute sparkling time by Grulev came. Vyacheslav thumped a header in off the right-hand post to make it 3:0. However, that was not enough for the hosts. The number 20 wove his way towards goal with Arsenal defenders bouncing off him and lashed an unstoppable rocket past Kochenkov – 4:0 by the 28th minute of the game. The same number of goals Dynamo players scored exactly 76 years ago in the match against Arsenal London during a famous British tour.

The visitors’ fans didn’t expect such a bobbing and immediately left their sector. Arsenal players organized two good attacks before the end of the half. Both times Evans Kangwa was the first on finishing but didn’t find any luck.

After the break, Zakharyan replaced Tyukavin on the pitch. The teenager’s dipping goal showed how confident Dynamo were that evening. Arsen had time to pick his spot, and curled a wonderful shot over Kochenkov, who was only a yard or two off his line anyway.

The game calmed down, and coaches made several substitutions: N’Jie, Varela, Gladyshev and Galkin saw their playing time in this winning match. The latter made his debut in the RPL. In the end, Arsenal players managed to score a consolation goal. Stepanov made a low cross from the left wing and Khlusevich netted the ball in a jump – 5:1.

Dynamo earned 29 points and went to the second place in the table. In the next round match, the White-Blues will face Rubin in Kazan on November 28.