Goal and transfer of Dziuba, Shunin's injury and Yusupov's removal: how Zenit beat Dynamo in the RPL

Newcomers in stock and a crowded stadium

Zenit came to visit Dynamo in the rank of RPL leader. The current champions began the season, as befits a champion - they won three victories in a row. And in the last round, Petersburgers parted ways with Krasnodar.

On Saturday, blue-white-blue had to face off against a principled rival from Moscow. At the same time, at the Dynamo stadium, Sergei Semak's wards opened the season and did not do it very well. In July, the team here lost to Lokomotiv in the match for the Russian Super Cup.

However, since then, Zenit players have gained a good shape and took ten points in the RPL. Dynamo did not start in the best way: in four matches, it won only one victory and settled in the middle of the tournament table, so Dmitry Khokhlov's team was set up for a home victory, especially since the hosts drove the full stadium forward from the first minutes. Zenit also did not remain without support - about two thousand fans of the team came from St. Petersburg.

As for the starting lineups, Dynamo signed Roman Neustedter and Maximilian Filip right before the match, but managed to include only a naturalized German in the application. Therefore, Khokhlov had to do with the old guard. The roster for the game with Zenit was completely repeated by the roster in the derby with Spartak.

Semak also did without experiments. In particular, Malcolm team star rookie again remained on the bench.

Quick goal and inertia of the hosts

From the first minutes, the hosts expectedly counted on quick counterattacks based on the mistakes of not too frisky Branislav Ivanovich and Yaroslav Rakitsky. Dynamo fast attacking group was to skillfully break into free zones and create moments. And at first, the blue and white even managed to do something.

However, the whole game they broke the goal of Artem Dziuba already in the tenth minute. The captain of the Russian national team defeated Serdar Azmun, broke into the penalty area and calmly shot into the near corner.

At the same time, in a successful episode, Dziuba accidentally hit Anton Shunin and injured him. Doctors assisted the goalkeeper for a long time, but in the end, the goalkeeper had to be changed. Instead, 23-year-old Igor Leshchuk urgently entered the game, for whom this match was his debut in the RPL.

“Zenith”, having opened an account, calmly gave the ball and the initiative to the opponent and turned on the energy-saving mode. That's just Dynamo was not ready for this. Blue and white did not succeed in breaking the defense of the guests, and the team traditionally lacked the last pass. In fact, the team practically didn’t get into the opponent’s penalty area. Of the more or less dangerous moments, I recall perhaps the long-range strike of Kirill Panchenko directly into the hands of Andrei Lunev.

Petersburgers could well double, or even triple the advantage in the long run. In the middle of the first half, Douglas had a great opportunity to score a debut ball for blue-white-blue, but the ball after it hit from the corner of the goalkeeper passed the post.

And in the end “Dynamo” completely clung to their gates, besides Leshchuk put the ball into the game not too well. So, after one of his fire drifts, Azmun nearly scored a blow from the right flank - the crossbar saved the white-blue ones. Then Sergey Parshivlyuk almost got into his own goal.

Incredible misses Azmuna and exit Malcom

After a break in the composition of both teams there were replacements. Semak threw Malcolm's star rookie into battle, apparently removing the injured Sebastian Driussi. Khokhlov released Clinton N'Zhye instead of the inert Joaozinho.

The African, by the way, entered the game quite actively and tried to aggravate the situation on his left flank. However, the moments were still created by Zenit. So, in the 54th minute, Azmun was with the ball right in front of Leshchuk, but in his best traditions did not realize one hundred percent time. However, this was not his last incredible mistake.

In the middle of the second half, after an amazing cross from Yuri Zhirkov, who replaced, the Iranian man from a meter managed to send a shell above the gate. After that, not only he, but also Semak, grabbed his head.

Emotions, meanwhile, were heating up. The judge actively distributed yellow cards, and a fan of guests ran out onto the field, who began to provoke fans of the hosts. Fortunately, the young man was quickly neutralized.

Finally, moments began to arise at the gates of Lunev. First, Sheydaev managed to strike his head parallel to the goal from a few meters, and then Vyacheslav Grulev jumped almost to a rendezvous with the goalkeeper, but the defender managed to cover his blow.

And between these episodes, the owners remained in the minority. Arthur Yusupov received a second yellow card for breaking the attack and left the field.

In the end, the blue and white, even remaining in the minority, tried to storm the opponent’s goal, but a couple of minutes before the final whistle all questions were answered by Magomed Ozdoev. After the transfer of Dziuba, he immediately struck into the far corner and put an end to the match. Dziuba at the start of the season continues to actively gain points for performance. The forward has already four goals and three assists in the RPL.