On the eve of the confrontation, CSKA and Dynamo were not in the best mood. The losing streak of the army team in all the tournaments was four matches, and the defeat of the Ferencvaros practically erased their chances of reaching the playoffs of the Europa League. Their counterparts were completely on the penultimate line in the RPL standings and did not win seven meetings in a row. The last success of the blue and white was dated August 24, when they prevailed over the Tambov in the seventh round.
But if the blue and white already managed to conduct a local revolution and dismiss both the head coach Dmitry Khokhlov and the sports director Roman Oreshchuk, then only recently have they begun to speak intensely about possible changes in the red-blue camp. So, many saw the root of the problems in the figure of the head coach of the army, Viktor Goncharenko, as a result of which there was talk of his possible departure from his post. Moreover, neither the staffing problems of the team nor the high place in the ranking of the championship confused the critics.
Therefore, for CSKA Moscow derby had at least the same value as for Dynamo. If guests needed points to keep their registration in the top division, then the hosts needed to enter the Champions League. According to media reports, the team of Yevgeny Giner is currently experiencing serious financial problems, and a cash bonus for entering the main club tournament of the Old World can help him stay afloat.
The starting lineups did not become a revelation for fans and experts, but still there was something to pay attention to. So, Goncharenko once again preferred young Vadim Karpov to Zvonimir Charlie, acquired in the summer, and Yaka Biyol appeared at the base from the first minutes. True, the newly minted forward took his place not in the line of attack, but in his usual position in the central zone. At the same time, George Shchennikov again remained in stock. The last time the left-back was in May, after which he recovered for a long time after a serious injury.
Like Goncharenko, Kirill Novikov opted for a scheme with three central defenders. At the same time, he surprised by the presence of Ivan Ordets among the starting 11 players, who until now had only come out from the first minutes. The attacking triangle was made up of Cyril Panchenko, Sebastian Szymanski and Sylvester Igbun, and the costly Maximilian Philip and Clinton N'Zhye remained on the bench.
To the surprise of local fans, the guests spent their first minutes more confidently. Blue and white organized high pressure and made it difficult for the enemy to switch to the other half. CSKA, though more controlled the ball, did it mainly in their third and did not think about serious attacks.
After the first 15 minutes, the situation has changed. Wards Goncharenko immediately carried out two dangerous counterattacks, on the edge of which was Fedor Chalov. First, the striker of the Russian youth team struck from outside the penalty area, and then earned a penalty. He entered the penalty box and effectively “rocked” Vladimir Rykov, forcing him to hit himself in the foot. The chief referee Sergey Karasev initially did not notice a violation of the rules, but after watching the video replay pointed to the "point".
This season, CSKA is experiencing huge problems with the implementation of the 11-meter, which once again manifested itself in the game with Dynamo. Until now, Chalov has already managed not to take advantage of two such chances, as a result of which Nikola Vlašić took responsibility. Horvath struck a corner to the right of the goalkeeper, but the ball went near the post.
Initially, it might have seemed that this failure would hit the moral condition of Goncharenko’s team, but he, on the contrary, took control of the situation. Red-blue began to use their trump card in the face of Mario Fernandez more often and move with increasing force to half the enemy. CSKA did not hesitate to play with an extremely high line of defense, for which he almost paid. Karpov was mistaken in the center, but Panchenko could not transform this into a dangerous breakthrough.
The ending of the half did not become a revelation. The players fought a lot and tried to make quick raids to each other's gates, but they could not create dangerous moments. So, in the first 45 minutes, both teams delivered a total of ten shots, but none of them hit the target. At the same time, eight of them fell to the owners.
In the debut of the second half, it might seem that the hosts began to manifest the same problems that haunt them throughout the season. Due to the extremely energy-consuming style of play, the army team seemed to be getting tired, which led to an increasingly dangerous moment at the gate of Igor Akinfeev. Panchenko was still more active than the others, but his casts into the box turned out to be addressless, and the goalkeeper parried a long-range shot by Szymanski.
CSKA, on the other hand, answered with a dangerous header by Igor Diveev, and he had every reason to count on a second penalty. All the same Rykov in a tackle stopped Akhmetov's breakthrough into the penalty area, but the ball hit him in the arm. Karasev concluded that the actions of the defender were unintentional, and left the episode unattended.
If Dynamo felt a lack of creativity in midfield, then CSKA had a noticeable lack of performers in the attack. It was extremely difficult for Chalov alone to cling to the balls, and only the appearance on the field of Arnor Sigurdsson could revive the game. The Icelander alone organized several dangerous breakthroughs at once to the gate of Shunin. During the most dangerous of them, he was on the right edge, entered the penalty area and shot at the far post. Fedor did not believe in a partner and did not even try to close the transmission.
But that evening Novikov guessed with a replacement. Ten minutes before the end of regular time, he released N'Jieu, who was destined to become the protagonist of the meeting. Roman Neustedter performed a filigree throw into the box, and Cameroonian outplayed the goalkeeper with one touch. At the same time, three minutes later, Clinton could take a double, but Akinfeev miraculously saved his team.
In the remaining time, CSKA tried to restore parity, but could not create dangerous moments at the gate of Shunin. Like the whole match, Dynamo fought back with great strength, and the hosts clearly lacked creativity and accuracy in the performance of recent programs. CSKA made a lot of mistakes in short passes, and on the second floor they could not fight with the tall defenders of the opponent.
CSKA suffered its fourth defeat in the Russian championship and was six points behind Zenit. Wards Goncharenko extremely unsuccessfully made in October, losing four times and only once tied. As for Dynamo, the team climbed to 13th place and showed serious progress. Under the leadership of Novikov, the team scored four points in two meetings.