Phillip double, “panel” of Miranchuk and saves Kochenkov: Dynamo beat Lokomotiv in the 18th round of the RPL

Successful Dynamo Series and Lokomotiv Fatigue

The 18th round of the RPL gave the fans two derby at once. In the main of them met “Zenith” and “Spartacus”. And in a less fundamental metropolitan confrontation, Lokomotiv took Dynamo. Meanwhile, this match was also incredibly important for both teams.

Railroad workers are not finishing their best year. Yuri Semin in the fall faced with a serious epidemic of injuries and was forced to manage a fairly limited clip of performers. All this led to points losses, both in the RPL and in the Champions League.

For the second year in a row, the team took fourth place in the group in the main European Cup, and in the national championship they gave a three-match series without victories. And only in an away meeting with an outsider “Tambov” they managed to interrupt her thanks to the double of Grzegorz Krychowyak conducting an excellent season.

Dynamo, on the contrary, after a change of coach came to its senses and under the leadership of Kirill Novikov has not lost five matches. Such results allowed the blue and white not only to leave the relegation zone, but also to come close to the sixth place, which, in certain circumstances, could become a pass to European competitions.

In the derby with Loko, the team intended to extend the successful series, and at the same time take revenge from the opponent for an offensive defeat in the first round. Then Maximilian Philip marked his debut goal in Russia already in the third minute, but the railway workers answered him with the balls of the Miranchuk brothers.

He added optimism to the blue and white fans and the composition of the opponent, who again turned out to be far from optimal. Due to various injuries, the derby was forced to miss Anton Miranchuk, Dmitry Barinov, João Mariu and Marinato Guillerme, not to mention seriously injured Luka Georgievich and Jeffeson Farfan. Also on the bench remained Rifat Zhemaletdinov.

As a result, Anton Kochenkov appeared at the last frontier only for the second time in a season, and 21-year-old Daniil Kulikov, who for the first time in his career was the basis of the RPL meeting, appeared on the flank of midfield. In the base zone, Krykhovyaku and Alexander Kolomeytsev were compiled by Murilo, and Fedor Smolov, and not Eder, played the spearhead. The forward of the Russian team was additionally motivated to play with the former team.

Dynamo came to the match in the optimal composition. Novikov got the opportunity to release on the field all his leaders, except for Sebastian Szymanski, who was suspended for busting yellow cards and injured Joaozinho.

Lack of moments and goal exchange

However, despite all their problems, the hosts started the match quite actively and from the first minutes took possession of the initiative. The main danger, of course, came from Alexei Miranchuk. But Kolomeytsev, who eventually settled closer to the line of attack, somewhat fell out of the game.

True, the advantage of red-green did not flow at the moments at the gates of Anton Shunin. In the first half, they were not at all, except for the implemented penalty.

Dynamo, competently acting on counterattacks, did not create too much ahead, but it was the blue and white who managed to open an account in the middle of the first half. Amazing cross Sergei Parshivlyuk from the right flank on the far post closed Philip. Thus, the German again upset Lokomotiv and scored the fifth goal in the current RPL season.

Having opened an account, the guests finally freed themselves and began to act boldly. Especially often they had attacks on the right flank, where at times Maciej Rybus did not have time to work out on the defensive. Well, on the left edge, obviously nervous Kulikov could not do without mistakes.

The goal of the railway workers at that moment did not portend absolutely nothing, but it took place. The Dynamo defender for some reason knocked the ball out of Anton Shunin’s hands after a cross from the flank, which Vladislav Ignatiev took advantage of. An experienced football player burst into the penalty area from behind Grigory Morozov, but he was not ready for this and hit his opponent in the legs. Sergey Karasev instantly pointed to the "point".

Miranchuk took the penalty kick and did it very beautifully. Aleksey struck with a “panel” without a chance for the goalkeeper. Shunin could only hold his eyes flying into the net ball. The scenario of the first round match between the teams was completely repeated. Then the account was also opened by Philip, and Alexei Miranchuk restored the status quo from the penalty spot.

Ignatieff's bar and the mass of Dynamo moments

However, the scenario of that meeting did not fully repeat, since Dynamo scored at the very beginning of the second half. The guests returned from the locker room with great desire and immediately pressed the opponent to the goal. As a result, the blue and white also managed to earn a penalty. This time Ignatiev violated the rules in his own penalty area by playing with his hand after an opponent’s strike. Eleven-meter shot confidently implemented Philip. The German scored twice in the second meeting in a row, even if he scored three goals out of four and scored from the penalty spot.

Now, Lokomotiv needed to go ahead and recoup, but it was as if they had let out air from the team. In the second half, the railroad did absolutely nothing. Of the dangerous moments, one can recall, perhaps, Ignatiev’s crazy blow from outside the penalty area, after which the ball hit the post. Replacements of Semin did not help much either: Eder and Roman Tugarev tried, but the hosts failed to strengthen the game.

But Dynamo showed excellent football and could well bring the score to a major in numerous counterattacks. But Kochenkov acted beyond praise that evening. Anton got a rare chance and took full advantage of it. Listing all of his saves will take a lot of time, which is worth at least the salvation after hitting a replacement Clinton N'Jieu point blank. And a little earlier Kochenkov got the ball in the far corner after a magnificent shot by Sylvester Igbun.

The goalkeeper did everything to leave Loko in the game, but the vice champion frankly did not have enough strength for it. In the second half, even Miranchuk was not noticeable. To put it mildly, Smolov also had a bad match. “Dynamo” in the end moved to an alignment with three central defenders, plus Novikov released instead of Philip opornik Charles Cabore.

Nevertheless, in the time added by the arbitrator, the railroad workers could still be saved. After filing a corner and not too confident game at the exit, Shunin Chorluk hit his head from close range, but missed the target. Then the goalkeeper of the Russian national team spoke with the Croatian in raised tones, for which both received a yellow card.

Loko failed to escape from the defeat, and the derby confirmed that the red-green had serious problems. If Zenit beat Spartak, it will increase the lead from the pursuer to eight points. Blue and white, on the contrary, extended the unbeaten run to six matches and came close to the top five.