Of all the matches of the Russian championship that were in danger of being stunned by outbreaks of coronavirus in the RPL teams, the game Dynamo and CSKA were perhaps the most intriguing. In addition to the fact that this meeting has the status of a derby, rivals in an in-person dispute could express their claims to a ticket to the Europa League. The blue and white just behind the fifth-coming army team by six points, while having in reserve a match with Krasnodar.

But even the day before the game it was not clear whether Dynamo players would enter the field at all. Due to positive tests and symptoms, Charles Cabore, Clinton N’Zhi and Sebastian Szymanski were quarantined. Instead of the main squad, Dynamo-2, which managed to somehow prepare for the derby, could have entered the match with the army team. But on Saturday, the fans of the team still heard the good news - all the players were admitted to the game except those for whom coronavirus infection was confirmed.

True, Dynamo fans should not be too happy. The team’s mentor Kirill Novikov did not conceal that the team did not have the opportunity to work out normally and managed to get together only on the morning of the match.

“It was unrealistic to prepare normally for the game in our situation - they sat in the rooms, could only train by video connection, they conducted several theories. I hope for the foundation. We saw the ball this morning, we found out the solution at night, ”Novikov said.

In addition to the first Dynamo match, defender Sergei Parshivlyuk did not manage to recover after the break. He managed to find a replacement in the defense, and in the center of the field Novikov had to release the youth player Vladislav Karapuzov, who made his debut in the RPL at the age of 20.

However, CSKA also had enough problems. CSKA became the main disappointment of the previous round due to a defeat with a score of 0-4 from Zenit. After such a strong blow, the head coach was briefly replaced in the team - instead of Viktor Goncharenko, all his preparations for the derby were led by his assistant Sergei Ovchinnikov. In the absence of a number of injured players and disqualified Vadim Karpov, he had to decide how to avoid the seven-match losing streak, which would be a repetition of club anti-record in the RPL.

The problems of the two teams left their mark on the nature of the game. At first, both sides relied solely on standards, not daring to take long positional attacks.

The starting half an hour was full of unsuccessful penalties and corner kicks, none of which was dangerous enough for the goal. Dynamo owned a small advantage on the field, but it was expressed only by the rare attempts of Cyril Panchenko and Sylvester Igbun to break through to the army goal.

The first real opportunity for the hosts to open an account occurred in the 34th minute. Ivan Ordets won the fight for the ball after hitting Panchenko with a free kick and struck his head. Igor Akinfeev immediately realized that he could not reflect, but the ball still flew past the gate. After that, CSKA tried to establish its game in attack and squeezed out the only memorable moment. Konstantin Maradishvili, who first entered the starting lineup of the army, gave the ball to Mario Fernandez, who joined the attack, but the Brazilian could not beat Anton Shunin.

The beginning of the second half turned out to be intriguing. Nikola Vlašić threw the ball in an arc and almost opened the Dynamo goal, but Shunin at the last moment was able to transfer the game to the corner. After that, both teams again reduced their activity, which Novikov tried to return with a double substitution, however, the output of Konstantin Rausch and Maximilian Philip brought nothing new.

Interrupted for various medical reasons, the match was able to revive the very same Vlašić. Having again taken the game upon himself, the Croat from 22 meters took aim at the goal of Shunin, but this time he almost hit the target. After that, it was CSKA’s turn to strengthen the squad, but two yellow cards to Ivan Oblyakov and Yaka Biyola immediately cooled the ardor of the army. The second half was, in comparison with the first, even less rich in game events, the main of which was the removal of the Slovenian for the second violation in compensated time. By the next derby with Spartak, Karpov will return to CSKA, but will not get Biyola.

The match ended in a natural goalless draw, which became the first for Dynamo since Novikov led it. CSKA retained a six-point advantage over blue and white, but extended their unbeaten run to seven matches, and goalless to three.