Ten years later: how Dynamo defeated Alania and reached the Russian Cup final

The victory over Zenit automatically elevated Alania to the status of the main sensational team of the Russian Cup and brought it closer to repeating the achievement of 11 years ago.

Then Vladikavkaz for the first and only time reached the final of the tournament, but failed to win the trophy.

With a minimum difference in the score, they lost to CSKA, and among the winners, Seydou Doumbia scored a double.

But in order for the second time in history to break into the decisive round of the competition, the wards of Spartak Gogniev needed to shock domestic football fans once again and take over the second team of the RPL - Dynamo.

And although just before the start of the match, Alania lost Batraz Khadartsev due to a serious injury, and the opponent was noticeably superior in class, the chances of success did not seem zero.

At least for the reason that on the eve of this meeting, the blue and white suffered three defeats in a row in the Russian championship and were clearly not in the best condition.

Last weekend they were brutally beaten by the Wings of the Soviets, conceding five goals (2:5) for the first time since 2012.

But as the first minutes showed, three fiascos in a row in the national championship forced Dynamo to get together and approach the confrontation with Alania extremely motivated.

The hosts dominated the field from the very beginning, and the first 100 percent moment was created already in the first seconds.

Guillermo Varela broke through on the right flank and performed a serve into the penalty area, and Fedor Smolov, who was left without guardianship, acted as the addressee.

The striker of the Russian national team had enough time to deliver a powerful and accurate volley, but the accuracy failed.

In general, the first half turned out to be rather one-sided.

Alania tried to move forward with great forces, but made mistakes over and over again and was forced to defend against Dynamo's quick counterattacks.

Fortunately, there was plenty of room for them.

The defensive line of the Vladikavkaz team was located very high and left plenty of free zones for the opponents, which were repeatedly used by both the Muscovites' wingers and Smolov, who opened on the offside line.

Only in 45 minutes he had three opportunities to distinguish himself and took advantage of one of them.

Denis Makarov, who broke through on the right side, cut out the most accurate pass to the forward, who rolled past Rostislav Soldatenko.

In addition to Makarov, who made great use of free space and Smolov, who constantly threatened openings, Arsen Zakharyan and Sebastian Shimansky looked especially bright in the Dynamo squad.

Although the first one practically did not hit on goal himself, he tried to bring his partners to the lethal position, in particular, the Pole.

He could personally bring the score to a large one, but he was catastrophically unlucky.

In the 18th minute, he supported Dynamo's offensive with a second pace, but hit the crossbar, and at the very end of the half, he tested the bar for strength.

True, this time Diego Laxalt rolled out under attack, who left the field a minute later due to injury.

The Uruguayan pulled the back of the thigh and was replaced by Dmitry Skopintsev.

In total, in the first half, Dynamo delivered nine shots on the opponent's goal, four of which hit the target.

Alania, on the other hand, could not boast of either one or the other, although it still had a chance to restore parity.

David Kobesov was allowed not only to handle the ball around the 11-meter mark, but even to turn around and shoot.

However, the "shot" turned out to be rather weak and not dangerous.

And Igor Leshchuk, who was ready to repel him, was insured by the ubiquitous Makarov.

And already at the beginning of the second half, the intrigue almost died.

David Shavlokhov was taken aback when he saw Smolov approaching him, and literally gave the ball to the blue-and-white striker.

Fedor turned out to be a little unprepared for such a development of events, hesitated and almost deprived his partners of a clear opportunity to score.

However, later he nevertheless gave a pass to the oncoming Zakharyan.

Arsen struck on horseback and left Soldatenko out of work.

By this time, Gogniev managed to make three substitutions aimed at strengthening the game in attack.

And the transformations partially worked.

First, Aslan Tsaraev, who came off the bench, struck powerfully from 25 meters and could well catch Leshchuk by surprise, and then the goalkeeper himself almost helped the guests to close the gap.

During the corner, he recklessly moved out of the gate, but luck was on the side of the blue and white.

First, Varela took the ball off the ribbon, and then Khetag Khosonov could not get into the half-empty target.

The selfless wards of Gogniev continued to move forward until the final whistle, but they still could not impose a fight on the favorite.

And one of the main characters of the second half of the match was Konstantin Tyukavin.

The young striker, although he could not go one on one with Soldatenko on the first attempt, provoked Shavlokhov to violate the rules.

Chief referee Vitaly Meshkov regarded it as a "foul of last resort" and presented David with a red card.

And although Szymanski, who undertook to fulfill the standard, again hit the crossbar, Dynamo still brought the score to a large one.

All the same Tyukavin broke into the penalty area and rolled exactly into the far corner.

Dynamo won a major victory over Alania and repeated the result of 10 years ago.

In 2012, Muscovites were also one step away from success, but the outcome of the confrontation with Rubin was decided by Roman Eremenko's goal.

At the same time, the last time Muscovites won the trophy was back in 1995, only in a penalty shoot-out taking over Rotor.