The importance of the face-to-face confrontation between CSKA and Dynamo for both teams was difficult to overestimate.
The army team needed a victory to close the gap with the leading Zenit, which sensationally lost points in Voronezh.
The blue and white, on the other hand, needed to succeed at all costs and break the unsuccessful streak.
In the last four matches in all tournaments, they suffered four defeats, one of which was in the cup confrontation with Orenburg, and dropped into the middle of the RPL table.
Another misfire in the national championship could seriously undermine the position of Slavisa Jokanovic, whose work many fans are already dissatisfied with.
And if his wards approached the derby not in the best mood, then the team of Vladimir Fedotov was in an excellent psychological state.
The Red-Blues are on the move and, after a break for the matches of the national teams, they defeated Sochi and Khimki with the same score 2:1.
True, the owners had serious personnel difficulties.
First, they lost two central defenders.
Injuries were received by Igor Diveev and versatile person Baktiyor Zainutdinov, who regularly closes a problematic position this season.
Secondly, defensive midfielder Maxim Mukhin earned a disqualification for busting yellow cards.
As a result, the top three in the center of defense, as in the game with Khimki, were Kirill Nababkin, Willian Rocha and Georgy Shchennikov.
Sasha Zdelar and Victor Mendez are in the center of the field.
And in the attack, Fedor Chalov was supported from the flanks by Jorge Carrascal and Konstantin Kuchaev.
Dynamo, on the other hand, managed without losses and had the opportunity to bet on all the strongest.
Moreover, defender Roberto Fernandez and midfielder Denis Makarov, who had served a disqualification, returned to action, having appeared on the field from the first minutes.
But Fedor Smolov, who has not scored in the RPL since July, and not Konstantin Tyukavin, again came to the forefront of the attack.
CSKA expected to seize the initiative and immediately began to organize one attack after another.
The hosts actively combined in the opponent's half of the field and tried to find free zones in the opponent's defense.
Particularly active on the left flank was the fast Moises, with whom Elazar Dasa did not always cope.
However, a standard position helped the team to open an account already in the 12th minute.
After a corner kick, the ball bounced off to Kuchaev, and he performed a soft serve into the penalty area.
And no one prevented the running Roche from shooting the gate from close range.
The blue and white hands did not let go and gradually leveled the game.
At first, there was too much marriage in their actions, but gradually the counterattacks of Jokanovic's wards became more and more dangerous.
Smolov especially tried.
For example, in the middle of the first half, he, using a throw from Mumi Ngamalyo, tried to throw Igor Akinfeev, but missed the target.
However, the answers of CSKA looked much more dangerous.
One Fedor Chalov missed several profitable chances.
Forward this evening was not accompanied by luck.
In a couple of episodes, he struck a little inaccurately.
Also rescued partners Anton Shunin.
All the more unexpected was Dynamo's return goal shortly before the break.
Nababkin's rude blot helped the guests to distinguish themselves.
After throwing from the flank, he knocked the ball right at Smolov, and he sent the projectile on target.
A fly in the ointment for the guests was the injury of Matthias Normann.
The Norwegian was injured and was replaced at half-time.
Instead, young Alexander Kutitsky entered the field.
Such castling could not but affect the actions of Dynamo.
CSKA once again seized the overwhelming advantage and began the siege of other people's gates.
Especially active was Carrascal, who regularly broke into the operational space.
At these moments, Jokanovic's wards had to frankly play on the rebound.
Moreover, they did not even think about counterattacks and practically did not cross the middle of the field.
However, CSKA did not create truly dangerous moments too often.
Perhaps the most obvious chance was missed by Milan Gaich.
After a cross from Moises, he miraculously missed the target from a couple of meters.
And in another episode of the fall of Kuchaev and Moizes in someone else's penalty area, the judges at VAR studied, but did not see violations of the rules in the actions of Dynamo.
And at the end of the match, the blue and white almost snatched the victory.
Helped them add timely replacements from the coaching staff.
Jokanovich threw Vyacheslav Grulev, Yaroslav Gladyshev and Konstantin Tyukavin into battle.
And fresh young players were close to upsetting Akinfeev.
Vyacheslav struck a powerful blow from the penalty area, but the crossbar saved the army team from a missed ball.
A few minutes later, Tyukavin tried to throw the goalkeeper, but he managed to catch the projectile with his hand.
Thus, the capital derby ended in a fighting draw.
CSKA had an excellent opportunity to close the gap with Zenit, but did not take advantage of it, although for most of the meeting they had an advantage and carried out sharp attacks.
Dynamo, mainly acting from defense, failed to break the losing streak.
In the last four rounds of the RPL, the team scored only one point and remains in the middle of the standings.