The confrontation between Dynamo and CSKA was extremely important for both teams from a tournament point of view.

Having simultaneously suffered losses last week, both have significantly worsened it.

The blue and white team lost to their direct competitor Rostov, while the red and blue team lost to the outsider Pari Nizhny Novgorod.

And taking into account the successes of the southerners and Spartak in the reporting round, the backlog of the army team, even from third place, has increased to six points, and Slavisha Jokanovic's wards - up to nine.

Thus, the victory was necessary for everyone in order not to make the chances of winning medals ghostly, given that next year there will be only 13 games left in the national championship.

At the same time, unlike the Moscow derby, which took place on Saturday in Cherkizovo and ended with the expected defeat of Lokomotiv from the red-and-whites, it was difficult to name a favorite in the second capital confrontation.

Bookmakers gave a small, purely symbolic advantage to the guests.

But on the side of the hosts was the statistics.

At home, they have not yielded to the opponent in the championship since 2015, and at the Dynamo stadium for exactly 14 years.

The last time the red and blue won here was before the reconstruction of the arena at the end of October 2008 - 3:1.

Of the participants in that fight, only the eternal Igor Akinfeev remained in the ranks.

As for the starting lineups, it was curious what changes the coaches would make after the misfires.

As a result, they turned out to be minimal.

The hosts, due to disqualifications, missed Denis Makarov and Diego Laxalt.

Their places on the right edge of the attack and the left flank of the defense were taken by Vyacheslav Grulev and Dmitry Skopintsev, respectively.

The main goalkeeper Anton Shunin also returned to action.

Vladimir Fedotov spent two, but unexpected castling.

He preferred the 19-year-old Yegor Ushakov to the irreplaceable Milan Gaich as the right lateral.

The midfielder was sent off in the derby with Lokomotiv, but having missed one meeting, he got into the base for the first time this season in the RPL.

On the left, Baktiyor Zainutdinov unexpectedly settled down, while Moises joined compatriots Bruno Fuchs and Willian Roche in the center of defense.

And the place of Victor Mendez in the attack was taken by the universal Ivan Oblyakov.

The first half was more like football chess and turned out to be extremely cautious.

A little more often the ball was owned by CSKA, who tried to look for free zones in the opponent's half.

There were attempts to break the defense through the flanks, especially the right one, where Ushakov was active.

Yegor not only coped with his direct duties, but also joined the attacks.

And as a weak point in the opponent's line of defense, the army team chose Nicholas Marichal Perez.

This was not surprising, because the young Uruguayan does not shine with reliability and regularly makes mistakes.

For example, in the match of the previous round, he presented the ball to Nikolai Komlichenko in the episode with the first goal.

That is why Fyodor Chalov regularly moved closer to him.

However, the partners insured the Latin American in a timely manner.

Nevertheless, from time to time, Dynamo made failures.

What is worth at least a moment with the impact of Jorge Carrascal from outside the penalty area, which Shunin coped with not without difficulty.

And shortly before the break, Chalov was right in front of him after a penetrating transfer from a partner, but struck right at Anton.

The hosts also relied on counterattacks, but in the first half they did not take place too often.

Mostly the guests' players had time to return back, and the fast Moises did not allow the attackers to scatter.

As a result, the white-and-blue almost did not threaten the gates of Igor Akinfeev and rarely penetrated into someone else's penalty area.

The more unexpected was their goal in the 40th minute.

It is absolutely logical that it turned out to be the result of a standard position, because before the break the teams filed 11 corners for two.

One of them turned out to be successful.

Wards Jokanovic won the rebound and returned the ball to someone else's penalty area.

And Daniil Fomin gave the perfect pass to Skopintsev.

CSKA defenders tried to make an artificial offside, but failed.

With Dmitry, who calmly sent the ball into the far corner, for some reason Victor Mendes remained, and not Bruno Fuchs.

The incident clearly had a beneficial effect on the team, and she returned from the locker room with a completely different attitude.

Dynamo took possession of the ball and carried out one attack after another.

The trademark high pressure, which had not been observed before, also began to pass.

In case of a loss, the attackers immediately entered the selection and forced the opponents to make mistakes.

And in the support zone, Alexander Kutitsky, like a vacuum cleaner, collected all the free balls, not allowing CSKA to run ahead.

Under such pressure, all the weaknesses of CSKA's defense were exposed.

Caught courage Skopintsev and Mumi Ngamalyo on the left side regularly ran away from the tired Ushakov.

And Smolov and Grulev opened between the central defenders, taking advantage of their lack of teamwork.

Fuchs's zone looked especially vulnerable, he repeatedly allowed himself to be beaten.

As a result, the hosts delivered several shots at once almost from the goalkeeper's area.

However, sooner or later the army's luck had to end.

In the 63rd minute, the white-blues naturally doubled their advantage in the long run.

Elazar Dasa was allowed to serve from the right flank, while Oblyakov and Fuchs unsuccessfully performed an artificial offside and left Grulev and Ngamalyo alone.

It was not difficult for the Cameroonian to hit the head exactly into the far corner.

It seemed that Jokanovic's wards would easily bring the matter to victory, but they allowed themselves a moment of relaxation and missed.

Carrascal and Mendez opened the left flank of the defense, and Oblyakov, taking advantage of a cross from his partner and a successful rebound from Marichal, delivered a powerful and accurate shot with no chance for Shunin.

The game actually started anew, and now the red-blues went forward in the hope of being saved.

And Fedotov threw tall Anton Zabolotny into battle instead of Chalov, so that a man capable of clinging to balls appeared in the attack.

Jokanovic also responded with castling in the offensive line and released young fresh Yaroslav Gladyshev and Konstantin Tyukavin.

In the end, both played an important role.

The latter, a few minutes after appearing on the field, earned a penalty.

Moreover, Oblyakov pushed him into the penalty area, becoming one of the best in CSKA.

Moreover, Ivan received a second yellow card for this foul.

However, Igor Akinfeev left the red-blues in the game, reflecting the 22nd penalty in the RPL in his career.

He guessed the direction of the ball and parried it in his left corner.

But Fomin did not realize the first penalty in the championship and interrupted a series of 17 successful attempts.

Immediately let down the team and Gladyshev, who managed to get two "yellow cards" within five minutes, and the second - for a blow after the whistle.

Vladislav Bezborodov, taking a break, removed the striker and equalized the lineups.

Having got a chance, Fedotov in the end went for broke and threw another powerful striker Adolfo Gaich into battle in a pair with Zabolotny.

But that didn't help much.

CSKA had no real chance to escape, but the hosts could increase the advantage.

For example, Skopintsev almost scored a brace, but hit the post.

And Akinfeev coped with a dangerous low shot from Tyukavina from outside the penalty area.

Thus, Dynamo beat a direct competitor in the most important derby and caught up with him in the table.

But CSKA ended the year with two defeats in a row in the national championship.

In total, he won only one victory in the last rounds.