The first meeting of the season between Spartak and Dynamo plunged the blue and white fans into shock and confusion. In less than half an hour, four unanswered goals entered Igor Leshchuk’s goal. After that, the game, overall, could have been over. And even the most devoted Dynamo fans could hardly call substitute Mumi Ngamalyo’s precise goal a prestigious goal.
Total destruction. Spartak defeated Dynamo and scored four for the third time in a month
After this, Guillermo Abascal’s team continued its winning streak in the Cup. And after the results of four rounds it achieved not only the continuation of the fight within the framework of the RPL Path, but also the first place in the group. The tournament fate of their main opponents is still in the fog.
But before the championship game, all this didn’t matter at all. Furthermore, in the Russian Premier League things are not going as well for the red and whites as in the Cup. And this is not the first time this season that Guillermo Abascal decides to experiment with his squad.
The scorer of the nominal winning goal in the cup match in Nizhny Novgorod, Leon Klassen, was left out of the lineup. But the main surprise was the absence of Georgiy Dzhikia on the field from the first minutes. The man, without whom until recently it was impossible to imagine Spartak’s defensive formations, is increasingly starting in the reserve. Which could well be considered an alarming symptom for him.
Spartak started the match against Dynamo as if Abaskal had invented a time machine and returned the team to the Tushino field on the day of the cup match. The home team attacked Anton Shunin’s goal from the first minutes. The most surprising thing is that the goal against the blue and white came from the very vicinity of Alexander Selikhov’s area. The Spartak team intercepted the ball and accelerated the attack, resulting in a brilliant pass from Alexander Sobolev to Theo Bongonda, who could only finish past the goalkeeper.
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The home team took the lead, but could not feel calm. Several times Selikhov almost made a mistake in the most difficult situations. The reasons for this became clear a little later. And when Luis Chávez shot into the Spartak goal, the goalkeeper would not have helped. But the crossbar came to the aid of the red and white goalkeeper.
The teams went into the break with a minimal advantage for the locals. And when the rivals returned from the locker room, Spartak fans got a not very pleasant surprise. Selikhov could not continue the game due to physical discomfort and gave his place in goal to Alexander Maksimenko.
Photo by: Andrey Anosov / Sovsport
At the same time, for a long time Dinamo could not control the opposing goalkeeper entering the field. And the two shots on goal that the blue and white team made in the same attack only served Maksimenko to warm up until the end and feel the ball.
Guillermo Abascal’s team clearly began to play second fiddle. But in one episode, only the selfless actions of Nicholas Marichal saved the Dynamo from a clean one-on-one performance by Quincy Promes. It became clear that the rivals would have to act in this way until the final whistle or until a goal was scored in any goal.
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And then it was Maksimenko’s turn to prove himself in action. Nominally, Spartak’s substitute goalkeeper in this match saved the red and whites from conceding a goal on several occasions. Dinamo did not lose hope of saving themselves and continued to press. And Guillermo Abascal’s team tried at every opportunity to take a breather that would save their lives and at least slow down the pace of the game a little. Everything in this match could have been finished twice by Promes. The leader of the local attacks first escaped into a “date” with Shunin from almost his own field and did not score, and in the next counterattack he missed the half-empty goal. Fortunately for Quincy, his team was able to survive. 1:0 – Spartak, taking into account the Cup, does not miss the third match in a row. And it temporarily rises to fourth place in the table.
