They have already eliminated St. Petersburg in the Cup.
Central collision
The teams that finished in third place in the group stage of the Russian Cup can rest assured: they will not face matches from Tuesday to Thursday this week. But the clubs in the upper group continue their journey. Four couples will determine the semifinalists of the Path RPL two-game comparisons. And already at this stage there is a special clash.
Not Baltika-Lokomotiv. Kaliningraders are the “dark horse” of the draw, as they confidently advanced in the group with Zenit, even ahead of Akhmat and Krylia. But not a match between two top clubs, but an attempt by the Baltic team to jump over their heads and create a sensation.
Not Orenburg-Spartak. The South Urals team made a serious step forward when the Yaroshik-Deograsia castling took place. True, it was followed by a recession. The team does not win 7 games in a row. And Spartak is not in the best shape. Before the victories over Baltika and Rostov, the draw with Loko, there were defeats against Krasnodar and, above all, Fakel. This alone does not allow us to consider the match central: both the status of one of the teams and the status of both sides do not agree.
And not even “Rostov” – CSKA. These hot teams, of course, can offer something comparable, but too much is decided by chance. Rostovites are just overcoming the crisis, the army team plunges into it and hopes for a break as soon as possible.
But the match between Dinamo and Zenit is becoming a cup classic. The teams left for the weekend on a positive note. Both are in the top 3 (Zenit is generally the leader). Plus there are other plots that add intrigue.
“Dynamo” is perfectly tuned to “Zenith”
First of all, Zenit has recently been a suspiciously convenient opponent for Dynamo. It all starts from the last Cup. Then the opponents also met in the quarter-finals, but in the lower group. The meeting took place in St. Petersburg, in the second half, in an extremely controversial situation, the referee did not award a penalty against the hosts – and even so the “blue and whites” reduced the match to penalties and they took a resounding victory.
The teams met again on the banks of the Neva in the current championship. The people of St. Petersburg were just learning to cope without Kuzyaev and Malcolm, but they still remained a formidable force, especially at home. And it is even more surprising that, after the away draw against Rostov, the blue and whites lost to the Muscovites!
At this point, Dinamo is the main irritant for Sergei Semak’s team. It is difficult to remember who else has successfully imposed resistance on Zenit so often in recent years. In the last 5 matches between the teams, Zenit achieved only two victories.
It is better for the Petersburgers to focus on the championship
Now you might even think that Zenit shouldn’t waste energy on two tournaments. There is a compelling argument. The Blue-White-Blues have lost their invincible status: before it seemed that no one could stop the team. 5 consecutive championships already says a lot. But in the summer the risk of losing one’s legionnaires begins to ring the alarm bells. The departure of Malkom and Kuzyaev has already been discussed, Claudinho and Wendel could also leave the team. The latter in fact arrived at the club during the season.
As a result, St. Petersburg beat their season norm for losses RPL (3) in a single turn. Moreover, 2 of them were from their own camp and Muscovites. While Zenit was swinging, Krasnodar took the first vacant place and remained there until the end of the first round. The match between these teams in St. Petersburg was fatal: the “blue-white-blue” are set up for such games as standard. Yet the “bulls” managed to take away the points. Only after the defeat of the southerners in Yekaterinburg from the Urals did Zenit return to the lead.
There is no longer a feeling that Semak’s gang will take the next title by a serious margin. Krasnodar, of course, lost the initiative. But Ivic’s pragmatic team is ready to expect a competitor’s mistake. Parallel moves in the Cup are just another risk factor.
Freshness and homely walls are an argument in favor of Muscovites
It is worth noting the form of Dynamo: it seems that the Muscovites have passed the stage of getting used to the new coach. The selection worked perfectly: Lichka received the necessary reinforcement and integrated the newcomers into the team. In the last 13 games the team has lost only once. And if at the beginning of autumn Dynamo rarely achieved victory, recently they managed to get rid of this problem. Starting October 29: Victories over Paris NN in the Cup, over Ural, Sochi, Orenburg and CSKA in the Premier League.
The derby in general provided a strong emotional boost. Initially, the match was going well for the army team: Faizullaev broke it, Bitelo responded with two goals and could have scored more. Horrible execution, combined with effective reshuffles, came back to haunt the rossoblù. In the second half they have already conceded 2 goals. And they couldn’t win back.
The victory allowed the “blue and white” to overtake the rest of the Moscow teams and climb to 3rd place. Marcel Lička’s team is extremely motivated ahead of the match against Zenit. Excellent results, home walls, successful past matches with St. Petersburg push us to make another sensation. And once again the image of the hegemons is striking RPL.
