The most inconvenient opponent for Zenit has been found. For Semak, Dynamo becomes kryptonite

In cup history, the confrontation between Dynamo and Zenit stands apart. In the memory of fans of these clubs, there are at least two important moments associated with this tournament: pleasant for St. Petersburg residents and annoying for Muscovites.

In 1999, Zenit beat Dynamo in the final and won their first trophy in Russian history. Eight years later, at the stage of the 1/8 finals, the “blue-white-blues” defeated their principal opponent with an epic score of 9:3.

They also expected fire from the next meeting of the old rivals, especially since they showed it in the first round match of the RPL in St. Petersburg, in which Dynamo sensationally defeated the champion (3:2). This time, in terms of entertainment, everything was less intense.

Shunin caught up with Yashin himself

The start of the cup playoffs showed that even at this stage, the coaches of most leading teams resort to massive roster rotation. Marcel Lička did not intend to take this path and fielded almost all the strongest, including Balbuena, Laxalt, Bitello and Tyukavina. In general, the lineup was almost exactly the same as the one that started Sunday’s championship game with CSKA.

One of the few changes affected the goal line. Anton Shunin lost his place in the starting lineup at the beginning of October: first he was absent due to injury, and then due to Leshchuk’s confident play. For the 36-year-old Dynamo graduate, the game against Zenit was the 358th as part of his native club. According to this indicator, Shunin caught up with the legendary Lev Yashin, with whom he now shares third place in the list of the main Dynamo long-livers. Only Alexander Makhovikov (363) and Alexander Novikov (395) are ahead, so Anton has a good chance of becoming the main record holder of the club.

The composition of Zenit was also as close as possible to the combat one. Semak chose to make only targeted changes: Adamov, not Kerzhakov, played in goal, Wendel, who was ill, was absent in the center of the field, and Izidor took Cassierra’s place in the attack.

One could expect a fiery game from the two attacking teams, but the match was more like a final rather than a game in the first stage of the playoffs. Tension hung in the frosty Moscow air, but there was clearly a lack of interesting moments at the gate. During the entire match, Zenit did not make a single shot on target, although Semak’s team still managed to create several promising approaches.

“Dynamo” looked more cheerful, and the most notable player in its lineup, according to tradition, turned out to be Tyukavin. The striker caused a lot of problems for Zenit in August when he scored a winning double. Konstantin was close to scoring this time too, but Adamov was able to handle both of his shots.

Removing Carrascal is not a problem for Dynamo

After talking with Semak during the break, the Zenit players noticeably increased their movement and managed to push the game away from their goal. True, there was still an acute shortage of chances, despite the abundance of “techies” on both sides.

The measured nature of the game was disrupted by the episode with the removal of Jorge Carrascal. The Colombian was largely disappointing in the first part of the season after joining Dynamo, but in the recent match against CSKA it was his substitution that helped turn the game around. This time Lichka released Carrascal from the first minutes, but he was not destined to play the entire match, and it was not a coaching decision.

In the 69th minute, chief referee Pavel Kukuyan noticed a foul from the side of the Dynamo player who was on the warning after a tackle in the center of the field. It was obvious from the replays that if the player broke the rules, it was clearly not rude. According to the rules, VAR can only intervene in the case of a direct red card, so Kukuyan had no chance to correct the mistake.

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Even with a minority, Dynamo had no intention of digging in at their goal. The daring tactics brought success after replacing Tyukavin with Smolov. Within a minute, Fedor managed to write his name on the scoreboard: the striker managed to disperse the scoring attack and finish it himself.

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In the remaining time, the main event was the appearance on the field of Mario Fernandez, who had not played for Zenit since the end of September. But even the majority of the visitors were unable to create memorable attacks. Semak and his team will have a chance to correct the situation in March, when the return match takes place.