Draw in favor of Zenit

CSKA Moscow played a 1:1 draw with Dynamo in the central match of the 34th round of the championship of Russia.

Thus the main persecutors of Zenit again lost points, giving the Petersburgers the possibility of increasing their lead. To do this, Zenith must beat Kuban, of which Spalletti ‘s wards are quite capable. Moreover, the misfire by Dynamo and CSKA can now be used by the clubs who continue to fight for prizes and entrance to the Champions League.

The game started well for CSKA. Already in the third minute of the match the wards of Leonid Slutsky opened the score. Honda thrown the ball into the adversary’s penalty area, where Dynamo defender Vladimir Granat made a gross mistake, missing Doumbia, the striker of the red-and-blue team. The Ivory Coast player scored his 25th goal this season.

After the goal the initiative passed to Dynamo, whose players took better control of the ball and tried to improve the game in attack. However, the army team, which deliberately gave the initiative to the adversaries, was ready for such a development, not only successfully defending, but also organizing successful counterattacks. Especially active in CSKA were Doumbia and Moussa, who often disturbed Dynamo’s goalkeeper Berezovsky. At half-time Moussa had a great chance to double the score, but going one on one with the keeper he failed to score. Then Dynamo evened the score, but Voronin’s possibility to make his mark was precluded by the defenders and the goalkeeper of CSKA.

The beginning of the second half was marked by an even competition, while CSKA’s attack looked more active than Dynamo’s. But with the entrance of Dynamo’s German player Kuranyi, the blue team re-captured territory and several times seriously disturbed goalkeeper Chempchugov. It should be noted that tge CSKA goalkeeper certainly has not forgotten the humiliating score of his last match against Dynamo, when he missed four goals. This time Chempchugov also did not manage to keep the score at zero. In the 75th minute Dynamo’s goalkeeper made a mistake. Dzhudzhak broke on the left flank and passed to the penalty box, from where Semshov headed into the near corner. The CSKA goalkeeper reacted to this attack with a delay, and went for the ball when it was already in the goal.

Despite the fact that the draw did not satisfy either of the contenders, and they both tried to snatch a victory, no more goals were scored in this match.  CSKA once again failed to win the third round match of the championship of Russia (two defeats and two draws) and to leave behind the main rival for the second prize. By the way, CSKA has lost to "Dynamo" in their last five matches.