They answered for the "Motherland": Zenit defeated Dynamo after a sensational defeat

The three central matches of the fourth round of the Russian Football Championship ended with victories for the leaders. Spartak Moscow minimally gained the upper hand on a visit over Kaliningrad Baltika, which was next to it in the table (2:1). The reigning RPL winner Zenit confidently beat Dynamo Moscow at home (3:0). And the current leader of the national championship, Krasnodar, defeated Akhmat Grozny with great difficulty (1-0).

Baltika — Spartak

Both teams came to the face—to-face meeting in an equal position: six points - two wins and one loss. Spartak was unable to use its two leaders, Ezequiel Barco and Christopher Martins, in Kaliningrad. They continued to recover from the damage, and they decided to take care of them.

But for the first time, striker Mirlind Dacu, who was acquired from Rubin Kazan in early August, joined the starting line-up of the red-Whites.

He ended up starting at the same time as another Spartak forward, Manfred Ugalde, who was rumored to leave the club after Dacu's arrival. But the Costa Rican decided to try to prove that he can be effective in a competitive environment and interact on the field with the Albanian newcomer.

It was Ugalde who opened the scoring in the 20th minute with a pass from Dacu. But three minutes later, Baltika equalized the score. Once again, Andrei Talalaev's team's performance worked with long-range ball releases from the out into the penalty area performed by Mingiyan Beveyev. This is how Kaliningrad scored goals several times last season. They have already done this three times this year.

After Beveev's throw, Andrei Mendel managed to powerfully shoot under the crossbar. The teams went into the break with a draw, but immediately after the start of the second half, Pablo Solari again put the visitors ahead.

As a result, Carlos Carcedo's team brought the game to victory and with nine points continue to go in the top three, three points behind the leader. Baltika is on the sixth line, in the same place where it finished in the last championship, showing the best result in its history.

Outbid Baltika: Spartak goes to visit a competitor for a place in the top three

Red and white will play in Kaliningrad, Zenit will host Dynamo, and the leading Krasnodar will face Akhmat — the announcement of the fourth round of the Russian Premier League

Zenit — Dynamo (Moscow)

After a sensational home defeat by the Moscow Rodina (1:2), Zenit, as expected, entered the field against Dynamo with the maximum attitude to rehabilitate itself for failure. The match against the blue and white was a good way to do this, given the long-standing principles of this confrontation.

Dynamo came to this meeting after a very difficult start in the championship. Sandro Schwartz's team drew at home with Samara Krylia Sovetov (0:0) and lost away to Baltika (1:2).

It was only in the third round that they managed to win their first victory in the current RPL draw, with great difficulty defeating Dynamo Makhachkala at home (3:1). Compared to this match, Schwartz did not change the starting line-up for the game against Zenit.

At first, the guests had the territorial advantage. And they even had a good opportunity to open the scoring in the seventh minute, when Konstantin Tyukavin went one-on-one with St. Petersburg goalkeeper Denis Adamov, but shot above the goal.

This extravagance will go sideways to Dynamo in the middle of the first half, when, with an interval of four minutes, Alexander Sobolev will score two goals against them — first from the penalty spot, then from the game. This allowed Zenit to control the course of the meeting until the very end.

After the break, Dynamo had chances to close the gap in the score, but after strikes from Tyukavin and Maxim Osipenko, Adamov saved the hosts, and Yaroslav Gladyshev shot past the goal. Zenit managed to bring things to a rout in the end thanks to a goal from a free kick by Maxim Glushenkov.

The blue-white-blues remain in second place, three points behind the first. Dynamo Moscow is still in the middle of the table, in 10th place.

"I want to win trophies with Dynamo"

Blue and white goalkeeper Igor Leshchuk — about continuing his career, the desire to compete for a place in the base, the return of Schwartz and the triumph of Safonov

Krasnodar — Akhmat

After the first three rounds, Krasnodar remained the last RPL club to not lose a single point in the current championship. But initially it was clear that it would not be easy for him with Akhmat. Stanislav Cherchesov's team scored only two points, but they could have claimed more in the game.

A week and a half before this meeting in the championship, the Bulls had already hosted Akhmat at home in the opening match of the Russian Cup. That meeting ended in a 1-1 draw in regular time, but Krasnodar won on penalties (5-4).

The current match was held in an approximately equal struggle. But just before the break, Bulls Brazilian midfielder Christian opened the scoring with a pass from Dmitry Vorobyov.

And in the second half, both teams missed one killer moment each. Nikita Krivtsov could have killed the intrigue in the match when he was completely alone near the far post of the Akhmat goal, but shot above the crossbar. And 10 minutes later, Melkadze missed a similar opportunity on the opposite side of the field. Krasnodar continues to lead single-handedly with 12 points.

There were also five more matches in the last round. Moscow's Lokomotiv played a 1-1 draw with Orenburg. CSKA Moscow minimally beat Fakel Voronezh at home (1-0). Moscow's Rodina missed out on a 3-3 victory over Tolyatti's Akron. Dynamo Makhachkala defeated Krylia Sovetov Samara (4:1) and won for the third time in four rounds, which allows the Dagestani club to go to fourth place with nine points, losing to Zenit and Spartak only by the difference between goals scored and conceded. Rostov drew at home with Rubin Kazan (1-1).