Dynamo M – Spartak M

Dynamo looks the clear favourite against a crisis opponent

On Sunday, 7 April, Dynamo and Spartak will meet in the Moscow derby. "The White Blues continue to fight for the championship title, despite the defeat in the last round. Spartak has the last opportunity to interfere in the race for bronze medals. Dynamo suffered a sensational defeat last round. Rostov managed to score three goals in a half. However, there is a logical explanation for this. Marcel Licka noted after the game that the players had only gathered in full strength on Thursday. We had to go to the match with the opponent without a full series of training sessions. Plus, some legionnaires were exhausted by long flights. "The White Blues" partially corrected themselves in the Russian Cup. Marcel Licka let the reserves play in the match against SKA-Khabarovsk. The victory turned out to be harsh, but even here there is an excuse - the artificial pitch. But the leaders have rested and will approach the derby in fighting form. But Spartak against Zenit used all of their best. The match took place a day later than Dynamo's. The leaders did not help Spartak. The team was beaten by Zenit's reserves even on their own field. Manfred Ugalde made a small positive contribution. The team's most expensive player managed to score the first goal of his career for Spartak. The team is in a crisis situation in the championship. This is the only club that has not scored a single goal in 2024 in the RPL. In the rivals were: "Zenit", "Fakel" and "Ural". It cannot be said that bad luck was present. Spartak created moments only for 2 XG in three games. An extremely poor indicator for a medal contender. The situation with Quincy Promes has had a big impact on the Red and Whites. Without the Dutchman, it is very difficult to count on victories at the expense of individual skill. Anton Zinkovskiy became a formal replacement for Promes, but the Russian scored only two goals in the entire championship - a significant negative difference with the Dutchman. The coaching situation is also putting pressure on Spartak. Abascal is failing for the second year in a row, but there are still no personnel decisions. Dinamo is still offered in the line at a very favourable odds. "White-Blue" look more solid by all indicators. There is no crisis in the club, the players are rested, the depth of the squad is better. Lichka will be able to count on all the optimal combinations in the match. Abascal has only tired players at his disposal, depressed by a series not just without wins, but without goals in the RPL. It is extremely doubtful that Spartak in their current state can expect to win. The first-round match should not be misleading. Back then, Dynamo missed a huge number of chances.