Igboun earns Dynamo draw in feisty Kairat clash

Dynamo Moscow drew 1-1 against Kazakhstan Premier League runners up Kairat Almaty thanks to Sylvester Igboun’s second-half goal. Toni Sunjic was sent off during a full-blooded encounter.

Two Konstantin Rausch free-kicks in the opening 15 minutes went narrowly wide, while Kirill Panchenko snatched at an opening on an early counter-attack. 

After the break, Dmitry Skopintsev’s left-wing cross found the head of the unmarked Nikolay Komlichenko, but the latter’s header was weak and straight at the keeper. The roles were reversed on the hour mark as Skopintsev blazed a clear shot at goal well over from Konlichenko’s pass.

Sandwiched between those two moments, Kairat took the lead. First, Anton Shunin had to be alert to tip an Adam Adakhadzhiev free-kick over. However, he could do nothing on 57 minutes to keep out Erkebulan Tungyshbaev’s snapshot from a loose ball in the box.

Komlichenko’s work rate paid off with 20 minutes to go as his well-judged cutback evaded three defenders and found Igboun to finish clinically into the bottom corner. Igboun almost set up Clinton N’Jie for a wonderful individual goal shortly after but the Cameroonian couldn’t quite find his way past the keeper after dancing past a defender.

After 78 minutes Sergey Parshivlyuk took exception to the latest in a series of committed challenges from both sides - Toni Sunjic was later sent off - as emotions threatened to boil over. Ivan Ordets lobbed a ball over the defence for N’Jie with five minutes left, but the forward couldn’t keep his composure.

Dynamo take on fellow Russian Premier Liga side Sochi on 17 February.

Dynamo 1-1 Kairat
13 February, Belek, Turkey
Goals: Igboun (71’); Usenov (57’)

Dynamo: Shunin, Parshivlyuk, Sunjic (Sosnin 83’), Ordets, Skopintsev, Neustadter, Szymanski, Igboun, Rausch (Rykov 46’), Panchenko (Yusupov 46’), Komlichenko (N’Jie 72’)