Komlichenko cancels Grulev’s opener to steal point for Rostov

RPL Matchday 1
Dynamo Moscow 1-1 FC Rostov
Sunday 17 July, VTB Arena, Moscow

Goals: Dynamo - Grulev (16); Rostov - Komlichenko (68)
Man of the Match: Nikolay Komlichenko (Rostov)

The previous season ended dramatically for Dynamo, as they finished just third in RPL after being second for most part, and the White-Blues also were defeated in Russian Cup Final by Spartak. Sandro Schwarz parted ways with the club, and Slavisa Jokanovic took charge of the team. His first opponent among coaches was Valery Karpin, whom he faced multiple times in Spanish La Liga as player.

Dynamo left with only one center back Saba Sazonov after Fabian Balbuena and Ivan Ordets paused their contracts, but Jokanovic made duo of Sergey Parshivlyuk and Aleksandr Kutitsky. Danila Prokhin and Daniil Utkin marked their first appearances as Rostov players with Evgeny Chernov and Nikolay Komlichenko making their comebacks to the team.

The White-Blues broke the deadlock in 16 minutes, when Fedor Smolov passed the defenders and gave the ball to Vyacheslav Grulev, who redirect into the net with one touch. Next attempts to score came after the half-time with Nicola Moro hitting the post and Denis Makarov missing the target. Rostov answered from the set piece, last season free-kick master Utkin crossed into the box and found Komlichenko’s head. Forward complete his move to Rostov from Dynamo several days before the start of the season, and he did not celebrate this equalizer.

Karpin’s players got more chances to escape with a victory, but neither Dmitry Poloz nor Kirill Schetinin did not reach the target, while Egor Golenkov after coming as a substitute hit the crossbar with the first touch. So points were shared at VTB Arena.

Next RPL fixtures: Sunday 24 July - Dynamo vs Torpedo, Lokomotiv vs Rostov