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The 2006 Russian "Premier" League season started with surprises. The championship favorites from Moscow clubs had a hard time with the league newcomers - the defending champions "CSKA" snatched victory only in the last minutes, while "Spartak" barely escaped failure. "Dinamo" also lost two points, while "Tom" and "Moskva" celebrated victories. In the match against Nalchik's "Spartak", Moscow's "CSKA" struggled against their opponents who had been promoted from a lower league, and only managed to break them down in the second minute of extra time - defender Vasilijus Berezutskis scored the winning goal. Unexpectedly, Moscow's "Spartak" team also struggled at home. In a match against another league newcomer, Vladivostok's "Luch-Energia", the latter even took the lead after Maksim Astafyev's goal, and the hosts had to chase their opponents until finally, in the last moments, Vladimir Bystrov scored the equalizer. The season did not start very successfully for Moscow's "Dinamo" club, as they had to settle for a draw at home against Yaroslavl's "Shinnik". Although the hosts took the lead in the middle of the first half after Dani's goal, Aleksandr Shirko equalized the score after an hour of play, and the result remained unchanged until the end of the match. Meanwhile, teams not considered favorites started the season with victories - "Moskva" won with a minimal lead after Dmitrij Kirichenko's penalty kick against Perm's "Amkar", and Tomsk's "Tom", with Andrius Skerla playing for 10 minutes, defeated Moscow's "Torpedo" in a fierce away game. Results 1 - 2 22` [0 - 1] Aleksandr Kulchiy 72` [1 - 1] Aleksandr Panov 88` [1 - 2] Djordje Jokic (own goal) A.Skerla ("Tom") played from the 80th minute 1 - 0 56` [1 - 0] Dmitriy Kirichenko (penalty kick) 1 - 1 27` [1 - 0] Migel Danni 60` [1 - 1] Aleksandr Shirko Ž.Karčemarskas ("Dinamo") was not registered for the match 0 - 1 90+3` [0 - 1] Vasiliy Berezutskiy D.Šemberas ("CSKA") did not appear on the field 1 - 1 53` [0 - 1] Maksim Astafyev 90+3` [1 - 1] Vladimir Bystrov I.Dedura ("Spartak") was not registered for the match
