© EuroFootball.com
On Saturday and Sunday, matches of the 2nd round were played in the Russian Premier League. The "Moscow" club secured their second victory and became the sole leader of the championship. The match between "Dynamo" and "CSKA" ended in a draw, while "Zenit" took three points from Rostov.
On Saturday, "Khimki" and "Kuban" teams took to the field. In the first half, neither team managed to score. In the second half, the only goal of the match was scored by "Khimki" midfielder Andrei Tikhonov.
In Moscow, the "Moscow" club hosted Tomsk's "Tom" team. The Muscovites took the lead in the 6th minute with a goal from striker Roman Adamov. He added a second goal twenty minutes later. With a two-goal lead, the "Moscow" players played more cautiously and managed to secure a favorable result. This was the second victory for the Moscow club in the Premier League.
Another Moscow club, "Lokomotiv," faced Kazan's "Rubin" team. The match started more actively for "Lokomotiv," and the first goal came in the 21st minute when Brazilian forward Rodolfo headed the ball into the net.
However, after 12 minutes, the visitors equalized: a counterattack from the left side allowed Sergei Budylina to make a pass that was converted into a goal by Lenar Gilmulin. At the beginning of the second half, "Lokomotiv" restored their lead with a goal from Razvan Kochish. Despite this goal, the initiative completely shifted to the Muscovites, but they failed to score more goals.
In Sunday's matches, ambitious St. Petersburg's "Zenit" team secured their first victory in the championship, defeating "Rostov" 3-2 after a fierce battle. These matches also saw a debut goal from Zenit's most expensive offseason acquisition Anatoly Tymoshchuk.
The "Lithuanian" Moscow derby between "Dynamo" and "CSKA" ended in a 1-1 draw. The "Dynamo" players started the match more actively, but neither team could score in the first half.
The second half began with attacks from "CSKA," and in the 61st minute, the first goal was scored: after Dudu's penalty kick from "CSKA," goalkeeper Žydrūnas Karčemarskas deflected the ball into his own goal, and "army" forward Vagner Love took advantage of this opportunity. The result was 1-0 in favor of "CSKA."
"Dynamo" encountered further trouble when their defender Leandro Fernandez was sent off the field in the 77th minute. Nevertheless, in the same match's final moments, "Dynamo" forward Ruslan Pimenov managed to equalize the score by sending the ball into "CSKA's" net while dueling with Sergei Ignashevich.
Vladivostok's "Luch-Energia" secured the first three points of the season with a 1-0 victory over Ramenskoye's "Saturn" team.
