Russia round-up: Dinamo devastate Zenit

FC Dinamo Moskva moved within three points of the summit with a massive 7-1 win against FC Zenit St. Peterburg.

Catastrophic day
On a catastrophic day for Zenit goalkeeper Kamil Contofalski, Dinamo ran riot with Erik Korchagin, making only his second start of the season, scoring a hat-trick and Ognien Koroman and Dmitri Bulykin each scoring twice. Bulykin now leads the Russian scoring table with six goals. Though Alexander Kerzhakov pulled a goal back for Zenit, it was little comfort for coach Vlastimil Petrzela, who said: "I have no idea what happened to my team. This defeat could well go into the Guinness Book of Records".

CSKA slip up
Dinamo's victory was all the sweeter for the knowledge that league leaders PFC CSKA Moskva had dropped two points in Ramenskoye. FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast took the lead against the army side after 55 minutes, but goals from Denis Popov and Elver Rahimic in the following 15 minutes seemed to have earned CSKA a win. However, a Dzhambulad Bazaev goal deep into added time levelled the scores for the home side.

Miserable start
At the other end of the table, reigning champions FC Lokomotiv Moskva continued their miserable start with a 3-0 defeat at FC Krylya Sovetov Samara despite the return of influential goalkeeper Sergei Ovchinnikov. Bernie Wright opened the scoring after four minutes, and Russian international Andrei Karyaka added two more goals, one of them from the penalty spot.

Spartak recover
An early Andrejs Rubins goal was not enough to unsettle FC Spartak Moskva as they came from behind to win 3-1 against FC Shinnik Yaroslavl. Yuri Kovtun, Robert and Maxym Kalinichenko scored the decisive goals but Spartak are still in the bottom half of the table along with Lokomotiv.

Rubin in third
In the weekend's other games, FC Chernomorets Krasnodarskiy Kray beat FC Spartak-Alania Vladikavkaz 3-0, SC Rotor Volgograd triumphed 2-0 over FC Uralan Elista and FC Rubin Kazan stunned FC Torpedo Moskva 3-1. FC Rostov are now just a point behind Dinamo in third place after a 1-0 win against FC Torpedo-Metallurg Moskva.