Rostov vs Dynamo: the start of the Russian Premier League

Last season, Rostov clearly wanted to get into the European club competition, but they failed to achieve that goal. In the first half of the season, Valery Karpin's team was doing really well and maintained a place within the European competition zone, but after the winter break, Rostov stagnated and in the end finished ninth, 10 points behind the fifth Sochi.

The team was renewed over the summer, and Rostov lost Alexei Kozlov, Arseny Logashov, and Haitam Aleesami: they left the club as free agents. At the same time, Rostov strengthened their attack by getting Nikolai Komlichenko on a loan. Together with Ali Sowe, who was finally bought from CSKA Sofia, they can become a serious danger to any opponent.

In preparation for the new season, Rostov played many test matches. In the last one, Rostov lost 0:1 to Budapest Honved.

Dynamo had a controversial season - on the one hand, the White-and-blues could not make it to the European club competition, but on the other hand, with the arrival of Sandro Schwarz, the team found their game style, and the young player also opened up. Dynamo finished on the seventh line in the table, only three points behind fifth place.

To the already mentioned loss of Nikolai Komlichenko, Dynamo have to cope without Roman Neustadter. Roman left the club as a free agent. Diego Laxalt is Dynamo's main transfer to date - the Uruguayan full-back was bought from AC Milan. Also, Guillermo Varela, who had already established himself in the team last season, was bought from Copenhagen.

We also would like to mention the signing of Fabian Balbuena - the Paraguayan defender came to Dynamo as a free agent. For the last three years, he played for West Ham.