Strikes from Balazs Dzsudzsak and Alexander Kokorin brought Dynamo Moscow a surprise 2-0 debry victory over Russian league leaders CSKA Moscow on Sunday.
CSKA could now be toppled if Guus Hiddink's Anzhi beat FC Volga at home later Sunday, while Dynamo rise to 12th after their third straight win, and the first time this season Dan Petrescu's men have gone two league games without defeat.
CSKA finished with ten men after Alan Dzagoev was sent off for an attack on defender Luke Wilkshire as Dynamo continued a three-year unbeaten run against CSKA stretching back to September 2009.
Dzsudzsak seized on a CSKA defensive mix-up on 38 minutes to score the opener, picking up Rasmus Elm's attempt at a headed backpass and firing the ball past the surprised Igor Akinfeev in goal.
Russia international Kokorin doubled Dynamo’s lead five minutes into the second half with a powerful strike from just outside the box after Adrian Ropotan played him in on the counter-attack.
“We understood that we were playing against the leader. CSKA is very good at ball possession and we tried not to give them free space,” Petrescu said in televised comments, adding that Dynamo must still improve.
“We played very good in defense, but out players lost the ball too often.”
CSKA could have taken the lead at the very start when first Serbian winger Zoran Tosic forced a save from Dynamo goalkeeper Roman Berezovsky with a curling shot.
Soon after, Dynamo captain Igor Semshov denied Sergei Ignashevich’s rebound effort with a goalline clearance.
Ten minutes later, Elm could have opened the score but his clumsy nine-yard strike off a corner cross ended up in the goalkeeper’s hands.
Dynamo had their first sight of goal on 24 minutes when defender Vladimir Granat joined the attack and missed the target by a foot after picking up a pass from Semshov.
Elm almost made up for his mistake at the end of the first half when he hit the post with a header from a Tosic free-kick.
CSKA suffered another blow on 58 minutes when Dzagoev was sent off for punching and kicking Wikshire after the Australian right-back hit Dzagoev with a dangerous tackle from behind, for which he was also booked.
Young Dynamo midfielder Artur Yusupov failed to make it 3-0 late in the game when Akinfeev clearing off a ball after his straightforward strike.
Later Sunday, Rubin Kazan travel to David Bentley's FC Rostov.
On Saturday, Spartak Moscow snatched a comeback 3-1 win at Amkar Perm, while late stunning goal by Armenian winger Aras Ozbiliz secured a 2-1 home victory for FC Kuban against Terek Grozny
Zenit St. Petersburg and Lokomotiv Moscow drew 1-1 in a bad-tempered game that saw both sides lose a player to a red card.
Krylya Sovetov face Krasnodar on Monday, before Mordovia Saransk host Alania Vladikavkaz in a battle between the two newly promoted sides.
