Dynamo done by yellow peril
He complains persistently about scheduling and refereeing and managed even to find a way to blame the Ukrainian federation for the car crash he suffered before Christmas, from which he seems now happily recovered. Before Saturday’s vital game against Dynamo Kyiv, he raised objections about the referee, Yuriy Vaks.
It was Vaks, as Lucescu had feared, who proved the decisive figure, but he was decisive in favour of Shakhtar. Three minutes before half-time, with the score at 0-0, the Dynamo midfielder Denis Garmash, who had already been booked, went down in the Shakhtar box. He received treatment on the field and ran over towards the touchline to await the referee’s signal to return to the pitch. Vaks, though, ran over, his yellow card already out of his pocket, and with what might have been a grimace but looked unfortunately like a grin, showed it to Garmash, following up with a red.
Quite what the offence was remains unclear. In Ukraine it has generally been deemed that Garmash had left the field without the permission of the referee, although, as the former World Cup referee Miroslav Stupar pointed out, Garmash hadn’t actually left the pitch when the card was shown but was still on his way to the touchline. Besides, all players know that after treatment they have to leave the pitch — how many actually wait to be formally told to do so by the referee? It could be that Vaks felt Garmash was wasting time because he ran 50 yards to the touchline rather than the three yards to the goal-line, but given there is nothing in the regulations to say where a player should leave the pitch, and that he actually ran, that seems incredibly harsh. “What are these rules?” asked a bewildered Dynamo coach Yuri Semin.
Shakhtar’s captain, Darijo Srna, was less sympathetic. “They always complain about referees,” he said. “But we’ve beaten them in every important game we’ve played against them for five years.”
As Garmash, clearly both confused and distraught, wandered off, a melee developed on the touchline in which Semin exchanged angry words with Lucescu’s assistant, Alexandru Spiridon. Semin, who has a world-weary air and the dress sense of a maverick cop from a 70s TV show, is usually a benign presence but both he and Spiridon ended up being sent off as well, with Spiridon still fuming about Semin long after the game. “I always thought of Semin as an intelligent, well-mannered, very good coach,” he said. “I am shocked. He is totally wrong. Garmash was deservedly sent off. Calling us people with different sexual orientation and insulting our mothers is not something a coach can be proud of.”
Dynamo had won 10 in a row before Saturday, giving them a three-point lead over Shakhtar, who had won 10 and drawn one of their previous 11. The first half had been even, Dynamo’s use of three holding midfielders successfully frustrating Shakhtar’s passing. Once Garmash had gone, though, the game tipped towards Shakhtar. Alex Teixera put them in front, rolling into the empty net after Oleksandr’s header from a 55th-minute Srna free-kick had come back off the post and, although Dynamo threatened from set plays, Yaroslav Rakytskyi headed in a Willian cross to wrap things up with 10 minutes remaining.
“Each side has its unique features,” said a dead-pan Lucescu. “Dynamo are more physical, being very dangerous at set-pieces, while we build our game around skilful and rapid handling of the ball. I suppose, we just pin the opponent up against the wall by our actions. The game was very tense. Dynamo played short-handed, because such a young and promising player like Garmash could not cope with his nerves in the heat of the struggle. He made a childish mistake by leaving the field of play. A very similar booking was picked up by Eduardo, when he was injured, leaving the field without the referee’s permission. Lately, the referees have been scrupulous about players observing the laws — punishing them for every failure to do so.”
So, with four games remaining, Shakhtar and Dynamo, who have between them won each of the last 19 Ukrainian championships, are level on points at the top. Should they still be level at the end of the season, they will be separated not by goal difference or by head-to-head record but by a so-called golden game.
It’s safe to assume Vaks will not be refereeing it.
