There are things in football that are completely incomprehensible. Those that do not lend themselves to any explanation. Because the explanation is actually based on something amazing that is hard to believe.
Photo by GettyImagesI'll start with the story. On September 2, 1936, 45,000 spectators came to Kyiv's "Dynamo" stadium, which now bears the name of Valery Lobanovskyi - twice as many as the grandstands of that time could officially accommodate. The people came to watch the Dynamo game against the Turkish national team. In fact, the Turkish national team could not play in Kyiv at that time. The Soviet Union, which included Ukraine at the time, was not a member of the International Football Federation (FIFA) at the time, so no team had the right to play the "Soviets" under the threat of imminent disqualification. On the other hand, in Kyiv, the "team of the national houses of Turkey" played - an unofficial team that did not know who it represented and it is not known who played for it.
Be that as it may, "Dynamo" then won with a score of 9:1! Since then, this mystical miracle happened, as a result of which our teams always beat Turkish teams. More precisely, almost always. It is enough to recall the history of matches of Dynamo Kyiv with Turkish teams in European Cups. Since 1974, when the Kyiv team defeated the Turkish "Bursaspor" in the Cup Winners' Cup, the Dynamo team has always defeated the Turkish teams by the results of two matches. During these almost half a century, there was only one exception to this rule - at the end of 2002, "Dynamo" lost to the Turkish "Besiktas" in the UEFA Cup. But here another mysticism came into play - then "Besiktas" coached... Mircea Lucescu.
That's why I was sure that this time Dynamo would beat Fenerbahce, despite all the predictions of the "experts" who predicted a defeat for Kyiv in the first game. Of course, I didn't write about the above-mentioned incomprehensible mysticism then, so as not to offend. Just noted a week ago that to win in Istanbul, Dynamo will need a bit of luck in addition to everything else. And this luck did come, confirming the tradition of winning against the Turks, established by Dynamo Kyiv almost ninety years ago.
The main thing for the guests was not to miss in the first minutes. If that happened, it would be almost impossible to play back. But Fenerbahce players failed to score three times from 100 percent positions and lost confidence after that. The home team could not physically press Kyiv as they did in the first twenty minutes. This pressing responded to them in extra time, when the team from Istanbul barely crawled on the field, dreaming of reaching the post-match eleven-meter penalty.
In no way am I going to question the correctness of Mircea Lucescu's tactics for the game, nor will I criticize Dynamo for numerous mistakes. Because I saw something else - unlike the matches last fall, when the eyes of the Dynamo team faded too quickly in the Champions League matches, this time our boys were confident. Why? Because we will not lose to the Turks in football! No matter what their teams are called and no matter who plays for them.
That is why the first goal of "Fenerbahce" team from Dynamo, which happened in the fourth half of the two-match match, ended with a completely unnecessary goal, that is why Karavaev, who hits the goal on major holidays, made an irresistible take-off shot at the decisive moment! This happened not only because the team prepared fruitfully and followed the coach's instructions. The main thing is that the people of Dynamo believed that they could win! Just like the previous generation of teams won against Turkish teams!
And one more thing, this time football made us forget about the war not for two hours, like a week ago in Lodz, but for almost three thanks to the extra time. And for this, our team is also very grateful!
Mykola Nesenyuk
