Ex-goalkeeper Kyiv "Dynamo" Ilya Bliznyuk shared his impressions of the return match of his former team with Turkish Fenerbahce (2:1) in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League, which took place yesterday in Istanbul. Recall that the result of this meeting brought the Ukrainian team to the next round of the tournament.
Ilya Bliznyuk- Ilya Vladislavovich, do such fights take a lot of nerve cells from fans?
- Undoubtedly. But if we talk about the game right away, then I am very happy for Georgy Bushchan. This is exactly the case when the goalkeeper wins the match. In such a difficult match from a psychological point of view, even despite the mistake in the episode with a goal conceded, the Dynamo keeper was the best. Although I would write off this miss more as a defense, since one opponent was able to calmly block the goalkeeper, and the other easily punched through. But it's good that all ends well. In such a difficult time, the Ukrainian team arranged a holiday for all fellow countrymen and the head coach, who is celebrating his birthday tomorrow.
It was clear that the result put pressure on Dynamo, but the guys suffered. There were two key moments in the last match. This is the sending off of the Fenerbahce player and the penalty shot saved by Buschan.
However, the Turkish team should be given credit. Despite the numerical minority, she still tried to play pressure and equalized the score.
- But Fenerbahce did not have enough for overtime.
- And here we must pay tribute to the head coach of Dynamo, who paused and refreshed the squad with substitutions in extra time. Georges Jesus had nothing to cover. In regular time, his wards left all their strength on the field. In general, the game turned out to be dynamic, tense, with a large number of scoring chances, fouls, marriage.
- If we take the opposition as a whole, is the result fair?
- I think yes. If you remember the away goals rule, there might not have been extra time. And in overtime, the moral and strong-willed qualities that Dynamo had best of all came to the fore.
— In the third qualifying round of the Champions League, Dynamo will meet Austrian Sturm. Is this team harder for us than the Turkish one?
— No matter how trite it may sound, there are no weak teams in such a tournament. I am sure that the database on Sturm is already being assembled, so with proper preparation I believe that Dynamo can beat this opponent as well.
Sergey DEMYANCHUK
