Ex-footballer and ex-coach of Dynamo Kyiv Oleksandr Khatskevich told what he expects from the return match of his former team with Austrian Sturm in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League, which will be held today in Graz. Recall that the first meeting of the opponents ended with the victory of the Kiev team with a score of 1:0.
Alexander Khatskevich“Based on the first match, it was clear that Dynamo is a more skilled team. They have experience of playing in the qualification and the group stage of the Champions League.
As for the strengths of the opponents of Kiev, even in the away game "Sturm" in the first minutes they tried quite high and actively to cover. This led to dangerous moments. I think Shturm will play even more aggressively in this component at home.
Dynamo players need to draw conclusions from the first match and not let Sturm play the game they want. You need to take into account this moment, when the first 15 minutes in their performance were very aggressive. Sturm does not have good ball control, the team uses more set pieces and counterattacks, but this high pressure may have been unexpected for Dynamo themselves.
What is the advantage of Dynamo? For four or five years, the guys have been playing together. This experience played a role in the first game, thanks to which we managed to score the first goal. Yes, the beginning turned out to be difficult, Sturm had good chances, but Dynamo scored on time, the guys calmed down, took control of the game and cooled down the ardor of the Austrians.
The team has been showing for many years that it can endure and, when necessary, play without the ball. The whole team defends very well. These are the basic principles of Lucescu - attack wins matches, defense wins championships.
Also, Dynamo is good at quickly moving from defense to attack, but you need to work on finishing. Plus, the guys have a good mutual understanding for positional attacks. How Dynamo will look on the field on Tuesday depends only on the guys themselves.
If we talk about personalities, then the difference in Dynamo can be made by the same Buyalsky, who, if you look at the statistics, plays effectively in such matches. I hope that Besedin will break through. I will also note Bushchan and Tsygankov, although it is not known whether Vitya will play in Graz. Sidorchuk and Shaparenko look confident in the middle of the field.
Nobody knows whether Karavaev would have scored or not in the first match, if not for Tsygankov's injury in the first match. I just don't know what state Tsygankov is in now and whether he will be able to play from the first minutes. It is clear that Vitya is individually stronger than Karavaev, but only he and Lucescu can assess the state of Tsygankov today.
Dynamo's problematic position for the past four years is a scoring striker. Besedin is a useful player, he imposes a struggle from above and below, clings to balls, creates interference, but Artyom's performance is very low. Who can strengthen Dynamo's attack line? There is no such forward on the domestic market anymore, all the teams are complete, and the legionnaires will not go now. And Besedin and Vanat are not enough for a team of the Dynamo level, which claims to be in the Champions League.
There will be goals in the return match between Dynamo and Sturm, but I won’t say that there are many. It is unlikely to be 3:3 or 2:2. I’ll bet that Dynamo will definitely not lose and will reach the playoff round, where they will decide with the familiar Benfica who will play in the Champions League group stage, ”Khatskevich said.
