Dynamo Kyiv and Dnipro-1 played the matches of the second round of the group stage tournaments of the Europa League and the Conference League, respectively. Former player of the national team of Ukraine Serhiy Shishchenko appreciated these matches, noting the game of Dovbik, as well as assessing the state of affairs in the capital team.
Photo: gettyimages.com- "Dnepr-1" in Nicosia won the first victory, beating Apollon with a score of 3:1. This is the first victory for the people of Dnipro in the international arena. Why was it obtained?
- A good game for Dnepr-1 was yesterday. Guests controlled the course of the entire match, choosing attacking football. Well, the quick goals against Apollo broke psychologically the hosts of the match. From the very beginning of the match, the Cypriots played timidly, from defense, and, as the course of the match showed, their defense is a weak link.
— For Dnepr-1, this is a significant success. Did the team play better in autumn than in August?
- Of course. They have a new coach - Oleksandr Kucher. They need time to adapt. Kucher has his own vision of football and it is necessary that the players understand what the head coach requires of them. From the matches in the Premier League, it is clear that the Dnipro players have found their game and look quite confident.
- Now everyone is talking about Artem Dovbik. His two goals and an assist allowed the Ukrainian team to score 3 points. Did you like his game?
- Dovbik is the leader of the Dnieper-1. Of course, Artem is the main force in the attacking line of the team. Although, the team consists of qualified guys. All this brings results.
- Who do you think is the best Ukrainian striker now - Yaremchuk or Dovbyk?
- Dovbik. He constantly plays, he began to score goals, both in the Ukrainian championship and in European cups. Yaremchuk has a different situation. Roman left Benfica, and in Brugge he is not yet a player in the main squad. In general, a good forward should score at least 20 goals in the Premier League. Therefore, both Dovbik and Yaremchuk are far from Shevchenko, Rebrov and the best European strikers. This is objective.
- The VAR system did not work at the game in Nicosia. And we, thanks to the replays, saw that the second goal of Dnipro-1 was scored from offside, as well as the goal of the Cypriots. What do you think about this?
— We see that without the VAR system, the result of a football match can be different. The assistant referee did not do his job well. Some of his decisions were strange. It is difficult to understand why in the Europa League all matches are played under the VAR system, while in the Conference League they do without it. Also in the UPL. Now only one match out of eight takes place using the new arbitrage system. It's not fair. So the fate of the championship can be decided.
- If you look at the standings of group E, then the leader of AZ from the Netherlands - six points. Dnipro-1 has 3 points and two fights ahead of Vaduz from Liechtenstein. In a favorable scenario, Dnipro-1 can resolve all its issues after a two-match confrontation with Vaduz.
— Yes, our team has a good calendar. It is important that everything depends on Dnepr-1. I think that Kucher's wards can still improve in the game, their injured players will return. It is quite possible to take at least second place in this group. Everything is in the hands of our guys.
- Now let's move on to Dynamo Kyiv. Mircea Lucescu's wards hosted the Cypriot AEK in Krakow. Unpleasantly struck the stands of the local stadium, which were almost empty. Why did it happen?
— I don't know, but it's strange. Now, we know that a lot of Ukrainians live in Poland. And in Krakow, including. There were about 2,000 spectators in the stands of the stadium. This is an unfortunate fact. We saw that the day before, in Warsaw, there were more than 20,000 fans at the Shakhtar-Celtic game. It is clear that this is the Champions League. And yet, Dynamo is loved and respected, and here is such a story.
— Quite unexpectedly, Dynamo lost to AEK. What happened in this meeting?
- I watched two matches of Cypriot clubs in a row and I will say that I liked AEK much more than the champion Apollon. AEK is a more organized, trained club. Against Dynamo, the guests used pressure and a high line of defense. The Cypriots played very compactly. That was enough to beat Dynamo. After all, we see that there were practically no real scoring chances for the Kiev team.
The second year Dynamo plays without attackers. But this is not the main problem. Something happened in the team, I think. I believe that the club management should sort this out as soon as possible.
- Having conceded a goal in the 8th minute, Dynamo had a lot of time to recoup. However, this did not happen. Why did it happen so?
— In general, it was a boring match. This is if we talk about an outside observer. Dynamo did not show spectacular football. Let's not forget that Cyprus has a good championship, where legionnaires come from strong championships, like Spain and France.
- As a result, Dynamo players made only 2 shots on target at the AEK goal. I don't think comments are needed...
- This question is not only for the attacker - Garmash or Besedin. And what did the midfielders, extreme defenders do? It is difficult, without being in a team, to understand what is happening. Before the war, Dynamo fans were optimistic. Now he is gone.
- Has the absence of Shaparenko due to an injury affected the game of the capital team?
- Hard to say. One player cannot change everything. All parts of the team game must work like clockwork. Then there is no problem if someone drops out due to injury or disqualification. Dynamo doesn't have that.
- Under Lucescu, for 2.5 years, Dynamo played 12 games in the Champions League group stage and two matches in the Europa League group. Only one victory over Ferencváros was obtained. How would you rate such a result?
- This is a complete failure. Both in the club's policy and in the selection of players. Many do not correspond to the level of the Ukrainian football giant. Showing such results in European competitions... Just a disaster.
- Dynamo has two games ahead of them in the Europa League against Rennes. What to expect from these matches?
- There are always chances. Rennes is a fairly serious French club with winning traditions. I would like the Dynamo coaching staff to deal with all the difficulties, this is very important for Ukrainian football. After all, everyone sees how Shakhtar and Dnepr-1 play in Europe. And, in contrast, Dynamo Kiev.
- Before the start of the new football season, all experts and specialists called Dynamo the favorite of the new championship. After all, it was recently, in the middle of August. And now, everything has changed. Why?
- And I also thought. We saw that almost all legionnaires had ears of Shakhtar, talented youth remained. I know their crazy potential. Dynamo had the main line-up, but there was no influx of new performers. They fell into a hole. Why this happened is difficult to judge from the outside. And although the level of the UPL has fallen, it is obvious that even in our championship Dynamo is experiencing huge problems. I know that many military people love Dynamo Kiev, and they want to see the glorious team win. This should not be forgotten.
