On this day 24 years ago, Dynamo played a memorable and significant match that will forever be part of the club's glorious history. On 22 July 1998, our team won the biggest European Cup victory in its history. The record result was set in one of our most successful seasons - 1998/1999. Prior to that, the biggest victories were recorded over Northern Ireland's Coleraine (1965, 6:1) and Turkish Besiktas (1987, 5:0), both on the opponent's field.
Photo: fcdynamo.comChampions League 1998/1999. 1st qualifying round. 1st match
22.07.1998. Kyiv, Dynamo Stadium. 11,800 spectators.
"Dynamo Kyiv - Barry Town (Barry, Wales) - 8: 0 (4: 0)
Goals: Rebrov (9, 16, 37, 82), Shevchenko (36, 60), Gerasymenko (48), Belkevych (65)
"Dynamo: Shovkovskyi, Golovko, Dmytrulin, Vashchuk, Kaladze, Kalytvintsev (Gerasymenko, 46), Husin (Belkevych, 55), Hatskevych, Kosovskyi (Venglynskyi, 68), Shevchenko, Rebrov.
"Barry Town: Nurse, Lloyd, Jones, Yorke, Barrow, Barnett, Carter, Williams (Evans K., 57), Dempsey, Thorpe, Evans T.
Kyiv started their Champions League journey that season in the first qualifying round, where they met Barry Town, a Welsh side they had already met a year earlier. The first game took place in Kyiv, at the Dynamo Stadium named after V. Lobanovskyi. It was the first time that the renovated Dynamo stadium, which was equipped with individual seats, hosted an international match.
Despite the almost 30-degree heat, Valeriy Lobanovsky's team did not stop for a minute, offering the opponent high speed, dominating the entire game and literally decrying the opponent that evening. The hosts were very serious about the match, demonstrating complete focus, attentiveness, desire to fight to the end and dedication. They also showed a high percentage of goal-scoring chances. It is also worth noting the excellent ball transfers and diagonal passes that cut off half of the opposing team. Goals were evenly distributed throughout the match, with four Kyiv players scoring before the break and four more after. Serhii Rebrov scored a poker in this match, while Andrii Shevchenko scored a double.
By the way, Rebrov's "poker" also became a record - the first in the history of Dynamo Kyiv's appearances in European competitions. Serhii also scored the fifth beautiful goal with his head, but the referee believed that in that episode our forward leaned on the opponent and recorded a foul in the attack.
The defeat began in the 9th minute, when Khatskevich, without meeting any resistance from the opponents, struck a shot from mid-range. Ners parried, but Rebrov calmly sent the ball into the net with his head, which bounced off the goalkeeper's hands - 1-0. There seems to be little point in describing the extravaganza at the Dynamo Stadium. It is only worth noting that the Welsh failed to score a single shot against Kyiv, and the visitors earned the first and only corner kick at Shovkovsky's goal only in the 76th minute.
Let's just mention the other goals scored. Shortly after the first goal, Rebrov technically beat the goalkeeper, taking advantage of Thorpe's gross positional error on the outskirts of his own penalty area. Soon after, Shevchenko, who was unguarded, received a pass from his partner and easily beat Nurse, who rushed to meet him. Then there was a little masterpiece by Rebrov. Serhii won a header against Thorpe and sent the ball into the net in an incredible arc.
As soon as the second half began, Kosovskyi struck at the opponent's goal, Ners unsuccessfully parried the ball and Gerasimenko, who had barely appeared on the pitch, easily brought the score to 5-0. A few minutes later, Rebrov proved to be quicker than the two Barry defenders and passed the ball to the running Shevchenko. He won a head-to-head duel with the goalkeeper for the second time. Less than five minutes later, Belkevych moved from the right flank to the centre without encountering any resistance and scored. The ball flew into the net from the goalkeeper's hands. And the final score was set by the same Rebrov: after Khatskevich's cross, Golovko, who joined the attack, struck a great shot from a distance, which was taken by the crossbar. However, Rebrov scored the eighth goal with his first touch after the ball bounced off the ground. The opponent was defeated, and the question of the winner of the duel was removed.
That season, Dynamo achieved their best result in the Champions League so far, reaching the semi-finals, where they lost to Bayern Munich in a dramatic encounter.
