Former Ukraine midfielder Andriy Polunin shared his impressions of the return play-off match of the Conference League qualification round between Turkish Besiktas and Dynamo Kyiv (1:0), which took place last Thursday in Istanbul. The Ukrainian team was eliminated from the tournament on aggregate (2:3, 0:1).
Andrei Polunin- Dynamo flew to Istanbul with one goal - to eliminate the one goal deficit. But the match was very unsuccessful for Kyiv team. Why?
- The hosts, Besiktas players, played according to the score. In Bucharest, they made the groundwork and could play calmly at their home stadium. In the first half, Turkish players twice threatened Buschan's goal quite dangerously. Georgiy saved Dynamo once, and once the bar came to his aid. Our team had nothing in attack before the break.
- The second one was more eventful...
- Yes, in the 50th minute our team had the most real chance to score a goal. A quick counterattack on the flank, but Voloshin made an awkward pass to Vanat. Who knows how things would have developed if Dynamo had scored in that moment.
And two minutes later Abubakar performed everything masterfully. Having received the ball near the other team's penalty area, he beat three opponents and accurately shot into the far corner of the goal. Three of our players took the ball away from the most dangerous player of Besiktas with their eyes. Winning, the Turkish players had 5-6 more dangerous attacks, but the score remained minimal.
- Dynamo's problems in defence have not disappeared?
- No. This is a huge problem. All the most dangerous things come from the central zone. Changes are needed there. Someone should be given to the arena, someone should be bought in the centre of defence. We see that the level of football in European cups is high and not everyone corresponds to it.
- What can you say about Dynamo's attack? In Istanbul we had to score, but the first and the only shot into the net of "Besiktas" goal was made by Kyiv team on the 89th minute of the game. This is not the way to win decisive matches.
- I agree that there are a lot of problems in attack. We have no quality foreigners now. And many guys lack experience. Only Buschan from the starting lineup plays at a decent level. That's all.
- Many experts and journalists are surprised that the talented Vladimir Brazhno does not play in the starting lineup. Lucescu favours Dynamo captain Serhiy Sidorchuk.
- Personally, I noticed Brazhno at the training camp in Turkey a year and a half ago, and since then I have been watching him. What can I say? Brazhko is a talented, powerful footballer. He benefited from the lease in Zorya. There he twice, together with the Luhansk team, beat Dynamo in the Ukrainian championship, well, and in one-on-one matches he outplayed Sidorchuk.
But we understand that Lucescu sees everything perfectly well in the training process. And he puts Sidorchuk. In the same way Rebrov called Sidorchuk to the national team. Purely personal opinion: Dynamo needs fresh blood now. The team simply needs renewal. And Lucescu is dominated by the result, that is why he puts the captain in the main squad.
- For the first time since 2005 Dynamo Kyiv will not play in the group stage of one of the European cups. Is it a consequence of the war?
- The war is one of the reasons. I see that many Ukrainian teams have mediocre players who would have played in the First League, at most. We know that we do not have strong foreigners now. The level of football in Ukraine has fallen dramatically in recent years. Young Ukrainian footballers should be highly motivated, but they do not manage to do much. Before the war, remember the battles of the leaders - Dynamo, Shakhtar, Dnipro and Metalist. Is there such a thing now? The answer is obvious. Our football needs time to recover. And Ukraine - victory in the war!
