Amid explosions in Ukrainian cities, the next round of the Ukrainian championship has reached the home stretch. Among other things, the fight for the gold medal has intensified to the maximum, and this should have been good news for everyone, if not for one thing.
The feeling that the football battle is going on not only on green lawns but also in certain corridors has been with the fans of most of our clubs throughout the spring.
In order to compare their impressions with the opinion of a well-known expert, after two postponed Premier League matches - involving Shakhtar and Dynamo, who easily overcame the resistance of Chornomorets (4:1) and Veres (3:0) on Wednesday, respectively - Dynamo.kiev.ua asked the legendary midfielder and respected coach Leonid Buryak for a comment.
Leonid Buriak. Photo by O. Vasylieva- "It's good that despite the enemy's brutal attacks and regular air raids, football life in Ukraine does not stop," says Leonid Yosypovych. - " Just like the success of our national teams, the national championship is a significant response to the aggressor and an encouraging signal for all of us.
In terms of the level of play, both UPL leaders are far ahead of their competitors. Except that Yuriy Vernydub's Kryvbas is trying to play in the same aggressive style. So on Wednesday, Dynamo and Shakhtar scored points simultaneously and continued their fight for the title in absentia.
- Whose side were your sympathies on that hot day?
- There is nothing to talk about here. Dynamo Kyiv gave me my name, and in turn, I have always given it everything I had. Including my health! And Odesa's Chornomorets opened the way to big football for me, so my attitude towards them is also special. These are two parts of a long football life.
- Unlike Chornomorets, which is hovering in the middle of the standings, Dynamo is once again not just fighting for a European Cup ticket, but dreaming of UPL gold medals and the Champions League. However, not everything depends on the Kyiv team, as Shakhtar are four points ahead of them with four rounds to go...
- So what? Four points is not such a handicap that it is impossible to win back. Despite the fact that Dynamo and Shakhtar still have a face-to-face meeting. So anything can happen. What is important is that the clubs' dispute is not interfered with by non-sporting factors, the presence of which is hard to miss today, as they say, even with the naked eye.
- It has long been no secret that Shakhtar and its UPL rivals, and most importantly, its direct competitors, are treated differently. It's good that today's matches between Chornomorets and Shakhtar and Dynamo and Veres did not involve anything so inadequate. Do you recall Kyiv's trip to Dnipro-1 on Saturday...
- Yes, the referee Yurii Ivanov was determined to make life as difficult as possible for one of the teams. I'm talking about Dynamo, who nevertheless got their way - thanks to their character, skill and despite the referee's decisions. You don't need to be an expert to note the inconsistency and unevenness of several of his verdicts.
Those who followed the events of the match at the Dnipro Arena understand exactly what we are talking about. For example, Dynamo's Andrievsky received a yellow card for a foul in attack, although before that, in a more egregious situation, Dnipro's Babenko went unpunished. The latter literally knocked Vivcharenko down when he was rushing towards the opposition goal.
Then Ivanov showed the "mustard" to the leader of the guests Yarmolenko for a common "working" violation, of which there are a dozen during the game, but limited himself to blowing the whistle when Dnipro-1 midfielder Ocheretko deliberately blocked Voloshyn's high-speed breakthrough
- Even Shovkovskyi tried to shout to the referee, demanding equal treatment for both teams.
- And this is quite a revealing moment, because Oleksandr usually keeps himself calm and calm. But the coach was aware that all these so-called little things had a potential impact on the result. He saw how they threw his players out of psychological balance, provoking them to take certain rash actions.
- In the second half, there were several more similar episodes, but the culmination of the Donetsk referee's "work" came in the 88th minute, when he ignored the fall in the Dnipro-1 penalty area of Brazhko, who was openly grabbed by the defender Sarapiy and knocked to the ground.
- I would have understood if Ivanov had insisted that the defender's action was clean after watching the replays, but he didn't even go to the monitor! But when, if not in such cases, should VAR be applied? Moreover, in this case, it was a very important game from a tournament point of view, the outcome of which could well be decisive.
The fact remains: "Dynamo almost lost points, which they could have lacked at the finish line. However, the team still felt the consequences of Ivanov's refereeing blindness. After all, in a 50-50 situation, he sent off Tymchyk, showed warnings to four other players, and Shaparenko and Dyachuk were banned for the game against Veres.
- By the way, the referee eventually technically levelled the score for the Mustard Seed, punishing Dnipro three times... in stoppage time.
- No comment here. This is a classic of the refereeing genre.
The match in Dnipro in general included a lot of such mess, but it is only a link in a series of games marked by questionable decisions by the referees. Only a blind person would not notice a clear trend when one club is being pulled up by its bootstraps while its rivals are being put through the wringer.
Remember the Lviv match between Shakhtar and Kryvbas two months ago, which everyone was looking forward to. "The game didn't work out: the far-fetched sending-off of the visitors' leader Ilyich at the start of the second half put an end to the intrigue - 5-2.
Meanwhile, we can see that in matches involving Dynamo, their opponents can afford much dirtier tackles without the risk of getting sent off.
- For example, I recall the home draw between the Bilyki-Blues and LNZ (1-1), when Cherkasy sensationally took points from the favourites, but did so not without the help of the referee. After all, the latter was obliged to award the guests with red cards twice!
- By the way, even then, Ivanov blew the whistle as a liberal, and the VAR assistant again did not even invite him to the monitor.
- However, the slightest manifestation of aggression towards Shakhtar players does not go unpunished. The referees who work at Donetsk's matches are more likely to play it safe and sometimes tame the impudent opponents of Pushic's team with a couple of mustard sprays.
- This, by the way, was the case two weeks ago with Zorya, who played the Shakhtar in two games in a row. At the beginning of the first, Shakhtar's task was made easier by yellow cards for three key players of the Luhansk team, who then had to miss the second leg.
- It is also significant that Zorya played each of the two matches in the minority...
- It turns out that it was not in vain that the Luhansk coach Yurii Koval complained about the bias of the referees. I know Yurii Hryhorovych well - he is not one of those who would shake the air for no reason.
- It's also worth noting that the only club that managed to suspend Shakhtar after the winter break was Oleksandriya, but their attempt ended up being a "blank" - Rotan's team was awarded a technical defeat for putting on the field the unannounced Kalyuzhny. How could they have made such a gross mistake?
- And no one was held accountable for it! Why did the UPL's computerised system allow a player who was not on the general team list to be included in the match application? Why do the organisers of official professional competitions allow this to happen, and then everyone pretends it's normal? Has anyone been fined, apart from the scapegoat from Oleksandriya, or fired from their job?
- The story is strange, almost detective-like, but it fits into the general narrative: circumstances again favoured Shakhtar's success, who unexpectedly got three desk points.
- So, on the one hand, we have Shakhtar, whose matches are officiated by openly loyal referees and who always have a green light. How else can we understand Chornomorets' agreement to play a home game not at home in Odesa, but in Kyiv, the city where Shakhtar is based?
And on the other hand, we have Dynamo, who were rightly refused by the home team to move the match from Dnipro to a conditionally neutral pitch.
Indeed, if a club, even in times of war, has already received a licence to hold UPL matches in its city, at its stadium, why can it then decide which opponent to host at home and which to host anywhere else? All clubs should be on an equal footing! In my opinion, Dnipro-1 showed much more sportsmanship to their colleagues than, unfortunately, Chornomorets.
- In addition, Shakhtar, almost without hiding, regularly stimulates Kyiv's rivals financially so that they act against them with triple zeal. The media have repeatedly reported on the Pitmen's offers, most recently to players from Polissia or Dnipro-1...
- Of course, this raises a question that also falls within the realm of sports ethics: shouldn't a professional team play to the best of its ability without any outside help? But the danger of such incentives is also that they can give rise to backroom schemes. Including those involving referees.
We understand that the purpose of all these manipulations is to win a ticket to the Champions League with its guaranteed payments from UEFA. Thirty or forty or whatever millions of euros? However, it is precisely because of this market masquerade that our championship has become similar to the famous Odesa "Privoz"!
- Fans' hopes for a speedy recovery of Ukrainian football are associated with the new UAF team. How do you think they are justified?
- So far, as we can see, they have not managed to bring all the processes under the necessary management control. However, I have no doubt that Andriy Shevchenko - with his mentality, experience, perfect knowledge of football, perseverance and integrity - will eventually deeply understand what is really happening here and how.
In the mid-1990s, I was still in charge of Chornomorets when the very young Shevchenko was taking his first steps in adult football, then competing with us for the championship title as part of Dynamo. I also worked at the headquarters of the national team of Ukraine when Andriy was growing up, and then he grew up and reached the top as a player of AC Milan.
Therefore, I do not need to be convinced of how sincerely he loves football. Without this dedication, Sheva would not have achieved such fantastic success as a striker and later as a very wise and sensible coach. Now it's time for Andriy Mykolayovych to serve football in the presidential capacity. We need to put things in order in our football.
I don't think he will be satisfied with a situation where his field of activity, for which he is now personally responsible, including to the blessed memory of his teacher Lobanovsky, will again be spoken of as something second-rate, provincial, and designed to satisfy the ego of a certain person.
- Recently, on the eve of the Milan derby, the UAF president publicly wished success to the Rossoneri, whose colours he has defended for many years. But I don't remember when Andriy Shevchenko inspired his native Dynamo in the same way on the eve of a fundamental match with Shakhtar...
- Don't compare, don't make such a big deal out of it. This is first of all! And, secondly, Dynamo or any other team does not need any such support. The federation headed by Shevchenko and the league subordinated to the UAF must create conditions for all clubs to have equal conditions for real sports competition and to be able to solve their problems exclusively on the football field.
As it happens in the strongest tournaments, in the Champions League, where any monopoly is impossible a priori. Yes, for Shevchenko, there are no secrets in this area either. Yes, both the UAF audit and the use of a polygraph are good, they are timely. But at the end of a difficult season, everyone is waiting for more effective and prompt steps aimed at creating a modern, truly competitive environment in our football.
Oleksandr Popov
