Ihor Kovalevych, a well-known football official and former president of Boryspil's Borysphen, shared his impressions of the 28th round match of the Ukrainian championship between Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv (1-0), which took place last Saturday in Lviv.
Igor Kovalevych"I can say right away that I liked the game. I got everything I expected from it! And while I expected this from the Miners, the Kyiv team was a pleasant surprise.
I haven't watched UPL matches for a long time, and the last time I saw Dynamo play, like Shakhtar, was in European cup matches, but this match, to be honest, was of a very high quality in my opinion.
I have repeatedly emphasised that I really like the way Shakhtar's management works, not to mention the financial situation of the club itself and its capabilities, so I gave the palm to the Pitmen in advance, both in the league and in yesterday's game, but the Kyiv team surprised me!
I've known Sashko Shovkovskyi for a long time, when he made his professional football debut with Borisfen as an 18-year-old boy. He has long since proved to everyone, first of all with his performance on the pitch, that he is a player of such a high European standard, but as a coach, I must be honest, I did not quite believe in him. Especially in the coach of Dynamo Kyiv. But at the end of last year, when Lucescu fell ill and Sashko was entrusted with the duties of head coach, he immediately drew attention to himself with the results of his work. And after Lucescu's departure and Shovkovskyi's appointment as head coach, Dynamo Kyiv went on a run of victories over their rivals that allowed them not only to climb up the standings, but also to create intrigue until the end of the championship as to who would become the champion of Ukraine.
I don't know what the president of Dynamo was hoping for when he appointed Shovkovsky as head coach, because he probably had nothing else besides great authority and a great name and charisma (I mean the experience of coaching, not to mention the results of such work). But the very fact and result of this appointment once again underlined that Igor Mikhailovich is not only a real PLAYER who is not afraid to take risks, but also a great psychologist.
It's been a long time since I've seen Kyiv play against Shakhtar with the first option, as they did this time in the second half. And with a line-up in which, with the exception of Shaparenko, very young players, such as Vanat and Brazhko, are playing the first roles on the pitch today. And this is already a great potential! Perhaps even higher than the Miners, with all due respect to them.
Therefore, I look forward to the future with great hope and optimism, as never before in many years, and look forward to Oleksandr Shovkovskyi's debut as head coach of Dynamo Kyiv in the international arena," Kovalevych wrote on his Facebook page.
