Famous Ukrainian journalist Mykola Nesenyuk dedicated a post on Facebook to the upcoming European season of Dynamo Kyiv.
Nikolay NesenyukI was ten years old when Dynamo Kyiv defeated Celtic Glasgow in the last 16 of the European Champions Cup. Let me remind you that at that time Celtic was the winner of this Cup, so all of us, without exception, declared our team the best in Europe! Why not? We beat the Cup winner! Now I'm an adult and I understand that that success was somewhat accidental - Celtic simply underestimated the opponent in the first home match, whom they had easily beaten a year and a half ago in the Cup of Cups. Plus, at the beginning of the season, they were not in the best shape. As a result, our team had two successful counterattacks. And then try to catch up! We rejoiced in this victory for a month before our favourites, who had already been declared European champions by ourselves, lost in the last eight to an unknown Polish side, Gurnik. At the time, everyone thought it was an unfortunate accident and waited for the next victory. We had to wait eight years. Then Dynamo beat Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup. And again, just like in 1967, we declared our favourites European champions - Bayern was the Champions Cup winner at the time! Now I am an adult and understand that that Super Cup was an unofficial tournament, that the Germans (they were really Germans then) came to the second match without their best player, saving their strength to win the Champions Cup again. We rejoiced until the spring, when Dynamo unexpectedly lost to French side Saint-Etienne in the quarter-finals. And then we waited again for ten years, firmly convinced that our team was the best, but it was just a little unlucky!
Why am I mentioning this? To try to return to the time when, before each start of the European Cups, we expected Dynamo not to "reach the next round", not to have some "Euro autumn" or "Euro spring" invented by someone unknown. We hoped for a victory, for the Champions Cup! Well, let's say the Cup of Cups for now. And although it was unrealistic at the time, as I now realise, it was this confidence in the possibility and achievability of victory that inspired all our football, brought millions of children to the football grounds who wanted to be like Blokhin - the best footballer in Europe!
Today, almost no one believes that Dynamo will qualify for the Champions League. Not that we will win the Cup, but that we will simply be among the 36 participating teams. People want us to get the weakest possible opponent in the qualifiers for the main stage of the competition. Because we will definitely not overcome a strong one! If the majority of the people think this way, so can the Dynamo players themselves, who now, as in the ancient times I mentioned, are part of this nation, and not foreigners whose heads we cannot get into. It is to them that I want to remind them that the famous players of the victorious Dynamo team of old, who now seem to us to be football supermen, were the same as the current ones. The only difference was that they did not watch the matches of the best teams in the world every day. There was no such opportunity then. Neither directly nor in a recording - there were no video recorders then. Therefore, Dynamo players of those days just went out and played as best they could. Even with Celtic, Fiorentina, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich... They were lucky enough to win a few times and we are still proud of those moments. After all, our superstars of the past have never played in even the Champions Cup final, eliminated at earlier stages. We were not the best in Europe then. But we were not afraid of anyone back then!
This is exactly what I want from the current generation of Dynamo players. You know your level! It is not the best in the world, but it is not the worst either. Your yesterday's partners are now playing in the leading European championships and look quite decent! Are you worse? Are you not able to play at their level? So what's the problem? The desire to win, self-confidence and a bit of luck - that's what you need to make today's ten-year-old boys rejoice at your unexpected victory over a well-known European team, just like we used to. They need to believe that you are the best, and when you lose, they need to be sure that it was your bad luck and that you will win again next time! If that's the case, I have no doubt that the current Dynamo team is quite capable of not only qualifying for the Champions League, but also playing well there. If not, then in the Europa League. And when we fail, we will say that we were unlucky and will be lucky next time!
Mykola NESENYUK
