Former Dynamo Kyiv midfielder Milos Ninkovic told what he thinks about the confrontation of his former team with Partizan Belgrade in the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League.
"The most important thing for Partizan is not to lose the first match. And then everything is possible in the return match at home. I am not sure how much Dynamo players will be able to concentrate on soccer, given that they are going through a difficult situation - the war in Ukraine.
In addition, I think that Dynamo head coach Oleksandr Shovkovskiy has a very intense pre-season preparation, which means that no player of his team will be fresh at the beginning of the season.
If all this is put together, Partizan can show a good result in the upcoming confrontation. I'm sure it will be a very interesting two-match confrontation. I haven't managed to see a full Dinamo match for a long time, so I want to see how the team will play in these matches.
As for Dynamo, this club helped me a lot, although the first two-three years there were difficult for me, because I came to Kyiv very young, without my family and friends. But then everything was good. If it was not for Dynamo, I would probably never have played for the Serbian national team and in the Champions League.
When I played for Dinamo, there were a lot of foreigners in the team. Now they pay more attention to domestic players. And in this respect Dynamo is doing well now: five-six players from the team play in the Ukrainian national team. But the national championship has become weaker.
The war is a big problem. The club can no longer bring foreigners as it used to, and holds home European matches in Poland without much support from the stands. All of this has a big impact on the team. I can`t even imagine what the guys are going through, and in these conditions they have to concentrate on soccer.
Shovkovskiy? This is the best goalkeeper in Ukraine's history. He has always been a professional and a leader. He didn't talk much, but he worked hard on the pitch. I was a bit shocked when I heard that he became the head coach of Dynamo. However, knowing him, I think he will have a disciplined team with physical preparation at the highest level," SportKlub quoted Ninkovic as saying.
Translation and stylistic adaptation - Dynamo.kiev.ua, when using the material hyperlink is mandatory!