Former Dynamo Kyiv defender Aleksandar Dragovic, who now plays for Austria Vienna, told what he expects from the confrontation of his former team with Salzburg in the play-off round of the Champions League qualification.
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"In sports terms, Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine has become stronger in recent years, because a lot of money was invested there. But Dynamo are the traditional number one club in this country and are clearly ahead of Shakhtar in terms of popularity. So the expectations from the team's performance are also high: Dynamo fans want the championship year after year.
Dynamo Kyiv is not so easy to follow now. Unfortunately, there is a war in Ukraine, and as a result I have lost a little bit of sight of the team. But I have seen Dynamo's matches with Partizan in the current Champions League qualification. The Serbian team, of course, was not the benchmark, but Dinamo twice appeared as a very young, technically strong team and won confidently. We should not underestimate this opponent, especially since they have a very fast player in Andriy Yarmolenko, even though he is not young anymore.
As for Salzburg, the new coach (Pepijn Leinders - ed.) managed to ignite this team. Yes, sometimes it plays too closed soccer and sometimes easily concedes goals, but for me there are no two opinions: "Salzburg" in this pair is the clear favorite and will enter the main stage of the Champions League, "- quotes Dragovic Kronen Zeitung.
Translation and stylistic adaptation - Dynamo.kiev.ua, when using the material hyperlink is mandatory!