Former Bilo-Syni and Ukraine national team player Oleksandr Kosyrin shared his thoughts on Dynamo's first game against Salzburg in the Champions League playoffs.
- For Dynamo, the match against Salzburg is the most important one this season. How did the team approach the first match with the Austrian club?
- Dynamo's players have already started the season - they have played four matches in the Champions League qualifiers and two matches in the Ukrainian league. The starting lineup, in my opinion, was optimal for today. In general, I liked the actions of the Ukrainian team, although there were some mistakes.
- What do you think of the Austrian Salzburg?
- I know that the current coach of Salzburg, Pepein Leinders, worked for a long time at Liverpool, the coaching staff of Jurgen Klopp. Their behavior is largely similar. In general, Salzburg is a decent opponent, which is approximately equal in strength to Glasgow Rangers.
What I especially liked about the Austrian club's game is that they skillfully use pressure. Most often, they had two players covering one Dynamo player. And they were especially watching Mykola Shaparenko: the most creative Dynamo player was sometimes pressed by 3-4 people. Liverpool builds its game in the same way. So today's Salzburg and Liverpool have a lot in common, and we understand why. In general, the physical fitness of Salzburg's players is at a good level.
- Did Dynamo's players start the first half well?
- I agree with this. As the hosts, the Ukrainian team was looking for a chance in the attack. Yarmolenko had two good chances to score. He missed a particularly good moment when he put the ball under his comfortable left foot. There he had to hit the far corner of the goal with his right foot.
And then there was a moment in the 29th minute of the game. For some reason, center back Popov rushed at the opponent, was beaten, and a quick counterattack by the visitors followed, which ended in a goal. I think that Brazhko should have played in the center of the field, but not Popov. And Dubinchak could have left the visiting forward out of the game, but he was positioned incorrectly. So collective mistakes led to Dorjeli's goal.
- How would you comment on the clash between Shaparenko and Dedic at the end of the first half?
- These are emotions, there is no football without them. It seems to me that Mykola Shaparenko really wants to go to Europe. Either he has cheated himself or his agent, but this situation is generally hindering him. Sudakov is experiencing something similar now, and Mudryk went through the same thing before. All these talks about Juventus and other clubs' interest have a negative impact on Shaparenko's psyche. Yes, Dynamo put a price tag on Mykola. Foreign clubs do not want to pay such sums, and this worries the Dynamo midfielder. Perhaps he is offended by the club and is not playing to his full potential.
- Doesn't Mykola realize that reaching the Champions League group stage and playing with the best teams in Europe is the best opportunity to show his capabilities at the best stadiums in the Old World?
- Maybe he doesn't realize it now. Shaparenko is a young guy and lacks life experience. In twenty years he will understand everything. At the moment, Dynamo's managers need to talk to him calmly and discuss everything. Shaparenko needs to show his best in any game, even in difficult conditions. You always need to learn from other people's mistakes.
- At the beginning of the second half, the visitors scored again, this time after Karavayev committed a foul in their own penalty area. Oleksandr is 32 years old, and he makes similar mistakes in his own penalty area on a regular basis. Recently, he also broke the rules in a home game against Partizan, when the Serbs also scored from the eleven-meter mark.
- That's right. Karavaev is not the best in defense. He is much better in attack. Obviously, the visiting coaching staff studied Dynamo's game well and knew their weaknesses. Perhaps our players were a little burnt out - the status of the match made itself felt. Everyone understood the value and importance of this match.
- But I played as a center forward. It's easier for you to comment on the performance of the team's only forward, Vladyslav Vanat. After all, he doesn't threaten the opponent's goal in international games at all...
- Let me tell you a story from my career before Dynamo. In 1996, Viktor Leonenko and Oleh Venglynskyi played with me in the attack. Even then, the research group was counting TDs. So, in one of the matches, Leonenko had only 30 TDs. And the coaching staff began to reprimand him for this. To which he began to answer: the statistics of goals scored speak for the striker best.
So, in the first round of the EPL match against Chelsea, Erling Holland touched the ball only five times in the first half, but managed to score a goal. And when Holland doesn't score and is hated, they say that his level is the fourth division of England. And this is coming from former England players.
As for Vanat's game, for me he is not a typical center forward. I can't compare Lewandowski and Vanat in terms of their profiles. Please understand that this is just an example. Vanat, for me, is similar to the Brazilian Rodrigo from Real Madrid. He acts on the attacking flank. If Dynamo's midfielders brought the fast Vanat out one-on-one with the opposing goalkeeper, it would be one thing. But we don't see such passes in European tournaments. This is something for the head coach of Dynamo Kyiv to think about.
- It was written that Salzburg's budget is 150 million euros, and this is much more than Dynamo's. How do you deal with this?
- Money doesn't play football, but money can buy quality players. We all know that we have a war going on, and even in such a difficult time, Dynamo are fighting in the Champions League. Moreover, 11 Ukrainian players are playing on the field. Yes, a good legionnaire won't come to us now, and why should we pay huge sums now? Salzburg has a different situation - they have almost 30 legionnaires and only 3 Austrians on their roster. Everything is stable and clear there.
- Does Dynamo have a chance to make it to the Champions League group stage?
- There is a chance. It is imperative to score first in Salzburg. Austrian players will be nervous, it's psychology. But, in general, Salzburg's team play is built correctly. When defending, they have 8-9 players behind the ball line. To break through such a defense, you need to be a mega-talented football player. Our guys will have chances in the away match - we need to score. We need to fight in every episode. I would like to see a penalty shootout following the second match in Austria.