On Wednesday, October 23, Kyiv “Dynamo” played the first match of the 2nd round of the “Champions Path” of the UEFA Youth League for the 2024/2025 season. At this stage, the opponent of Igor Kostiuk's team was Slovenian “Maribor”.
Photo: fcdynamo.comUEFA Youth League, 2nd round. First match
“Dynamo” — “Maribor” — 1:1 (0:1)
Goals: Peikrishvili (68) — Podlesnik (37)
Yellow cards: Ishchenko (45), Ponomarenko (76) — Rashid (73).
“Dynamo”: 71. Surkis (c), 13. Korobov, 5. Sizyonyk, 4. Zakharchenko, 15. Dykyi, 22. Osipenko, 6. Peikrishvili (25. Lusin, 84), 14. Ishchenko, 7. Kremchanyn, 20. Redushko (30. Andreiko, 65), 11. Ponomarenko (9. Lobko, 84).
“Maribor”: Antonich, 19. Senekovich (c), 5. Kramberger, 3. Rashid, 2. Lorbek, 8. Osterk (6. Zhavbi, 65), 23. Vikhir, 20. Belovich (24. Koren, 65), 27. Videnovich (11. Miloshevich, 86), 18. Meshko, 7. Podlesnik.
In the first few minutes, Peikrishvili was active in the lineup of Dynamo, who had two dangerous shots on goal, but our midfielder lacked accuracy. The nominal hosts also tried to threaten the opponent's goal from set pieces, but every time after a corner kick, “Maribor” calmly defended. Soon, Osipenko made a great pass to set up the same Peikrishvili for a shot, who found himself in the center of the penalty area, but his powerful shot was saved by the goalkeeper.
Ponomarenko also had a great chance to score, as he carried the ball to the right corner of the goalkeeper's area, but this time the team was saved by goalkeeper Antonich. Kremchanyn was a bit unlucky, as he aimed for the near corner. Korobov made a great run toward the goal; in a situation where Maxim could have shot himself, he didn't hesitate to pass to Peikrishvili, who was running parallel, but his shot was again saved by Antonich, who deflected the ball for a corner kick.
The Slovenians only had their first dangerous shot on Surkis' goal closer to the end of the first half — the ball flew past the goal. And on their next attack, the guests scored: they intercepted the ball in front of the penalty area, Podlesnik received a pass from Videnovich and made a precise shot from the edge of the penalty area, sending the ball on an unreachable trajectory for the goalkeeper — 0:1. Despite the fact that the Kyiv team substantially outnumbered Radovan Karanovic’s team in terms of created chances and shots on target, the teams went into halftime with the opponent having a minimal lead.
The second half started relatively calmly, with neither team creating any genuinely dangerous moments. However, emotions erupted when our team conducted a promising attack, as the ball somehow didn’t end up in the net when two Dynamo players could have directed it there. In the end, the sphere bounced to Osipenko, who shot very inaccurately.
Not long after, Dykyi nearly hit the far corner — the ball narrowly missed the far post. Halfway through the second half, active Peikrishvili finally reached his goal: Andreiko, who had recently come on as a substitute, performed a free kick, and Alexandr, beating everyone in the penalty area, deflected the ball into the net, equalizing the score — 1:1. After that, the pace of the game slowed somewhat, with play mostly occurring in midfield.
In the final minutes of the match, the Dynamo players spent time near the opponent's goal. Notably, Osipenko had a strong but inaccurate shot, while Kremchanyn had a weak low shot that posed no problems for the Maribor goalkeeper. So, the score did not change before the final whistle.
It should be noted that the return match of the 2nd round of the “Champions Path” of the UEFA Youth League against “Maribor U-19” will be played by “Dynamo U-19” away in two weeks, on Wednesday, November 6.
