Former midfielder and former Dynamo coach Leonid Buryak shared his expectations for today\'s Europa League match in which Kyiv meets Galatasaray in Istanbul.
Leonid Buryak. Photo — V. Rasner
— Leonid Yosypovych, what are Dynamo\'s chances against a strong opponent like Galatasaray, which hasn\'t lost since August but concedes a lot of goals?
— All the playing footballers are in Galatasaray\'s squad. They have gathered performers in their team that do not meet top teams of the Premier League in England. Galatasaray picks up such players for its squad. All the best players rejected by top clubs in the EPL are invited by the Istanbul club. It is a quite experienced and good team that plays in European cups.
Dynamo has its tasks. They need to rehabilitate themselves a bit and cling to a result. Serious work is ongoing and preparations for the second half of the season are underway. The match against Galatasaray will be the first test of how ready Dynamo is for the continuation of the season. Right now, everything is being done to prepare well and successfully play in the second half of the current campaign. The Kyiv team finished the first round in the UPL quite successfully. However, these successful results need to be transferred to the European arena, as I have already mentioned. And there, an assessment will be given to everything that the Dynamo players have done.
— But it is still worth noting that Galatasaray hasn\'t lost for 24 consecutive matches. Is a really good opponent waiting for Dynamo?
— They previously signed a good coach in the person of Okan Buruk. They also invited good footballers to their squad. The Turkish Super League is quite a serious championship. It is one of the richest leagues in the world. The clubs have good budgets and good sponsors. And I will say again that Galatasaray picks up all the best footballers rejected by top clubs. And the coach of the Istanbul team is star-studded. He knows what he wants and how to build the team\'s play. I think that Galatasaray will be a very serious opponent. And, of course, it will be interesting to see how Dynamo performs against the backdrop of the Istanbul team\'s players.
— What do you think, did Dynamo go through the training camp well?
— It is always very difficult to undergo a training camp. Properly preparing the team for training camps is an art of the coach. We haven’t played any official matches this early yet. And in principle, we are looking forward to these matches as they will be special games. However, from our time until today, Dynamo has always taken the preparatory period very seriously. But, of course, when there are victories during the training camp, it is easier to prepare and the load is better tolerated. Let’s see! The final matches at the training camps showed that the Dynamo players are quite seriously ready. We will see directly in the matches how the team will perform.
— And Shakhtar will play against Brest in the Champions League.
— Shakhtar has one task, and Dynamo has another task. Of course, we will support our teams because we need to earn points for Ukraine\'s ranking. Currently, any victory is important for Ukraine\'s treasury in the UEFA coefficient table.
Dmytro Kotkov
