Ukrainian coach Sergey Nagornyak shared his impressions of the match of the 7th round of the main stage of the Europa League between Turkish Galatasaray and Kyiv’s Dynamo (3:3), as well as predicted challenging tests for the "white-blues" in the final match of this stage of the tournament against Latvian RFSh.
Dynamo players definitely met expectations. Listen, the game unfolded in such a way that Kyiv team was losing by two goals twice during the match. Dynamo scored more in one match than in the six previous matches. Well done, Kyiv players.
Shovkovsky, by the way, made very successful substitutions. With Yarmolenko and Pihalenko coming on the field, the "white-blues" played completely differently. In the first half, Dynamo wasn't doing much at all. Besides Vanat's goal, nothing was really working in their attack. But in the second half, the Kyiv team scored two goals.
Yarmolenko scored a brace! Although it’s clear that Andriy is struggling, he is still recovering from an injury. But the Dynamo players showed great character to snatch a draw in Istanbul. And with a favorable turn of events, Kyiv could have even won this match. A downside was the performance of the central defenders. Osimhen dominated in the air completely. Galatasaray still managed to create many chances at Dynamo’s goal.
— And the next opponent of Dynamo, RFSh won against Ajax.
— Yes, they defeated Ajax. Look at their overall results in the Europa League. The Latvian team has results even better than Dynamo's. They have 5 points, while Kyiv has only 1 point. From the standpoint of the standings, how can we underestimate this opponent? Some may speak of RFSh with underestimation. Well, take a look at how many points the Baltics have.
And Ajax is not such a simple opponent. It’s not easy to beat them. Ajax is currently in second place in the Eredivisie. The Amsterdam team is fighting with PSV for the first place in the Dutch championship. This year, Ajax is competing for the title, and RFSh defeated them. Therefore, it will not be easy for Dynamo. Many think that the Dynamo team will definitely win in the final round. Of course, we will hope that the Kyiv team will still win this match, although it will not be easy for Shovkovsky's charges.
Andrei Pisarenko
