Maris Verpakovskis: "The current coaching staff of Dynamo is almost entirely made up of my former teammates"

2025-01-29 11:40 Former forward of Kyiv Dynamo, Maris Verpakovskis, who is now the general director of RFSh, shared ... Maris Verpakovskis: "The current coaching staff of Dynamo is almost entirely made up of my former teammates"
29.01.2025, 11:40

Former forward of Kyiv Dynamo, Maris Verpakovskis, who is now the general director of RFSh, shared his expectations for the match against the "white-blues" in the Europa League.

Maris Verpakovskis

"If we had drawn the match against Maccabi, the emotions in this match against Dynamo would have been completely different. It is always interesting to meet former clubs, especially Kyiv Dynamo. I spent so much time there, met many people.

The current coaching staff of Dynamo is almost entirely made up of my former teammates. I met with several representatives of the "white-blues" before the draw for the Europa League, and we were already talking then that it would be interesting if our clubs ended up playing against each other. Unfortunately, we won't be able to play this game in Kyiv. The situation is as it is due to the war. However, we have already played friendly matches against each other; it's nice that now we will be able to meet in an official high-level game.

When was the last time I was in Kyiv? I think it was in 2019. Then I had the opportunity to visit their training base and also attend a Dynamo game. Many people from my time still remain at the Dynamo training base, many familiar club staff who still work there. Even the cleaners at the club remained the same and recognized me. It was a very welcoming visit that I remember well.

What's the difference between that Dynamo and the current one? Of course, in terms of composition, they are completely different teams, but that's not the main thing. It's necessary to acknowledge that the current Dynamo is not what it was 10-15 years ago. It's difficult to invite strong foreign players who used to come, and the financial situation is no longer the same.

Reading the Ukrainian press, I see predictions that after the war, Dynamo will return to its previous level. Right now, we see that everything is difficult in the European Cups. In the Ukrainian championship, they started this season very well and have an advantage over Shakhtar, which, on the other hand, is performing quite well in the Champions League.

Kyiv Dynamo is a big brand in Ukraine. As I see in the Ukrainian media, there is also significant pressure on them regarding results in the Europa League. They were almost given a specific task to beat us, RFSh, in the last game to avoid finishing at the bottom of the table. Well, now it has turned out that Dynamo can no longer surpass us in the table, even theoretically.

I see that with each subsequent match in the Europa League, the boys' confidence grows. Yes, in the match against Ajax, one big task was accomplished – we achieved the first victory for Latvian clubs in the main tournament of European Cups, we recorded this event in history. But there won't be outside pressure – we understand that we are not the last in the table, and it’s also clear that we do not make it to the top 24.

Moreover, everyone in our team appreciates that we can play an official game of such a high level in January, when in previous years during this time we usually played friendlies indoors against Lithuanian teams. On the other hand, there's an opportunity to showcase ourselves at a different level in January so that other clubs can see us, which, in turn, may lead to more transfers and a higher level for the club.

As I said, we won't make it to the top 24, as we lack 4 points and only one game is left. I learned this fact immediately after the game with Ajax – I opened the standings on my phone and saw the situation. At that time, we weren't thinking about this. If we had been able to take that point then in the match against Maccabi, we would have chances to move on now. Back then, we weren't too worried about it because we still didn't understand what position we would approach the January matches. Moreover, we knew that we had a game against Ajax ahead of us. Now, looking back a bit, it's a different feeling and different thoughts. It would be very good if we could approach the last round of the Europa League with real chances of reaching the playoffs...," Verpakovskis said in a comment to Sportacentrs.com.

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