This weekend features matches of the 18th round of the current Ukrainian championship, which opens the tournament program for 2025. One of them on Sunday, February 23, saw Kyiv’s Dynamo face Lviv’s Karpaty. The match took place in Kyiv at the Dynamo stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi.
Ukrainian Championship. 18th round
DYNAMO (Kyiv) — KARPATY (Lviv) — 2:0 (0:0)
Goals: Mykhailenko (54), Vanat (75)
Warnings: Babohlo (29), Myroshnychenko (31)
Dynamo: 35. Neshcheret — 18. Tymchyk, 4. Popov, 32. Mikhavko, 2. Vivcharenko (44. Dubinchak, 80) — 76. Pyhalenok (6. Brazhko, 65), 91. Mykhailenko (15. Rubchynskyi, 86) — 7. Yarmolenko (9. Voloshyn, 65), 29. Buyalskyi (K) (10. Shaparenko, 80), 22. Kabayev — 11. Vanat.
Substitutes: 74. Ihnatenko, 15. Rubchynskyi, 20. Karavaev, 25. Dyachuk, 39. Guerrero, 40. Bilovar, 45. Bragarly, 99. Ponomarenko.
Karpaty: 1. Kynareykin, 11. Myroshnychenko (K), 47. Zhan, 4. Babohlo, 77. Sych, 23. Alvarez, 37. Bruninho (33. Shakh, 62), 8. Chachua (21. Tanda, 86), 26. Kostenko (7. Pidlepeneц, 79), 20. Ocheretko (43. Zanetti, 62), 95. Krasnopir (10. Neves, 79).
Substitutes: 41. Domchak, 5. Buleza, 18. Klimenko, 19. Chaban, 28. Polehenko, 55. Stetskov.
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Already in the first minute of the match, Dynamo had the chance to open the scoring — it was Yarmolenko at the far post who headed a cross from Vivcharenko from outside the goal area, but it went wide.
Overall, both teams started this match very aggressively. For some time, Dynamo held positional advantage, but closer to the 10th minute, Karpaty settled in, and the game leveled out. Nevertheless, the next goal-scoring opportunity was created by the Kyiv team: in the 15th minute, Buyalskyi with an excellent pass from the central zone put Yarmolenko in a striking position in the right part of the visitors' penalty area; he shot from about 10 meters, and the ball sailed over the crossbar. Ten minutes later, the Dynamo veteran attempted to finish a cross along the goal line but failed to connect properly due to interference from his marker. Later, Yarmolenko again fired from the penalty area, but this shot was blocked.
As for the most real moment to open the scoring, Dynamo missed it in the 35th minute of the match when Vivcharenko delivered a cross from the left to the far post, where Mikhavko assisted Vanat, who had to score from a meter away but failed to connect properly with the ball amidst interference from Sych.
At the end of the first half, Dynamo put heavy pressure on the opponent, but ultimately the teams went to halftime with zeros on the scoreboard.
The second half immediately began with a very dangerous moment at Dynamo's goal: Krasnopir was given space, and he made an unchallenged shot from the edge of the penalty area that nearly grazed Neshcheret's goalpost. However, the Kyiv team did not miss their first goal-scoring chance of the second half: in the 54th minute, following a set piece by Dynamo, the ball bounced around in the Karpaty penalty area, and in this situation, Mykhailenko was the quickest to react, scoring from about 11 meters into the bottom corner of the Lviv goal — 1:0.
Karpaty almost immediately responded with a shot from Ocheretko from about 18 meters, which flew a meter past Dynamo's goalpost. The guests continued to search for their chances in attack, but the "white-blues" defended impeccably.
This culminated in the second goal from the Kyiv team. In the 75th minute, Vivcharenko set Vanat up beautifully in the central zone, he picked up speed, elegantly outplayed Zhan in the penalty area, and curled the ball into the far corner of the goal — 2:0.
It should be noted that Karpaty did not give up and continued to make attempts in attack, but again they achieved nothing. And Dynamo noted an excellent shot from Kabayev from the edge of the penalty area, after which the ball soared over the crossbar. As a result, the match ended with Alexander Shovkovskyi's team winning 2:0.
Following this result, Dynamo continues to lead the Ukrainian championship table alone, ahead of second-placed Alexandria by five points.
In the next round, Dynamo will face a guest match against Poltava's Vorskla, which will take place next Friday, February 28, in Poltava at the Vorskla stadium named after A. Butovskyi (kick-off at 15:30).
Oleksandr POPOV from the Dynamo stadium named after Valeriy Lobanovskyi
