Former football player of Vorskla and the Albanian national team Armand Dallku shared his thoughts on the results of the Ukrainian championship of the 2024/25 season.
Armand Dallku— Are you able to follow the UPL as much as possible?
— Yes. For me, “Alexandria” was a revelation, having an incredibly great season. Despite having a selection of high-level players, “Shakhtar” has struggled. No matter how you look at it, when a team hasn’t played at home for 11 years without a downturn, it can’t last. We must give credit to the management, which does not give up and tries to build a competitive team in today’s realities.
— Is “Dynamo”’s championship deserved?
— “Dynamo” has never lost, but something needs to be done with the defense. We need to understand that the championship level is such that opponents will catch you off guard, but at the same time you go through the championship without losses... It’s very important to have calmness behind you. Everything is built from defense, no matter how you look at it.
The main advantage of Kyiv is that they are at home, train at their base, have talented youth and experienced “uncle” players like Buyalsky and Yarmolenko. There’s nothing left but to wait for the youth to grow, and this generation will break through. That’s my opinion.
— Are Ukrainian teams capable of reaching the main round of European Cups?
— I remember from my experience how difficult it was to play three tournaments, and adding to that the modern realities - the logistics complicated by war and lack of air travel… Perhaps the clubs can be accommodated and some matches in the early rounds can be postponed to gain more points in the coefficient table. For other teams, it may not look very beautiful. But it will also be a positive for them if more teams participate in European tournaments.
Alexander Karpenko
