The former coach of “Dynamo” Leonid Buryak shared his thoughts on the start of Kyiv’s campaign in the Champions League qualifiers.
Leonid Buryak. Photo — fcdynamo.com— Leonid Yosypovych, what did you think of yesterday’s match?
— “Dynamo” and “Hamrun” are teams of different levels. This was noted by the coaches as well. I think “Dynamo” prepared well. If the results during the training camps were not very good, yesterday we won, but it is still difficult to judge anything. Hamrun is a decent team, but this is Malta. So we will not sing praises after 3:0, we understand perfectly well what Malta and football is at this stage. “Dynamo” created a lot of chances, and we can already say that there are 20-25 good footballers in the Kyiv team.
— Who can you personally highlight from yesterday’s match?
— It’s hard to imagine “Dynamo” without Buyalsky and Yarmolenko. The youth needs to get up to speed faster. The same Supryaga, Pikhalyonok, Bragaru, Brazhko. We have many players from whom we expect a lot.
— What do you say about Supryaga, who has not scored in official matches for 4 years?
— Vlad is no longer a young player, and there are expectations for him. In my opinion, he is a very talented player, but he needs to use his strengths. The management of “Dynamo” is waiting and looking at the forwards who are available. Until Supryaga finds himself in the game, he needs to review something.
— Yarmolenko said that this is his last season in his playing career. Is it too early for Andriy Mykolayovych to think about retirement?
— Never say never. I haven’t seen Andriy since those words, but I will definitely talk to him about it. If he has the strength and health, he should play. I don’t know, maybe there’s something inside that holds him back. In terms of his game and dedication, there are definitely no questions. He is a player who does a lot for the team. We need a Yarmolenko in every position.
— The second match with the Maltese has become a formality. What do you expect from Dynamo’s next opponent in the Champions League qualifiers—it will be the winner of the pair “Paphos” - “Maccabi” (Haifa), whose first match ended in a 1:1 draw?
— Whoever we get, we have chances against everyone. It’s clear that these are not top teams, and “Dynamo” can compete with them. Although Israeli football has improved lately. There are good salaries, infrastructure is developing, decent players are arriving. Cyprus is also no gift. If earlier our teams went there like for a vacation and scored as much as they wanted, that’s no longer the case, and we need to prepare seriously.
“Dynamo” still has time to prepare, and it is necessary to give playing time to those who had less. Friendlies are not comparable to official matches. In the second match with Hamrun, the likes of Supryaga and Bragaru should be given a chance to relieve the main squad a bit.
— What do you expect this season from the rivalry with “Shakhtar”? Donetsk team has a new head coach, Arda Turan, who is making loud statements.
— So far, “Shakhtar” talks a lot, but it’s too early to judge about their game. We don’t spend millions and billions on players. I believe that’s wrong. “Dynamo” is a Ukrainian team.
I sympathize with “Shakhtar” in the European Cups and have respect for Rinat Leonidovych Akhmetov, but I’m just not interested in watching the play of the Donetsk team. I feel for Sudakov and other Ukrainian players of “Shakhtar”, but everything else doesn’t interest me, honestly.
Andriy Piskun
