Daniil Vereitin, Editor-in-Chief of Sport RBC.UA, shared his reflections on the matches of Ukrainian clubs in the Europa League and Conference League held on July 23. Although these games were not triumphant, they left room for cautious optimism regarding our place in European football.
Nostalgia and reality
Every Ukrainian fan is nostalgic for the period of 2009-2014. Back then, we had a strong domestic championship, the Ukrainian national team defeated England and France in the World Cup qualifiers, and in European competitions, we didn't even look at the names of opponents in the qualifying rounds. Instead, we clearly remember everyone our clubs played against in the play-offs.
In 2026, reality is different: we still have one guaranteed representative in the league phase of the Champions League, and three other teams are forging their path to the main rounds through qualification. However, we now have to start from lower rounds, not the final ones. And the opponents are much stronger than they were 15 years ago.
If we set aside unnecessary drama, today Ukrainian clubs are the middleweights of European football. As reflected in the UEFA coefficient table, where we currently hold 22nd place out of 55.
"Dynamo": personnel problems and missed chances
It is understandable that Igor Kostyuk can now operate with theses about a large number of injured players. Especially in the context of the center of defense. Because when you have an experienced Popov and a promising Zakharchenko, but both are injured, then Bilovar in the starting lineup is a dead end. Although, according to Vereitin, one could look for a stronger defender in the U-19 team. Because what "Universitatea" forgave, PAOK did not.
Again, Kendzera is playing on the right flank of defense not out of choice. We still haven't heard from the head coach what happened to Korobov, whom he trusted so much in the spring. Too young? Can't handle the responsibility in European competitions? Come on! Mircea Lucescu 20 years ago threw 19-year-old Bohdan Shust and Dmytro Chigrynsky into the UEFA Cup round of 16 match against "Lille".
But why remember Lucescu in "Shakhtar" if he did similar things already in "Dynamo"? In October 2020, for the Champions League group stage match against "Juventus", 21-year-old Vitaliy Mykolenko, 18-year-old Ilya Zabarnyi, 22-year-olds Viktor Tsygankov and Nikolay Shaparenko came out for "Dynamo", and 20-year-old Vladyslav Supryaga played on the attack. And remember how 18-year-old Ruslan Neshcheret came out for the match against "Barcelona" at "Camp Nou" that same year? And how he played! He conceded only from Messi on a penalty and from Pique from open play, but repeatedly saved the team. However, Lucescu knew how to play controlled adventurism. Igor Kostyuk, for now, does not take risks.
Game episodes: goals, posts, and Tyson
Basically, "Dynamo" scored a quick goal and could not develop the advantage. They conceded twice only in the first half, and another one right before halftime. Fortunately, Justin Lonwijk scored one goal back. By the way, Lonwijk is very pleasing at the start of this season: his converted penalty brought "Dynamo" victory in the series with "Universitatea". It seems that this guy has enough motivation to reveal himself in "Dynamo".
Matvey Ponomarenko, after a productive spring, still cannot score in this season. In three matches, he has not been noted yet. The best opportunity was in the second half: first, Matvey's shot (by the way, how he opened up for the pass, how he removed the opponent – well done!) was pulled by Pavlenko, and on the follow-up, the "Dynamo" forward technically did everything right. But... he hit the post. In such cases, they say: give him 10 such chances, he will score 9. And yet, one would be false. And this is exactly that case...
For "Dynamo", nothing is lost yet: in Thessaloniki, you can and must win by at least one goal. Perhaps Igor Kostyuk will have to surprise with personnel decisions again, because the appearance of Eduardo Guerrero on the left flank was a surprise. But before inventing a "Tesla" in the attack, it is worth working out mistakes in defense. So to speak, conduct preventive work, if possible.
Oh, and by the way. Did you notice how Tyson accelerated in the first half? I even thought that Tyson at his 38 could easily pull the level of the current UPL. But, of course, this is already a pale shadow of that Brazilian, who was a real leader of "Metalist", and even more so - "Shakhtar".
"Polissya": calmness and teamwork
Of all three Ukrainian representatives in European competitions, it was calmest for "Polissya". The Zhytomyr team made an impression of a well-oiled team that did not... (text cuts off).
