Ukrainian footballers took part in the final matches of the qualifying rounds for the league phase of the Europa League and Conference League. The results of the matchday for our players were contrasting: some recorded goal involvements and helped their teams advance, while others, on the contrary, were the cause of a heavy defeat. We break down match by match how the Ukrainians performed in European qualifying.
Thrashing of Kairat and Sikan's fifth goal in six matches
One of the highest-scoring matches of the evening was the Europa League encounter between Anderlecht and Almaty's Kairat. The Belgians secured a comfortable 3:0 win, with Daniil Sikan contributing the second goal for his side. According to the source, in his last six Europa League matches the 25-year-old Ukrainian forward has scored five goals, missing out only in the game against Greece's PAOK; besides Kairat, Sweden's Hammarby is also on his list of victims. Following that defeat, Kairat was relegated to the Conference League.
Malinovskyi's red card and Trabzonspor's collapse
Ruslan Malinovskyi had the worst evening of all. In the Ferencváros – Trabzonspor match, the Ukrainian was shown a straight red card as early as the 13th minute, leaving his team a man down. The situation was worsened by a second yellow card received by Sidney Lopes Cabral early in the second half, after which Trabzonspor were reduced to nine men. The Hungarians left their opponents no chance and won 4:0.
Ukrainian specialists and defenders: Romanchuk and Demchenko
Alexander Romanchuk and his Universitatea (Craiova) were eliminated from the Europa League. After a 1:1 draw in the first leg, the Ukrainian defender's team lost 0:1 away to Armenia's Ararat. Romanchuk played the full match, but advancing to the league phase was not possible. Georgia's Iberia, coached by Ukrainian Andriy Demchenko, also ended its Europa League run: in the second leg the team lost to Poland's Jagiellonia (0:4, 1:2 on aggregate), although it will continue its campaign in the Conference League.
Benfica without problems, Shakhtar learn their UCL opponents
Benfica had no trouble against Denmark's Aarhus: after a 3:1 win in the first leg, the Portuguese also won the second match by the same score. Anatoliy Trubin again spent the entire match on the bench, while Georgiy Sudakov started the game and played 64 minutes. A separate note goes to Donetsk's Shakhtar, which received its opponents for the league phase of the Champions League: according to the source, the "miners" will once again face the same teams they played against a few years ago.
Other Ukrainians in European competition
Alexey Kashchuk played the full match for Karabakh against Twente. After a 1:0 away win, the Azerbaijani team only needed to avoid defeat at home, but Twente was ruthless and won 4:1; the Ukrainian did not record any goal involvements. Eduard Sobol came on for Czech side Jablonec in the match against Rangers in the 79th minute, replacing Jiří Slama, and his team won 1:0, which was enough to reach the league phase of the Conference League. Maksym Khlan and his Górnik lost away to Monaco (1:4); the Ukrainian played 68 minutes. Vladyslav Kochergin was also left without European football: his Raków lost to Hajduk, and the player, who started the match, played 71 minutes.
