Artem Chobanian

 

This season’s Champions League and UEFA Cup tournaments are considered somewhat unpredictable and intriguing. This is mostly because of unexpected results in the qualifying rounds, where many stronger clubs lost to such unknown teams like Kaunas (Latvia) and BATE (Belarus). However, the focus here is on three Ukrainian clubs that have gained the right to show how much the Ukrainian Premier League has progressed and whether dozens of millions of dollars spent on transfers were worth it.

Dynamo Kyiv — the most famous Ukrainian club have gained a lot of praise in the press for the last month. Very good results and performances in the league moved the club to first place and level with Metalurg Donetsk in the table. Metalurg won their first six games and thus have made many bigger clubs pursue them.

Yuri Semin has managed to create a nice balanced machine that produces wonderful results with the average age of the players only being around 24! Young footballers that were playing in the second Dynamo team when other coaches were at the helm of the club, now open their talents to the delight of the supporters and managers. If we watch the last four games of the Premier League and Champions League matches against Spartak Moscow, we will notice how much of a contribution has been made by the younger generation of the team, players like Artem Milevsky, Oleksandr Aliev, Artem Kravets, Taras Mihalyk and others.

There are two talented wingers at the club: Badr El Kaddouri and Miloš Ninković. The two tore the defence of Spartak to pieces and provided the forwards Aliev, Bangoura, Shatskikh, Kravets and Artem Milevsky with the ammunition to score.

Dynamo are in Group G with such rivals as Fenerbahçe, Arsenal and Porto. Not the best clubs for the Ukrainians, but Dynamo have already earned a creditable draw with Arsenal. Against Portuguese and Turkish clubs though, the statistics are not in the favour of the team from Kyiv. However, with all the changes that the best Ukrainian club have experienced during the past year, we can expect a new strategy and even attitude, of the kind that was in evidence against Arsenal.

Shakhtar Donetsk — the greatest disappointment of the new season in Ukraine and Europe. Shakhtar is now in 11th place in the Ukrainian Premier League, and their results not only sadden the fans, but begin to irritate the management. For the first time in Mirca Luchescu’s career he had to admit his position as coach is now shaking like a boat in a storm. Of course, Rinat Ahmetov, the owner of Shakhtar has had a strong belief in Luchescu’s genius as a manager, but there are limits, and results no owner can ignore.

After successful two-leg qualifying matches against Dynamo Zagreb, when everybody sighed with relief, Ahmetov stated that there’s only one way for Luchescu and Shakhtar to compensate for their poor performance in the Premier League, and that is by making the last 16 of the Champions League.

Easier said than done, of course, but what else can Luchescu do and hope for? Again, if we look at the group rivals, we can understand that Shakhtar could have had a better lot, but… Ahmetov is explicit in his orders: Sporting is not a match for Shakhtar, so there should be two victories, Basel is a very ambitious team, but have already been defeated on their own ground by Shakhtar in the opening game. So, assuming that Shakhtar are not yet equal to Barcelona, Luchescu should easily end up second in the group to qualify for the last 16.

A very simple and clear formula, isn’t it? Many pundits are sure Shakhtar will wake up in the Champions League and at home, they just have to relax and find a way to control themselves. The fact is that the major problem of Shakhtar players has recently been the converting of the opportunities they created on the pitch. Out of 10-15 scoring opportunities per match, the players managed to score three goals maximum! That is a complete disaster for an attacking team like Shakhtar.

Frankly, considering the chances of the two strongest Ukrainian teams in the Champions League, we would still stake on Shakhtar, despite their poor domestic performances. Dynamo Kyiv is in a group with very strong teams and we can only hope that the young talents of Ukraine will cope with the pressure and responsibility of the major tournament in Europe.


Metalist Kharkiv — for the second consecutive year a team from the first capital of Ukraine gains the right to negotiate the qualifying round and be promoted to the first round proper of the UEFA Cup. That is a great success not only for the city and its club, but for the whole of Ukraine as well.

Miron Markevich, the coach of Metalist, has organized a team of solid players that are not stars, but act in unison like a small band of professionals that know their business. New purchases have made the team stronger in attack and defence, and all supporters hope Metalist will not make the mistakes of the previous year when they surrendered to Everton, only due to two blunders in midfield within 10 minutes that ruined a wonderful game with no chances for the English team.

This year Metalist have begun quite well and are now the third in the league. “No raft of injured players and no troubles behind the team mean that the team are in shape and ready to fight. I guess, with the Turkish club (Besiktas) we will have only a fight, not a match of equal teams as many in the Ukrainian media stated…” These words by Markevich show how serious the attitude of Metalist is, and after losing the first leg narrowly 1-0, many at Kharkiv believe they have a great chance to go through.

The city itself has completed the reconstruction of Metalist’s stadium and the grass on the pitch and the promotional campaign is in full blast. People all over Kharkiv are talking about football and the chances of their favourite team.

If you were born and brought up in a city/town where a football team has always been valued, but never gained any serious results/awards, you will probably understand how the fans and the managers of the clubs feel.
 
The chances of Metalist beating Besiktas in the second leg must be quite high, but there’s one concern that troubles all the pundits in Ukraine and Kharkiv. Metalist play ‘classical’ football, with slow maneuvering in the center and quick, if possible, attacks on the territory of the rival. It seems like starting to move from their goal, the players are kicking the ball through the swamp and only somewhere around the penalty area of the opposite team there is enough clear grass to play faster. Seems weird, but most of the time Metalist are trying to find a roundabout way to the goal of their rivals. That method has worked nicely for three years now and many teams have sunk in a Metalist made marsh, but will it pass the Besiktas exam?

Turkish clubs are famous for their zeal and atomic energy that can sweep away any club if it is not active enough to counter-attack or simply not strong enough to bear the pressure. Being 1-0 down from the first leg this will be an ultimate test.

Only time will tell how the coaches of Metalist and Besiktas approach the second leg, but perhaps by the end of this season the Ukrainian league will be more respected in Europe because of its achievements in it.