After their arch rivals dropped into the UEL knockouts last night, it’s now up to Dynamo to ensure that Ukraine has two representatives left in Europe come 2020!
They face a down and out Lugano in their final group stage game of 2019 at the Olympiyskyi! Fortunately for Kyiv, it is all in their own hands!
All they need to do is win and they have a guaranteed place in the Europa League Round of 32 come February! However second place is as good as it can get for the capital club, due to their added time loss against Malmo last time out!
Lugano are winless in this campaign but did manage to get a surprise goalless draw against Dynamo back in Switzerland. Dynamo were rather underwhelming that night and have been all season.
Mykhaylychenko has already proven to a lot of fans that he is far from the correct fit for the managerial job and calls for his sacking were plentiful following the weekend’s 2-1 home loss to Zorya! Not only did Dynamo look deflated and uninspired, they were just generally outplayed by a side who were missing some of their key players.
Whilst it was far from the ideal warm up for arguably the biggest game of their season so far, they can feel assured that Lugano are evidently the worst team in the group and have nothing left to play for bar pride.
Back when they drew with Dynamo in October, the Swiss side were flirting with relegation. However, they have managed to pick up some form and sit mid table in a buffer zone either side of the danger or European spots! They don’t score much which is a positive but Dynamo have been notorious for not converting chances when it matters most. As such all eyes will be on the attacking line up from Mykhaylychenko!
It will be interesting to see who the manager ends up picking to start up front but going off the most recent fixtures, Besedin is anticipated to keep his place. Sydorchuk misses the game through suspension whilst Verbic and Shabanov are unfit.
It’s a huge game in Kyiv tonight with the result likely to have a big impact on potential Dynamo transfers over the winter and the managerial job. Dynamo are favourites and expected to complete the task in front of them. However as has been the case on many occasions already this season, they never make it easy for themselves!
ZORYA LONDONSK 