Tag: 7th

Today, January 21, at 17:30 Kyiv time in the Turkish capital Istanbul, Dynamo Kyiv will meet Galatasaray Istanbul at the Rams Park stadium in the 7th round of the Europa League group stage. UNN tells you where to watch the match, who is the bookmakers’ favorite, and the latest news from the teams’ camps. 

Stadium, referee team, broadcast

The match will be refereed by an Estonian team of referees led by 43-year-old Kristo Tohver. He will be assisted by his compatriots Silver Koiv and Sander Saga on the edges of the field. The fourth referee is Kevin Kaivoya, and the VAR referee is Marco Liiva. 

Kristo Tohver is known to the fans of Zorya Luhansk, as it was the Estonian specialist who refereed the match between Slavia Prague and Zorya in 2023 as part of the Europa League qualifiers, in which Luhansk lost 0-2. 

Tohver also worked at various matches of the Ukrainian junior national teams. 

Bookmakers give a strong preference to Galatasaray, whose victory can be bet on with odds of 1.2. Dynamo’s victory is given at odds of 9.8, which is not surprising, as the Kyiv team lost all 6 of their matches in the Europa League. The draw is available at odds of 6.5. 

The match will be shown live on Megogo. 

Previous matches

As already mentioned, Dynamo Kyiv has never won the current Europa League draw. “The White and Blues are in last place in the standings and have lost potential chances to advance. Kyiv has 6 defeats and only 1 goal scored. 

It is worth noting that Dynamo last played an official match in December last year, after which the Ukrainian championship went on hiatus. Back then, Kyiv narrowly defeated Veres 1-0. However, the Kyiv team played 5 matches at the training camp, in which they once lost to German Magdeburg 3-1, drew with Polish Lodz, and celebrated victories in the remaining matches. 

Galatasaray, on the other hand, is going strong in both the Turkish league and the Europa League. In the Turkish Super League, the Lions are confidently leading without losing a single match – with 16 wins and 3 draws, they have scored 51 points and are 6 points ahead of their nearest pursuer, fellow countrymen Fenerbahçe. 

Galatasaray is also in the lead group of the main stage of the Europa League, being one of five teams that have not suffered a single defeat in the current European Cup draw. 

“The Lions started with a 3-1 home win over Greek side PAOK, followed by a 2-2 draw away to Latvian side RFS, leading 2-0 during the match. This was followed by home victories over Swedish side Elfsborg (4:3) and London’s Tottenham (3:2), as well as away draws with Dutch side AZ (1:1) and Swedish side Malmö (2:2). It is noteworthy that Galatasaray, having scored 15 goals, along with French club Lyon, has the best attack among the 36 participants in the main stage. 

It is also worth noting that Turkish forward Yunus Akgün of Galatasaray shares the top spot in the Europa League (5 goals) with Rasmus Heylund (Manchester United), Samu (Porto) and Barnabas Varga (Ferencvaros).

It should also be noted that the last time Dynamo and Galatasaray met was in April 2022, when Kyiv confidently defeated the Turks 3-1. 

Before the match 

On the eve of the match, Dynamo head coach Oleksandr Shovkovskyi said that his team would play against one of the grandees of Turkish football. 

Let’s be honest: we will be playing against one of the giants of Turkish football, a team that has been successful in recent years and has made acquisitions worth more than 150 million. They have experienced players from different championships, and this certainly adds weight. They are in sixth place in the Europa League and have a good chance of going further. Also, if I’m not mistaken, Galatasaray is one of the best in terms of the number of goals scored. I repeat, we are well aware of who we will play against. We’re talking about our opponent, but looking at them, we’ve been preparing for this game ourselves. And we will try to do our best to demonstrate quality, attitude and do everything to show a decent game. And the result is made up of many aspects: mistakes, completed chances, etc

Before the match, Kyiv captain Vitaliy Buyalsky emphasized that the match would be a “battle for prestige.” 

“I can say that it will be more of a battle for prestige, because we no longer have any objectives. We have the emblem on our chest and the pride we have to show in tomorrow’s game. I think each of us will give our best. We will show that the place where we are now is a coincidence,” Buyalsky said. 

Before the match, it became known that Dynamo would be without key players – defender Denys Popov and support player Volodymyr Brazhko – who remained in Belek to recover, where the team will return immediately after the match. 

Denis Popov

“As for your question directly, in addition to Brazhko, Denis Popov will definitely not be able to help us tomorrow  (ed. – January 21). All other players are ready to take the field,” Shovkovsky said. 

Volodymyr Brazhko 

Also during the winter transfer window, Volodymyr Shepelev and Oleksandr Andrievskyi, who has already signed a contract with Zhytomyr’s Polissia, left Kyiv as free agents. “Defender Naveen Malysh also left the Bilo-Syni on loan, joining Vorskla Poltava. 

On the eve of the match, Galatasaray coach Buruk Okan shared his expectations for the match: “Don’t be misled by Dynamo’s place in the Europa League, because they are the leaders in the Ukrainian championship, and they have never lost in the UPL. Of course, there are differences from the Europa League, but they have not lost. I can say that our opponent is a good team.” 

He also said that Eyüp Aydın, Roland Sallai and Gabriel Sara will not play in the match. 

“Our bench has shrunk. We are missing Ayup Aydin and Roland Sallai. Tomorrow will be important for our bench, but we have a strong 11 players. The players who will take the field have enough qualities to win such matches. We had planned for him to train today (Gabriel Sara – ed.), but we’ll see. We will still have time to make a final decision on whether he will be in the squad,” Okan said on the eve of the match. 

Another scandalous footballer, Mauro Icardi, who has been undergoing treatment for a knee injury since November, will not help the Turks. 

Mauro Icardi 

At the same time, journalists argued that Dries Mertens and Victor Osimhen, Galatasaray’s main stars and at the same time an unstoppable striking force, should play against Dynamo from the first minutes. 

Victor Osimchen and Dries Mertens