Dynamo Kyiv ease to Maccabi victory
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Article summary
Maccabi Tel-Aviv 0-2 Dynamo Kyiv
A goal early in each half from Andriy Yarmolenko and Júnior Moraes gave the visitors a win that considerably boosts their Group G prospects.
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- Dynamo Kyiv too strong for Maccabi Tel-Aviv to claim Group G win
- Andriy Yarmolenko gives visitors a fourth-minute lead
- Júnior Moraes doubles the Dynamo advantage (50)
- Dynamo's first away group victory in seven years
- Next games: Porto v Maccabi, Dynamo v Chelsea (20 October)
Dynamo Kyiv moved top of UEFA Champions League Group G after a goal early in each half proved enough for victory against Maccabi Tel-Aviv at the Sammy Ofer Stadium.
The Ukrainian side had not won an away group game since 2008, but took a significant step towards correcting that record before five minutes had elapsed. Derlis González played a defence-splitting pass and Andriy Yarmolenko did the rest, keeping his head to slot past Predrag Rajković.
The visitors were largely content to soak up pressure and try to hit Maccabi on the break, and from one such foray they nearly doubled their advantage. González led the charge down the right, setting up Serhiy Sydorchuk who in turn found Júnior Moraes; Rajković blocked the shot with his right hand and Tal Ben Haim I got in front of González's follow-up effort.
Moments earlier Eran Zahavi had drawn the first save of the night from Olexandr Shovkovskiy, the Dynamo goalkeeper blocking at his near post, and Maccabi went closer still in the 37th minute. Eli Dasa delivered a perfect cross from the right, finding Eden Ben Basat with time and space in front of goal – but the striker steered his header wide.
The full cost of that miss was emphasised five minutes into the second period as González pulled down a crossfield pass on the left and cut into the penalty area. A simple pass gave Moraes an opening and the Brazilian skipped round a challenge and curled into the corner of the net, Dynamo promptly protecting their lead – and the points – without undue alarm.
Reaction
Slaviša Jokanović, Maccabi coach
I am satisfied with our performance; we have improved compared to the match against Chelsea. At the beginning we were unlucky and the second goal made life harder for us. We improved from Stamford Bridge, but Dynamo showed that they are the better team. I am not happy with the result. They killed us with very quick goal. We must improve everything to score in the next matches. Now we are in the highest level of Europe and it's something else. This is competition for the best teams in the world but this isn't the end for us; with more games like that we can improve and grow.
Serhiy Rebrov, Dynamo coach
It was a good game, and the team did almost everything right. The proof is that we won. We have good players and the victory is important for them. It was not easy to play here; Maccabi tried and sometimes succeeded, too. If we don't concede any goals that means our goalkeeper was good, but this is a job for the entire team. Everyone deserves a good word for that.
