Salenko backs Ignatyev's move to Dynamo

As a man who knows one or two things about scoring goals, Oleg Salenko believes his former club FC Dynamo Kyiv have made a shrewd appointment by installing the attack-minded Boris Ignatyev as Yuri Semin's assistant coach.

Careers linked
Semin was left looking for a new right-hand man when Sergei Ovchinnikov departed for Russian club FC Kuban Krasnodar last month, and there was little surprise when he turned to Ignatyev, 68, as their careers have been inextricably linked in recent decades. Both were assistants to Russia coach Pavel Sadyrin at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, before Semin worked as a deputy to Ignatyev during his two-year stint as national-team coach from 1996. At club level, Ignatyev was sporting director at FC Lokomotiv Moskva (2003-04) and FC Dinamo Moskva (2006) during Semin's spells managing in the Russian capital.

Salenko expectant
Salenko is familiar with both men, having become the only player to score five goals in a World Cup game against Cameroon during that 1994 campaign. "Semin gives more priority to the defence, while Ignatyev likes to focus on building a speedy game in attack," he said. "Dynamo will definitely progress under them." Ignatyev, meanwhile, is looking forward to the challenge. "It's a big honour for me to work with a team with such a rich history and such big ambitions," he said. Whether the Kiev giants progress in the UEFA Cup remains to be seen, as they meet Valencia CF – another of Salenko's former clubs – in the last 32 next month.