We dug into the matches of the European mid-week, pulled out the most interesting things from there. You did not expect so many intersections with Ukrainian football!
The beginning of July in the football world is a dead season. Naturally, in the absence of the World Cup – here thanks to the wise and diligent authorities who arranged a glorious winter present for all football people. The top championships are on a deep vacation, only life in the transfer market is in full swing, until the resumption of serious tournaments, wait and wait.
Read also: What you need to know about the 2022/2023 Champions League: format, prize money, stakes and our clubs
However, it is worth taking a closer look and you will see: these major tournaments are already underway. It’s just that the current couple of weeks are the time of the early European Cup stages, which are not paid much attention to. And probably in vain.
The early rounds of European competitions are a time of modest and non-global, but often bright and surprising stories. An inquisitive eye, having run through the compositions of these not the most venerable participants, will certainly catch familiar names in them. Such studies are not complete without nostalgic finds.
And, perhaps, the most important thing for us. In this stream of matches of the first rounds of the qualification of the Champions League and the Champions League, the Ukrainian trace is more clearly visible than ever. Many of our compatriots shine in the compositions of teams of various levels. And where they are not, there will be found foreign characters who have inherited Ukrainian football.
Main European Cup
Few people probably noticed this, but the Euroseason 2022/23 began at the end of June, with the matches of the preliminary qualifying round of the Champions League. In it, already by tradition, the champions of the four weakest associations contest one ticket to the main qualifying bracket. It turned out without any sensations: the Icelandic Vikingur went through its rivals (Levadia, Andorran Inter) – do not confuse it with the Faroese namesake, also participating in the current European Cup season.
The team of Arnar Gunnlaugsson (formerly a notable striker, Leicester and Bolton in the Premier League, played against the Ukrainian national team), as it turned out, was not born out of the blue: this week she managed to fight one of the strongest clubs in the stage, who recently played in the Malmö Champions League group. In Sweden, the favorite won a difficult victory 3:2, the intrigue is preserved.
As part of the underdog, let’s single out winger Krystal Mani Ingason: he scored both winning goals in the last stage, he equalized the score at the Swedbank Arena as well. However, at the same time, he ate two cards, therefore there is no assistant in the answer. Malmo, of course, is no match for the Scandinavian brothers in terms of composition: there are well-known veterans (Martin Olsson, Toivonen, Telin, Finn Moisander), and simply strong players (Bosnian collection Hadzhikadunich, Serbian talent Birmancevic). Despite a difficult start, he is one of the favorites of the Path of Champions.
On July 5-6, other strong teams also entered the fray, each of which will not be surprising to see at the group stage: Ferencvaros, Ludogorets, Maribor, Sheriff … and, of course, the incredible Boude-Glimt, who recently put the football Old World on their ears.
The undisputed champion of Hungary has already changed a lot since the meetings with Dynamo Kyiv. The team is coached by a bald, mustachioed citizen, a recent coach of the aggressor country’s national team. The lines of defense and attack have seriously changed in it, the Norwegian Zakariassen is in charge in the center of the field. The only remaining Ukrainian, Zubkov, is clearly not eager to stay in Ferencváros. We’ll probably see him soon. return to Shakhtar.
Without the Ukrainian winger Fradi flew to Kostanay without a goal – a goalless draw with the local Tobol (as part of the Kazakh club, we note superstar Zoran Tosic – the same one who was once listed in MJ, and then played great in Moscow CSKA).
The champion of Bulgaria with the invariable Plastun in the center of defense calmly beat the Montenegrin Sutjeska by two goals – a gang unremarkable, except perhaps for the presence of a national team player … Libya in the attack. Maribor at home failed to break through Shakhtar Soligorsk – they ended without goals (Nikita Korzun came out for a couple of minutes).
What’s the Sheriff without Wernidub? Gradually loses former leaders: for example, Adama Traore is already running with might and main for Ferencváros. The heroes of the battles with Shakhtar and Madrid, Athanasiadis and Till Sr., also left; with them – Nikolov and Bruno. And if you remember that in the course of last season there were no Cristiano, Fernando and Arboleda, Kolovos and Castaneda … A new team with a Croatian coach Thomas!
It was replenished by another pack of Africans, the most famous of which are Nigerian Atiemwen and Burkina Ouattara. Another newcomer is well known to us – Pernambuco, rented from Lvov. However, the Brazilian in Bosnia did not play against Zrinjski (for whom Mario Chuzhe ran all 90 minutes). And then 0:0 finished!
The Norwegian club, which last autumn dismantled the future winner of the LK into molecules, although it continued its progressive progress (the second championship in a row), also did not avoid personnel losses. Defenders Lode and Bjorkan went as free agents to the German Bundesliga, while defensive midfielder Berg and high-scoring striker Botheim ended up in the clubs of the French and Italian elite, bringing BG a lot of money with their transfers.
However, every cloud has a silver lining: in the absence of a competitor, the Nigerian scorer Bonifase flourished – he scored all three goals against Klaksvik! The Ukrainian defender Lytvyn, who changed Russia to the Faroe Islands with the start of the war, was not included in the application.
Apart from Boude-Glimt, only two clubs have achieved major victories in the Champions League first qualifying round. Also, Irish Shamrock and Macedonian Shkupi scored three goals each for their guests. Mamadou Danfa scored for the club from Skopje, who met this year with the player of Kolas Kolos.
Another conditional favorite – the Romanian CFR with Lovro Cvek in the squad – bungled the most popular score of the stage in the capital of Armenia. The Ukrainian pair of defenders of Pyunik, Bratkov and Vakulenko, played to zero – and congratulations to them. As well as coach Yeghishe Melikyan, who gave a lot to our football in various guises.
Read also: Coach Pyunik Melikyan: Vakulenko and Bratkov have adapted well in Armenia
Poznan’s Lekh minimally beat Karabakh – the Ukrainian newcomer Artur Rudko scored a wedge-shit! Gio Tsitaishvili did not appear on the field. Azatsky also achieved success (away 0:0) as part of Dynamo Batumi – neither the legendary Juraj Kutska, nor just Eric Ramirez could beat the Georgian champion in the capital of Slovakia.
HJK with a considerable number of Finnish collections in the line-up beat the Riga RFS in one goal – Yagodinskis took part, Dubra sat out in reserve. Vilnius Zalgiris, for which 38-year-old Mikolyunas (ex-Arsenal and Sevastopol) is dusting, took away a productive draw from Pristina.
What then?
In the second qualifying round, the 15 winners of this stage of the Champions’ Path will be joined by Dinamo Zagreb, Viktoria Plzen, Zurich, Olympiacos and Maccabi Haifa (the last two were hitting each other). In the third, Red Star and the Cypriot Apollo will be added to them. In the fourth – Copenhagen and Trabzonspor. Judge for yourself who ultimately has more chances for the coveted four vouchers.
However, from the second half of July we will be more interested in a much thinner stream called the Way of the Leagues. It is there and precisely then that Dynamo Kyiv will play its first official matches in more than seven months. On the 20th, Lucescu’s team will host Fenerbahce in Lodz, on the 27th they will go to Istanbul.
If successful, a third round will follow (among the likely rivals, Monaco is the strongest), followed by a fourth with Benfica and Rangers (or someone else). Yes, no one promised anyone an easy life.
Minor, but also interesting
The Europa League will take its start as early as August – when enough teams are sifted through the sieve of the Champions League and the Champions League. Then the SC Dnepr-1 will come into play. We will fix our eyes on the League of Conferences.
The youngest of the European competitions started this mid-week with thirty matches of the first (out of four) qualifying round. Here we will no longer dwell on all the participants in detail (have pity on our place, and we – your time!), There are too many frank weaklings here. However, individual romantic stories deserve separate stories …
Read also: The Amazing Journey of Bruno’s Magpies: From Beer Bar to European Cups
For now, let’s focus on the Ukrainian trace. Fortunately, there was something to profit from in this fertile field.
First of all, we note the benefit performance of Alexander Filippov in Irish Derry – his goal + pass practically ensured Riga’s passage to the next round. In the capital of Latvia, the ex-forward of Desna ended up in February, having replenished the Ukrainian colony in the person of Vakulko and Yurchenko. Both, by the way, also played on Thursday.
The Finnish SIK lost to the Estonian Flora (the same Zenev was in the lead there) already without Denis Oleinik. Just the other day, the Ukrainian veteran announced that in this difficult time he seeks to live and play in Ukraine by signing for Vorskla. Honor and praise to him.
Dunayska Streda overcame Cliftonville not without the participation of Andrejs Tsyganiks. But without the participation of Danil Beskorovayny, the Ukrainian defender was loaned by Astana from January until the end of the year, his time in the Conference League will come a little later.
A real sensation: the club from San Marino defeated someone, and even away! However, this is not the first time this has happened with Tre Fiori (a European Cup victory). Four years ago, “Three Flowers” managed not only to beat, but even to pass Bala Town. This time, the Luxembourg Fola was locally disgraced. We would not have paid attention, if not for the Ukrainian echo. The young goalkeeper Artem Sheiko had just moved to the Ash club from Walferdange and did not take part in this humiliation.
Liepaja lost to Kosovo Gilani without Yuriy Tkachuk (a pupil of Metallist, who even managed to play for Kharkiv in European competitions). The Moldavian Sfintul Gheorghe with the Ukrainian Smirnov (central defender) was at home beaten (1:2) by the Slovenian Mura with Gregor Balazic.
Finnish KuPs, even though they lost several base players led by Rangel, offend the Ukrainians for the second year in a row: this time, Valakari’s wards scored two unanswered goals against Danila Kanevtsev, the keeper of the Georgian Dila. The club from Gori, by the way, has been coached by Andrei Demchenko, the legend of Zaporozhye Metallurgist, since the beginning of the year.
Stanislav Bilenkiy went out for Dinamo Tbilisi for the last half-time with the score 2:1 with Estonian Paide. And wow – the guests managed not only to recoup, but also snatch an unexpected victory! The Ukrainian striker could not cope with the Baltic super-veterans – goalkeeper Aksalu and defender Klavan. Artem Fedorov, a lateral winger with a Ukrainian passport, played half time for the Moldovan Petrocub against the Maltese Floriana (no goals).
For Ukrainians like everything. But by no means according to the legionnaires who shone in the UPL in the past. So…
For the Albanian Laci (0:0 with the Montenegrin Iskra) Michel Babatunde himself ran back for 15 minutes – the same player of Kryvbas and Volyn who played at the World Cup, and spent the last year altogether outside of professional football. But the ex-Lugansk Perovic remained out of the application for the match of his new club – the Slovenian Olympia – with the Luxembourg Differdange. Result 1:1 – so-so debut for the hosts’ coach Albert Riera.
Ararat, with the Malakyan brothers, burned rather hopelessly in Macedonia. Chelyadinsky’s Dynamo Minsk (ex-defender of Zaporozhye Metallurgist) failed to cope with Montenegrin Decic in a pseudo-home match (in fact, both meetings are held in Podgorica). Ex-Vorsklyanin Pesic never came out. And the ex-forward of Minsk residents Bechirai scored an assist.
Ružomberok with super-experienced captain Jan Maslo confidently dealt with Kaunas Zalgiris (2:0). Another Lithuanian club, Panevezys, was played by defender Mikolyunas (in his youth he ran for Dnipro and Kryvbas) and defensive midfielder Wanderson, who did not have time to make his UPL debut for Chernomorets this spring. They played on zeros with the Moldovan Mils, in which Vadim Bolokhan, who is not a stranger to the Ukrainian championship, captained.
The Bosnian Borac, led by the same Nenad Lalatovich, confidently defeated the Faroese B-36. For Alashkert, the winning goal (against Hamrun of Malta) was scored by Artak Yedigaryan, who flashed in Donetsk Metallurg many years ago …
That, perhaps, is all. Enough exotics for now. Further, of course, more venerable clubs will go to the LC qualification, and there will definitely be a Ukrainian trace in some of them. But what is even more relevant: in the twentieth of July, our Vorskla will enter the battle, in addition to other strong FC (Turkish IB, Prague Sparta, Sofia CSKA and Levski, Norwegian Molde, Hungarian Fehervar). Two away battles against the Swedish AIK. It will be hot!
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
