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“Boys” for Pavlyuchenko

The Champions League play-off matches will take place on Tuesday

Andrey Kartashov The first matches of the qualifying round of the Champions League playoffs will take place on Tuesday. In Kyiv, Dynamo, with a rested Andrei Shevchenko, will play against Ajax. Roman Pavlyuchenko may be in the starting lineup in Tottenham's away match against the Swiss club Young Boys.

"Dynamo" - "Ajax"

On Tuesday, the people of Kiev will play, in their words, one of the most important matches of the season. Getting into the group stage of the Champions League is a higher priority for Dynamo than a successful performance at the start of the Ukrainian Championship. In the national championship, one or two unsuccessful games will not be fatal, which cannot be said about the Champions League qualification. Moreover, the last opponent on the way to the group stage is Ajax.

On Tuesday they meet: Zenit - Auxerre: 20:30 (NTV-plus football, 20:00)
Dynamo - Ajax: 22:45 (NTV-plus football, 22:30)
Rosenborg - Copenhagen: 22:45
“Sparta” - “Zilina”: 22:45 (“NTV-plus online, 22:30)
Young Boys - Tottenham: 22:45 (NTV-plus sport, 22:30)

In order to approach the game with the strong Dutch in optimal condition, the Dynamo coaching staff decided to sacrifice the Ukrainian championship match against Vorskla. The Kiev team arrived with a semi-reserve squad and lost 1:3.

Andrey Shevchenko did not take part in the match with Vorskla. While his team was losing near Poltava , the striker was on his way to Munich .

This is not desertion. Shevchenko simply received permission from the head coach to rest before the game with Ajax and went for procedures to correct his back.

“Video fragments of Ajax matches will apparently be shown to us on Monday during a theoretical lesson,” Shevchenko admitted. - But even without this I imagine the high level of the upcoming opponent. Weak clubs do not reach this stage of the Champions League, and only the strongest clubs make it to the group stage. Dynamo should be among them. And for this we should not concede in the first game on our field, but the main thing is to score.”

Ajax, unlike Dynamo, won their national championship match before the game in Kiev . At the Amsterdam Arena they beat Vitesse - 4:2. On Monday, the team went to Kyiv, where they will stay for an unusually long time - three days. After the game on Tuesday, the team will remain in the city and will not fly out until noon on Wednesday. The Dutch hope that they will return home at least without losing.

“During the draw, I seemed to have a presentiment that we would get Dynamo - that’s exactly what I didn’t want most,” admitted Ajax head coach Martin Jol . — The Ukrainians are a strong opponent with rich experience in the Champions League, both in the past and recently. They also acquired a number of high-priced newcomers. For us, this is the most unpleasant outcome of the draw of all possible, but nothing can be done. Unfortunately, luck was not on Ajax's side.

Young Boys - Tottenham

Since the end of May, Tottenham players, coaches and fans have been living for the upcoming game. The Champions League is the meaning of Spurs in the 2010/2011 season. The Swiss club got in the way and it seems that it will not be happy.

Last weekend, Tottenham played a draw with Manchester City (0:0). After the game, head coach Harry Redknapp said that captain Ledley King would not play in the upcoming game with the Swiss club - it was too tiring for a defender to play two matches in four days.

It is possible that Roman Pavlyuchenko , who came on as a substitute in the match with City, was more convincing than Peter Crouch , will appear in Tottenham’s starting lineup.

“We will be favorites for this pair, but we have to be respectful of our opponents,” Redknapp said. — In the third qualifying round, the Swiss knocked Fenerbahce out of the fight. We watched their first meeting on DVD. They could have won by four or five goals and then beat their opponents away, which is a stunning result for Young Boys. But we will do everything to get into the group stage. It would be great".

Calm reigns in the Swiss camp. There is no pressure on the eve of a game with one of the leaders of the Premier League. Tottenham are a very tempting but at the same time difficult opponent. We are not favorites and we understand this perfectly,” said head coach Vladimir Petkovic . — The same thing happened in our confrontation with Fenerbahce, but we still celebrated our victory in the away match with the Turks. We will try to approach the game without unnecessary excitement, and then we’ll see where it leads. For every player and coach, the most pleasant thing in football is meeting a famous club with a huge army of fans. Most importantly, we have already at least guaranteed ourselves access to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League.”

Other materials can be viewed on the Champions League page.

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“Boys” for Pavlyuchenko - Gazeta.Ru