“Dynamo”, “Dnepr” and “Chernomorets” found out their opponents in the group round of the Europa League

Today in Monaco the draw for the group round of the Europa League took place, following which the Ukrainian clubs recognized their opponents. “Dynamo” ended up in Group G, where the Belgian Genk and two teams that once knocked the Kyivans out of the European Cups will also play: the Swiss Thun and the Austrian Rapid. Dnepr in Group E will meet with Italian Fiorentina, Portuguese Pacos Ferreira and Romanian Pandurii. Chernomorets will make its debut in the group stage of the Europa League with matches against the Dutch PSV, the Croatian Dinamo and the Bulgarian Ludogorets.

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Photo: Reuters

Three Ukrainian clubs reached the group stage of the Europa League: Dynamo, Dnepr and Chornomorets. The Kiev team beat the Kazakh Aktobe (3:2, 5:1) in the play-off round, the Dnipropetrovsk team had no problems with the Estonian Nõmme Kalju (3:1, 2:0), but the Odessa team, having exchanged home matches at this stage victories 1:0 with the Albanian Skenderbeu, on Thursday they put the pressure on their opponents only in a dramatic penalty shootout - 7:6.

During the draw, Dynamo ended up in the first basket and could count on more acceptable opponents than Dnepr and Chernomorets, who found themselves in the second and third baskets, respectively.

As a result, the Kiev team ended up in Group G, where they still got very remarkable teams: the Swiss Thun and the Austrian Rapid. Not the best memories of Dynamo are associated with these clubs. In 1996, it was the Austrians who knocked out the Ukrainian club led by Jozsef Szabo from Champions League qualification. The Swiss did the same with Dynamo in 2005, leaving the team’s then head coach Leonid Buryak without a job. Another rival of Oleg Blokhin’s team was the Belgian Genk.

All the clubs that the Kiev team will meet have confidently qualified for the Europa League. Thus, Thun, which made it into the continental tournament through the Swiss Cup (the club finished fifth in the national championship), knocked out the Serbian champion Partizan (0:1, 3:0) in the play-off round of the Europa League. At the previous stages of the tournament, the Swiss beat the Georgian Chikhura (2:0, 3:1) and the Swedish Hekken (2:1,1:0). Rapid, which took third place in the Austrian Championship, easily defeated the Greek Asteras (1:1, 3:1) and the Georgian “Dila” (1:0, 3:0) in qualifying. Finishing third in Belgium, Genk defeated Icelandic Habnarfiordur (2:0, 5:2).

Dnepr in Group E will play with Italian Fiorentina, Portuguese Pacos Fereira and Romanian Panudrii. The most dangerous rival of the Dnepropetrovsk team is the team from Florence, which finished fourth in the Italian Championship. However, last season Dnepr successfully competed in the Europa League with another team from this country - Napoli. And Fiorentina, for which Ukrainian Alexander Yakovenko has been playing since this season, had problems with the Swiss Grasshopper in the qualifying round, passing it only thanks to a greater number of away goals scored (2:1, 0:1).

Romanian vice-champion Pandurii made an impressive path to the group round, successively defeating Estonian Levadia (0:0, 4:0), Israeli Hapoel from Tel Aviv (1:1, 2:1) and Portuguese Braga (0 :1, 1:0, 1:0 in extra time). Pacos Ferreira, who finished third in the Portuguese championship, entered the Europa League from the main European Cup, where they were defeated by Russian Zenit (1:4, 2:4).

Three losers from qualifying for the main European Cup will play in Group B together with Chernomorets - the Dutch PSV, the Croatian Dinamo and the Bulgarian Ludogorets. Particularly interesting will be the meetings between Odessa residents and Eindhoven and Zagreb, who were beaten by Dnepr and Dynamo in European competition last season, respectively.

PSV could not resist the Italian Milan (1:1, 0:3) in the play-off round of the Champions League. Dinamo, having beaten Fola from Luxembourg (5:0, 1:0) and Moldavian Sheriff (1:0, 3:0), stumbled in the confrontation with Austria (0:2, 3:2). Ludogorets also made some noise at the qualifying stage of the Champions League, knocking out the Slovakian Slovan (1:2, 3:0) and the same as Thun, the Serbian Partizan (2:1, 1:0) from the tournament. Only last year's Europa League semi-finalist, Swiss Basel (2:4, 2:0), stopped the Bulgarians.

Dmitry Martsenishin

All familiar faces

All familiar faces