There was still a glimmer of hope for Dynamo Kyiv fans as they travelled to England to see Dynamo take on Manchester City in the second leg of the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League. But after a 3-1 loss in the first leg at the Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv, this meant that Dynamo had a mountain to climb in Manchester.
In the end Manchester City proved to be too strong for Dynamo Kyiv, as the Citizens simply ran down the clock in England, and held the Ukrainians to a 0-0 draw. After the match Dynamo’s head coach Serhiy Rebrov told the media “We hoped to win, and the guys tried everything they could do. Unfortunately we lost the game in Kyiv. Today we had a chance, but I have nothing to say to reproach the team. They really tried; they showed that they can play well against a very good team. We didn’t win, but that is okay. Once again we lost this tie in Kyiv.”
For Dynamo the exit from the Champions League means that Rebrov’s men can now focus on defending their Ukrainian Premier League title—they are currently three points ahead of their eternal rival Shakhtar Donetsk.
Furthermore, Dynamo can also look forward to a big pay cheque from UEFA, as Dynamo is expected to receive no less than €23 million from reaching the Champions League round of 16.
The sum includes €12 million for reaching the group stage, €5.5 million for the three wins and two draws at the group stage. Dynamo than received a further €5.5 million for reaching the round of 16.
In addition to the €23 million Dynamo will also receive a percentage of the €482.9 million, which will be distributed by UEFA according to the relative weight of each national television market represented in the Champions League—Dynamo will have to share this amount with Ukraine’s second Champions League participant Shakhtar Donetsk.
This will be very good news for Dynamo Kyiv, who will likely reinvest the money into the squad. With most key players under long-term contract—the only key player whose contract expires in the next two years is Yevhen Khacheridi (contract until 2017)—Dynamo should be able to retain most of its key players for the upcoming season.
The money also means that star Andriy Yarmolenko, who is under contract until 2020, could remain in Kyiv as Dynamo won’t be under pressure to sell the winger—in fact Dynamo has already rejected several offers for the player.
With Dynamo on track to win the Ukrainian Premier League once again, and with most key players likely to stay in Ukraine, Rebrov will look to use the money to further add to a Dynamo squad that could soon become reminiscent of teams put together by the legendary Dynamo Kyiv coach Valeriy Lobanovskyi. Indeed these are exciting times for Dynamo Kyiv supporters.
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