1. 1985/86. cup of cups Quarter final. Vein. “Rapid” (Austria) – “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – 1:4. Yakovenko, 74 (0:4)
This goal is a clear demonstration of the two-footedness of the outstanding master. First, a powerful shot from afar with the right foot, which was caught by the bar, and then immediately finishing with the left, and the goalkeeper of Vienna Michael Konzel (he was called Konsel in the Soviet press) was powerless. The ball was the 4th for the Kyiv team in that away match. But this was the first game of the 86 season (then, with the spring-autumn system, exactly such a numbering was considered) after a long winter break. However, Kievans in general and Yakovenko in particular looked very powerful! And “Rapid”, as it is called, remained like a crab in shallow water, the Kiev players pretty much strung it up after the break.
2. 1986/87. Champions Cup. Round of 16. Kyiv. “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – “Beroe” (Bulgaria) – 2:0, Yakovenko, 46 (2:0)
As they say, the spectators had not yet had time to take their seats after the break (and there were 98,000 fans at the match), and Yakovenko had already doubled Dynamo’s advantage by reacting to Anatoly Demyanenko’s cross from the left flank and heading the ball accurately into the net of the Bulgarian champion’s goal. I remember how in our 18th sector of the upper tier of the Republican Stadium (exactly opposite the goal line where Yakovenko scored) some excited female fan loudly exclaimed during the goal: “Pa-ah-sha-ah!” and scattered a whole sea of confetti on the occasion of this success of the people of Kyiv.
3. 1986/87. Champions Cup. 1/8 finals. Kyiv. “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – “Celtic” (Scotland) – 3:1. Yakovenko, 72 (2:1)
This goal by Yakovenko, who received the ball almost in the center, but closer to the right wing, advanced to the goal and, being already in the penalty area, irresistibly scored, became a turning point in the match. Until that moment, the score was equal, and the prospect of extra time was quite real, intrigue was still the key. I remember that our family got a ticket for this game in an unusual way: my mother won the corresponding lottery at her research institute (2 tickets were drawn for 30 people). True, the 32nd sector of the upper tier, however, it was just behind the goal, into which Oleg Blokhin scored after his magical free kick at the beginning of the match.
4. 1986/87. Champions Cup. Semi-final Porto. “Porto” – “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – 2:1. Yakovenko, 74 (2:1)
The excitement before this game was crazy! The broadcast of the match began at 0.30 am our time, but, nevertheless, the lights in the apartments of many Kyiv residents did not go out until the very final whistle. With extremely biased refereeing (Oleg Blokhin’s clean goal was disallowed) by the Dutchman Jan Kaiser (who died a month ago in a nursing home, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease), the people of Kiev were able to bring a quite acceptable result from Portugal. With a two-goal deficit and one less player (Andrei Bal was sent off for the second warning at the beginning of the 2nd half), Dynamo scored. Aleksei Mykhailichenko’s jeweled cross and Pavel Yakovenko’s powerful header improved the prospects of the Kyiv players to play in the final of the most prestigious European club tournament. At that time, we still did not know about the tragic outcome of the return match in Kyiv.
5. 1989/90. UEFA Cup. 1/32 of the final. Kyiv. “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – MTK-VM (Hungary) – 4:0. Yakovenko, 55 (4:0)
Pavel Yakovenko’s weak but well-timed shot (as the press wrote, “a quick one-on-one between Mykhailichenko and Yakovenko caught the guests by surprise”) almost from the line of the penalty area after the break ignited the numbers of the final result of the match on the scoreboard. The Hungarians were completely defeated! However, my constant neighbor in the stands (in that season we had season tickets next to each other) commented on that game as follows: “The score is good, but the game is to hell!”. The statement is controversial, but clearly demonstrates the degree of demandingness of Kyiv fans in the 1980s. And, I remember, I was struck by the fact that, leaving the “Respublikansky Stadion” subway, you could freely buy tickets for the game right on the counters in the steps leading to the underground passage. The 35,000-strong audience after recent regular sell-outs at European Cup matches did not surprise, but rather saddened.
6. 1991/92. Champions Cup. 1/8 finals. Copenhagen. “Brondby” – “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – 0:1. Yakovenko, 7 (0:1)
Another left-footed goal by Pavel in an extremely tense match for the right to enter the group stage of the Champions Cup, which has only just begun its reformation. A 1:1 draw in Kyiv did not leave many chances for the Kyivans on the road. However, there, in Havanna Torgovtsev (or, as Denmark’s largest city is also called, “the capital of Scandinavian happiness”), they showed real resilience, scoring with the efforts of Yakovenko (the best of all orientated himself in the penalty area of the Danes and hit the target with his left foot) at the beginning of the match, and in the future, remaining in the minority (only Pavel Aleksandrovich was removed for the 2nd warning), extinguished all the demands of “Brondby” to kill I note that that match was not broadcast on TV, I saw the game itself years later in a video provided by foreign colleagues, but I remember well the atmosphere among the fans at that time: the fans were pleasantly surprised by the result.
7. 1992/93. UEFA Cup. 1/32 of the final. Kyiv. “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – “Rapid” (Austria) – 1:0. Yakovenko, 46 (1:0)
And again “Rapid”. This time in Kyiv. True, instead of the enchanting mid-1980s – the crisis-like beginning of the 1990s, only 18 thousand of the most loyal fans were present in the stands of the Republican Stadium, instead of the usual hundred thousand. Only Anatoly Demyanenko and Pavel Yakovenko remained from the star team that won the Cup of Cups six years before. And Pavel himself, as soon as the 2nd half began, better than the others orientated himself in the penalty area, skillfully reacted to the ball falling from above after the “candle” and sent it into the goal with a powerful shot, bringing victory to the people of Kyiv.
***
Of course, Yakovenko also scored in other important matches. In particular, at the World Cup-86, the unlucky Hungarians, in the post-Chernobyl match at the end of April 1986. “Spartak”, the winning goal of “Chernomorets” at the beginning of the championship-88. But Pavel Aleksandrovich was remembered as a player not only by goals. Valery Lobanovsky described him as accurately as possible: “Pavel Yakovenko is a textbook example of how an extraordinary player needs to be in constant training, be ready to move non-stop on the field, feel flawless psychologically, and not succumb to self-deception.” Pavel’s defining traits, according to the Master: “Will, high speed endurance and work capacity, combined with decent technique, the ability to understand the game of the most extreme conditions, the desire to be better and stronger than rivals.” I will add to the above Yakovenko’s extraordinary ability to work as a team. I don’t want to resort to phrases like “now they don’t make them”, like the grumbling old men with gray hair, but it is still not easy for the current Ukrainian linebackers to reach the level of Yakovenko-player. And one more feature of Pavlo Alexandrovych’s playing career: he played both in the Union and Ukrainian championships, and in “Dynamo” – a European giant, and in “Dynamo” with lesser ambitions. In both the first and second cases, he handled his duties superprofessionally. Many years, dear birthday boy! Long and fruitful work for the benefit of national football!
Alexey RYZHKOV
Source: sport.ua