“Valery Vasylenko paraphrases the Dynamo center back”, — write: sport.ua
On Sunday, November 2, 2025, for the first time in the last three years, not an ordinary match between the two best teams of the country, but the Ukrainian derby itself, was played at Arena Lviv. I cannot but congratulate all of us who witnessed such a resonant and unexpected spectacle. And, of course, I want to pay tribute to the football players. Both teams.
I am sure that it was the football players of both teams who “made” this match in the first place. Well, partly coaching staffs. Although the emotions on the field were dominant.
And in this connection, special thanks to the Dynamo defender Denys Popov, who, without realizing it, with his careless words about “parody” opened not Pandora’s box at all, but the door to a bright future.
And already on the field, there is not a crowd of tyukhts who are trying to play the match from the defense, hoping for a random mistake by someone else, a senseless penalty or a ricochet, but two herds of established bugai, which reacts very acutely to the long-forgotten variations of the red rags.
It turns out that even the current “Shakhtar”, “the best team in the history of the club”, according to Dario Srna, and by no means the best, if we take into account the words of Denis Popov, there is pride. Probably, someone in the Donetsk club, with the king in his head, translated Popov’s words into Portuguese, and hung these red rags at the club base, in the club bus, in the club toilet. Read, they say, “parodies”.
It was this move, in my opinion, that had a decisive role, and not Arda Turan’s congratulatory talks about tactics.
“Shakhtar” came to the game, primarily the Brazilians of “Shakhtar”, as charged as possible. Already from the first minutes of this match, it was clear that the “orange and black” are ready to play as much as they should, and not just the first half. Or the first hour.
In principle, this crazy charge was enough. And for the final victory of the current bronze medalist, and for the ordinary, as expected, match to turn into a real derby.
FC Dynamo I can’t help but pay tribute to the people of Dynamo. And not only in the context of Popov. “White and blue” accepted the rules of the game proposed by the opponent. And they were also charged. And they were also motivated.
Another thing is that, to paraphrase Popov, the current “Dynamo” is also a kind of parody. A parody of the former “Dynamo”, of which now only a shadow remains. Shadow of Yarmolenko.
In my subjective opinion, Oleksandr Shovkovsky chose a good, I’m not afraid of this word, even a good game plan. “Dynamo” should not have given the initiative to the opponent, should not have sat very low in their half of the field. I don’t take this from the ceiling, but from the position on the field of the same Popov (he moved forward high), as well as the attacking triangle – Pykhalyonok, Yarmolenko and Buyalskyi.
All this was probably done in order to force the opponent to switch to a vertical game model with such a rather high block and such a rather active pressing. That is, to force him to carry the ball to someone else’s half of the field, where short Brazilians a priori should not have an advantage against tall players from Dynamo.
But the trouble is that Shovkovskyi’s plan, which was not bad in general, even good in places, did not play out. Because the current “Dynamo” is not very technical, let’s say. That is why such a coaching move failed. And if the Dynamo team “joined” the game, it was primarily after the missed goals. Or after some verbal provocations of opponents.
And in connection with this, I will note that the charge for the game at “Shakhtar” turned out to be more charging, or something. Well, it’s quite understandable, because it was the Donetsk people who lost in the first series of the “classic”, it was they who were called a parody.
FC Shakhtar. In a moment, the third ball will fly into the goal of Dynamo And why Shovkovskyi and his comrades did not properly train their wards so that they “take the opponent by the throat” not when they were losing, but from the first seconds of the game – forgive me, I don’t know.
Although even such a mood could have been enough for Dynamo in the second series of the derby, if Romanov had had more courage and awarded a penalty for clowning by Konoply. But Romanov didn’t have the courage, so the people of Dynamo are left to complain about the mirror. Well, and to a certain extent, on his pumped-up center back, who provoked the opponent to a bright vendetta with his clearly not pumped-up brains.
And now I’m very curious, what will happen next? I mean with the European prospects of our two giants. Will Shakhtar be able to be as charged in the match against Breidablik? And “Dynamo”? Will he be able to get angry from the defeat to Shakhtar and tear Zrynsky apart?