1. 1985/86. cup of cups Quarterfinal. Vienna. “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 a distance with the right foot, which was taken over by the bar, and after an immediate finish from the left, the Viennese goalkeeper Michael Konzel (he was called Konsel in the Soviet press) was powerless. The ball became the 4th for Kyiv in that away match. And this was the first game of the 86 season (then, under the spring-autumn system, this numbering was respected) after a long winter break. However, Kyivans in general and Yakovenko in particular looked extremely powerful! And “Rapid”, as it is called, remained like a cancer in the shallows, the Kyivans kindly tamed it after the break.
2. 1986/87. Champions Cup. Round of 16. Kyiv. “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – “Beroye” (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 the advantage of Dynamo, reacting to Anatolii Demyanenko’s cross from the left flank and heading the ball into the goal net. Bulgarian champion. I remember how in our 18th sector of the upper tier of the Republican Stadium (just opposite the goal line where Yakovenko aimed) some exalted female fan shouted loudly during the goal: “Pa-ah-sha-ah!” and scattered a lot 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, made an irresistible shot, became the turning point in the match. Until then, the score was equal, and the prospect of extra time was quite real, the intrigue was still kicking. I remember that our family got the 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, but it was just behind the goal where Oleg Blokhin aimed after his magical free kick at the beginning of the match.
4. 1986/87. Champions Cup. Semifinal. Porto. “Porto” – “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – 2:1. Yakovenko, 74 (2:1)
The hype for this game was insane! The broadcast of the match started at 0.30 a.m. our time, but the light in the apartments of many Kyiv residents did not go out until the final whistle. Due to the extremely biased refereeing (Oleg Blokhin’s clean goal was disallowed) of the Dutchman Jan Kaiser (who passed away a month ago in a home for the elderly, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease), the Kyivans were able to bring a completely acceptable result from Portugal. With a two-goal deficit and one less player (Andrii Bal was sent off for the second warning at the beginning of the 2nd half), the Dynamo team scored. Oleksiy Mykhailichenka’s jeweled cross and Pavel Yakovenko’s powerful header improved the prospects of Kyiv to play in the final of the most prestigious European club tournament. At that time, we still did not know about the tragic result 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 accurate shot (as the press wrote, “a quick one-way pass between Mykhailichenko and Yakovenko caught the guests by surprise”), almost from the line of the penalty area after the break, lit up the numbers of the final result of the match on the scoreboard. The Hungarians were completely defeated! However, my constant neighbor in the stands (we had season tickets next to us that season) commented on that game as follows: “The score is good, but the game is not to hell!”. The statement is controversial, but it clearly demonstrates the degree of fastidiousness of Kyiv fans in the 1980s. And I remember being struck by the fact that, leaving the “Republikanskyi Stadium” metro station, you could freely buy tickets for the game just at the kiosks near the stairs leading to the underground passage. An audience of 35,000 after recent regular sell-outs at European Cup matches is not surprising, but rather saddening.
6. 1991/92. Champions Cup. 1/8 finals. Copenhagen. “Brondby” – “Dynamo” (Kyiv) – 0:1. Yakovenko, 7 (0:1)
Another left-footed goal from Pavel in an extremely tense match for the right to enter the group stage of the Champions Cup, which has just begun its reformation. A 1:1 draw in Kyiv didn’t leave many chances for the away team. However, there, in Merchants’ Harbor (or, as Denmark’s largest city is also called, “the capital of Scandinavian happiness”), they showed real resilience, scoring with the efforts of Yakovenko (he navigated the Danes’ penalty area better than anyone and hit the target with his left foot) at the beginning of the match, and in the future, remaining in the minority (it was Pavlo Oleksandrovych who was sent off for the 2nd warning), extinguished all attempts of “Brondby” to score. I should 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 in the fan environment 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. However, instead of the magical half of the 1980s – the crisis-like beginning of the 1990s, in the stands of the Republican Stadium, instead of the usual hundred thousand until recently, there were only 18 thousand of the most loyal fans. Only Anatoly Demyanenko and Pavlo Yakovenko remained from the star team that won the Cup of Cups six years before. And Pavlo himself, as soon as the 2nd half started, found his way around the Viennese penalty area better than others, skilfully reacted to the ball coming down from above after the “candle”, and directed it with a powerful shot to the goal, bringing victory to Kyiv.
***
Of course, Yakovenko also scored in other important matches. In particular, at the World Cup-86 for the helpless Hungarians, in the post-Chernobyl match at the end of April 1986. Spartak, the winning goal of Chornomorets at the beginning of the 1988 championship. But Pavlo Oleksandrovych was remembered not only for his goals as a player. Valery Lobanovsky described him as aptly as possible: “Pavlo Yakovenko is a textbook example of how an extraordinary player needs to be in constant training, to be ready for non-stop movement on the field, to feel flawless psychologically, not to succumb to self-deception.” Pavel’s defining features, according to the Meter: “Will, high speed endurance and work capacity combined with decent technique, the ability to understand the game under the most extreme conditions, the desire to be better and stronger than rivals.” I would like to add to the above Yakovenko’s extraordinary ability to work for a team. I don’t want to resort to phrases like “they don’t make them like that” like the grizzled old men, but it’s still not easy for current Ukrainian midfielders to reach the level of Yakovenko the player. And one more feature of Pavlo Oleksandrovych’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 treated his duties superprofessionally. Long live, dear jubilee! Long and fruitful work for the benefit of national football!
Oleksiy RYZHKOV
Source: sport.ua