Two by two – Spartak! Series 1. 1980–1981. 45 matches. The coach is Valery Lobanovskyi. The series started after a defeat against “Ararat” (0:2). The streak ended after a loss to CSKA (0:2).
Lobanovskyi’s team of the early 1980s, in my opinion, is undeservedly in the shadow of the star teams of 1974–1975, 1985–1986 and 1997–1999. Yes, in Europe in the early 1980s, the Kyivans did not go far, but they rarely lost in the Union championship. And there are many football players who can be called connecting links between “Dynamo” of the era of late stagnation and the teams of the period of detente and early restructuring. Even before the Olympics-80, “Ararat” scored twice at “Hrazdan” with the efforts of Khoren Hovhannesyan and Ashot Khachatryan and forced Dynamo to admit defeat. But in the future, the tournament progress of Lobanovskyi’s team was flawless. I would like to note that the vast majority of Kyiv’s victories were dry until the end of the championship season-80. Dynamo’s defense faced problems except in the away match against Rostov army men (3:3), when one of the goals against “Dynamo” was scored by the unforgettable Ihor Gamul. The most memorable matches of that Olympic year were home victories for Dynamo over the current vice-champion Shakhtar (5:0) and the champion Spartak (2:0). In the match against the miners, Oleg Blokhin opened and closed the score: respectively, with a header in the 10th minute and in a quick breakthrough after Leonid Buryak’s pass, leaving Volodymyr Pianykh in trouble. I would also like to mention the goal of Oleksandr Hapsalis – a well-hit shot from an acute angle. Well, Leonid Buryak’s goal in the debut match against “Spartak” at the end of October in front of an audience of 100,000 people and precipitation, sometimes in the form of rain, then in the form of snow, is probably remembered by everyone who saw it. The famous Rynat Dasaev missed the ball between his legs. Needless to say, the people of Dynamo then harassed Rynata! The championship match with Moscow teammates (2:0) is also an important component of that series. By the way, she had every chance to be interrupted in the last round of the 1980 championship. The army team from the capital of the USSR was leading 2:0 in the match against the country’s champions during the 2nd half. However, thanks to the efforts of Oleg Blokhin and Anatoly Demianenko, the Kyiv team equalized the score.
FC Dynamo The army team achieved what they wanted in a home match against Kyiv already in the 81 season, winning on their field against the current champions of the country with a score of 2:0 (they secured such an advantage even before the break) and stopping the streak of Kyiv at 45 matches. I would like to note that the part of the undefeated series, which fell in 1981, also included a victory at home against the newly crowned Cup Winners’ Cup “Dynamo” Tbilisi in the presence of 97,000 spectators – 1:0 (with a goal by Oleg Blokhin with a right-footed shot from the line of the goal area after an assist by Oleksandr Boyk with a header shortly before the final whistle), and Kyiv’s home victory over “Spartak” with the same score of 2:0 (with goals from Leonid Buryak and Oleg Blokhin and under the supervision of a noisy audience of 96,200 spectators).
Answering the question about the secret of such a long streak without failure, Valery Lobanovsky emphasized that “we finally managed to balance the team, select players in all ranks so that the team now has practically no weak spots.”
Two sets dry! Series 2. 2014–2015. 38 matches. The coach is Serhii Rebrov. The streak started after a 1:2 defeat by Donetsk “Metalurg”. The streak ended after a 0:3 loss against Shakhtar.
Getty Images/Global Images Ukraine Ironically, the main architect of the defeat of Kyiv before the start of this unbeaten streak was the future player of “Dynamo” (and later, after moving to the ranks of “Shakhtar”, he will become the object of song and verbal harassment of the Dynamo torsida) Junior Moraes. It was his 2 goals that brought the “metallurgists” victory over “Dynamo”.
The wonderful components of this series were 2 consecutive victories of Kyiv with a score of 6:0, as if it was not a football duel, but a tennis match. In May 2015, “Hoverla” and Donetsk “Metalurg” were affected. Artem Kravets and Andriy Yarmolenko played their best in those matches. Each of them scored a double in one of these matches, and scored once in the other. Kravets’ first goal against the Uzhgorod club stuck in my memory too much: after Jermaine Lance’s pass from the left wing and Artem’s high jump header, the ball slipped between the legs (!) of the visitors’ keeper and into the net.
It is noteworthy that at the end of this series, “Dynamo” played 6 matches in a row, mostly defeating their opponents, making too much fun of the defense of “Vorskla” (4:0 on the road, it is interesting that in that match Vitaliy Buyalskyi and Andriy Yarmolenko, who still defend Dynamo’s colors, scored among others). Alex Teixeira’s brace from Donetsk in orange and black, along with Marlos’ goal, ended that streak in October 2015.
The parallel of the half of the 2010s with the ancient times of the early 1980s is that the series included minimally victorious matches of Kyiv against domestic rivals, which at that time caused a good buzz in the European Cups. And the scores in the matches with them (that is, with Tbilisi in 1981 and “Dnipro” in 2015) were identical: 1:0 in favor of Kyiv. I would like to add that the match with Dnipro 10 years ago was a championship game: Domagoi Vida’s goal in the 84th minute (a complete coincidence with the minute of Oleg Blokhin’s goal against the Georgian team in 1981!) brought a celebration to Dynamo Street to the joy of an audience of more than 50,000 in the stands of NSC Olimpiyskiy.
From Shakhtar to Shakhtar Series 3. 2024–2025. 42 matches. The trainer is Oleksandr Shovkovskyi. The streak started after a 0:1 loss against Shakhtar. The streak ended after a 1:3 loss to Shakhtar.
FC Dynamo Georgy Sudakov’s winning goal from the penalty spot in May of last year brought Shakhtar victory over Kyiv. Well, the vicissitudes of the match, which summed up this unbeaten series of Kyiv, are still fresh in the memory, and disputes such as penalty – not penalty, withdrawal – not withdrawal continue to this day.
This series literally hung by a thread under the curtain of the last championship, when Shakhtar led in Lviv in a match against Oleksandr Shovkovsky’s team (by the way, SaSho participated in two series of “Dynamo”, however, in a different role: where he was a player, and where he was a coach) with a 2-goal advantage, and eventually lost his advantage.
In the series itself, I will note several matches in which the Kyiv team scored 5 goals each. Among the victims are “Obolon”, “Ingulets”, “Rukh”. Vladyslav Vanat had a blast in the matches against the “brewers” and the Petrovskiy team, tearing through the opponents’ defense with quick breakthroughs. The goal against Ingulets was also interesting, for which Mykola Shaparenko did the lion’s share of the work. After the shot by the Kyiv midfielder, a double ricochet occurred – from the defender and the goalkeeper of the visitors, and the ball eventually ended up in the goal.
When was it more difficult to write a winning script: 45 years ago, in the mid-2010s, or now? Of course, it is not easy to go a long way in the Union Championship. Multi-style ambitious opponents (by today’s standards, probably often team goals x countries) with the great kindness of the performers. However, at the same time without legionnaires, instead with an iron curtain. However, “Dynamo” then had little, perhaps somewhat tarnished, but still the status of a European giant, because not so much time had passed since the conquest of the Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup. Well, the favoritism of the Kyiv club in the USSR championship was beyond doubt, although unsuccessful games with Spartak at the end of the 1970s and in the 1st round of the 1980s added a note of thoughtfulness to the Kyiv torsida. And yet, and yet “Dynamo” was the main seeker of “gold” at that time. And the names of the teams that defeated Kyiv before and after the series: “Ararat” and CSKA became proof of the competitiveness of the competition in the epilogue of the stagnation. 10 years ago, Kyiv were not favorites against Shakhtar, but they looked much stronger than most other teams in the strongest Ukrainian league. Regarding the current situation, I will say that in terms of the cost of the team, Dynamo is noticeably inferior to its main rival in the domestic arena. And, in contrast to the 1980s, they are not themselves a European giant, even the status of a European middle-class is problematic (the same applies to Shakhtar to some extent). Have other Ukrainian clubs become weaker? A simple positive answer seems to be required, because we all see the unsuccessful journeys of our teams in European stadiums. However, I think that there is currently no basis for a correct comparison with rivals in the European Cups: well, our teams and foreign teams have completely different logistical, personnel, and even psychological conditions. Foreigners do not know what the buzzing of deadly shahedes and the arrival of rockets are. There will be equal conditions (peace in Ukraine, first of all) – there will also be food for a suitable conversation.
Paradoxically, it was during the current series that the Kyivans regularly found themselves under a barrage of devastating criticism. Yes, the football community of Kyiv often transferred its disappointment from the European Cup campaigns to the championship matches. Even there, simple victories were not enough for rehabilitation. Well, 5 draws in a row in the matches of the current championship (and every time the victories literally slipped out of Dynamo’s hands, mostly in the last minutes, and even in the compensated time of the matches up to 2 halves) caused a simply mad wave of indignation: they say, not playing the matches to the end has become a sad sign of modern “Dynamo”. However, with Shakhtar, the Dynamo players, rather, got into the game late.
Be that as it may, this series is already history. Time to lay the foundations of a new one. The countdown has begun!
Oleksiy RYZHKOV
Source: sport.ua