Dynamo Kiev, having taken fourth place at the end of the last season of the Ukrainian championship, managed to qualify only for the Conference League. But even in this, not the most prestigious European Cup, Mircea Lucescu’s team is not doing very well so far. If the Greek “Aris” managed to pass with a scratch, then in the confrontation with the Turkish “Besiktas” the European campaign of the Kyivans risks ingloriously ending.

Dynamo were close to a draw in the first match, but the feat of the ex-CSKA player confused all the cards. Zainutdinov scored in the first match for the new team!

Debut of Zainutdinov

In the first match of the playoff round of the Conference League, Dynamo Kyiv hosted Besiktas in Bucharest. The bookmakers called the Turkish team the favorite, and even before the break, the guests tried to justify their high status: Cameroonian legionnaire Vincent Abubakar converted a penalty. However, the scoring program of the meeting did not end there: in the second half, football fans were waiting for a productive segment of six minutes, as a result of which the score on the scoreboard became 2:2. The hosts scored Nikolay Shaparenko and Nazar Voloshin, as part of the Senol Gunesh team, Omar Kolli scored one more goal.

A draw at the end of the meeting seemed quite real. It was already the fourth added minute, the time before the final whistle was rapidly melting, but the Besiktas players were not opposed to improving their position before the home game.

The guests started the attack from the depth of the field, picking up the ball after a lost horse fight in the center. Milot Rashica burst into the Dynamo penalty area, but, being in the company of an obsessive opponent, instead of hitting, he preferred to make a pass to an oncoming partner, who in this episode turned out to be a newcomer to the Istanbul club Baktiyor Zainutdinov. The ex-football player of CSKA, being surrounded by several opponent players at once, accurately shot into the lower left corner of the goal.

Photo: © Anadolu Agency / Contributor / Anadolu Agency / Gettyimages.com

The Kazakh footballer, who appeared on the field only after the break, immediately rushed to celebrate the debut ball in the Besiktas to the stands, where a small group of Turkish team fans were in the pouring rain. Zainutdinov was immediately surrounded by happy teammates, and the bench was also emotionally celebrating.

Dynamo players, meanwhile, were depressed: some clutched their heads, others fell exhausted onto the lawn, others simply smiled ironically. The players understood that it would be problematic to recoup in Istanbul, and now there is a real risk of completing the European Cup campaign before the fall.

Conference League. Qualification. Playoff round

Dynamo (Kyiv) – Besiktas (Istanbul) – 2:3 (0:1)

Goals: Shaparenko, 60. Voloshin, 66. – Abubakar, 38 (penalty). Collie, 64. Zainutdinov, 90.