Dynamo Kyiv is our opponent for Champions League qualifying round
23.7.2018, Redakce
Slavia will fight against Ukrainian runners-up Dynamo Kyiv in the 3rd qualifying round of UEFA Champions League.
Champions League draw in Nyon decided the 3rd qualifying round pairs. Slavia will play against Ukrainian league runners-up Dynamo Kyiv in the League Path of the qualifying phase. Opening game will be played in Prague Eden Arena on 7th August with kick-off at 7:30 pm. 2nd leg will be played in Kyiv on NSK Olympiyskiy on 14th August. Ticket info for the home game will follow soon.Dynamo Kyiv is one of the most successful clubs of Soviet era and has won the Ukrainian Premier League 15 times and Ukrainian Cup 11 times since independence. In the last season Dynamo finished runners up just 2 points behind Shakhtar Donetsk. The club from Ukrainian capital was also successful on the European soil when they reached the Round of 16 of UEFA Europa League.
The NSK Olympiyskiy in Kyiv has capacity of 70.050 spectators and was venue of 2018 Champions League Final and EURO 2012 Final. Slavia played last game against Dynamo in February 2016 in Spain as part of the winter training camp. The red-whites defeated Dynamo 2-1 when Slavia goals were scored by Zmrhal and Mešanović.
“Dynamo is composed of top Ukrainian players, almost all of them play for the national team. There are also several great foreign players such as Pivarić who played superbly for Croatia on the World Cup, or Brazilian midfielder Che. We have been scouting our potential opponents during the summer break and we have seen two games of Dynamo live, one of them against Czech champions Plzeň,” Slavia manager Jindřich Trpišovský stated.
After several successful attempts to qualify for the Europa League with Slovan Liberec, Slavia manager will try to reach for the Champions League for the first time. “I am looking forward because to play for the Champions League is great experience. Not anybody has such an opportunity. It is something unbelievable for me. I am just three years in the Czech top division, six years ago I was in the 4th tier. And now I can play for the Champions League with Slavia, moreover against Dynamo Kyiv,” Trpišovský added.
Slavia midfielder Jaromír Zmrhal was satisfied with the result of the draw. “The outcome is quite good, at least, it could be worse. We got an opponent we can compete with and we can try to reach the best possible result. The games will be different than the league ones. It is not only about three points, we play for the Champions League,” Czech international stresses.
