Dynamo Kyiv succumbed to an avoidable 1-0 Champions League defeat against a listless Barcelona on a wet Nov. 2 evening at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv.
The result leaves the Ukrainian side stranded at the bottom of Champions League group E, with one point after four games and scant hope of qualifying for the knockout round of the competition.
Barcelona are currently going through a period of crisis after the sacking of their Dutch manager, Ronald Koeman, but Dynamo failed to capitalize, despite a promising first half.
Several times, Dynamo broke forward with vigor in the opening 30 minutes, but left themselves vulnerable and were lucky not to concede before half-time.
After the break, Barcelona re-emerged with a better understanding of how to stop Dynamo by committing tactical fouls to break up play and give themselves time to reorganize. Whenever they won the ball back, they now seemed far more lethal in their counter-attacks.
Barcelona’s goal, the only one of the game, came in the 70th minute: a promising attack by Dynamo faltered and Barcelona launched a blistering counter-attack.
In a flash, the ball found itself at Spanish forward Ansu Fati’s feet after a lucky deflection off a Dynamo leg, and he had no trouble volleying it into the net from 10 meters out.
Dynamo’s failure to score a goal means that the two Ukrainian teams in the competition, Dynamo and Shakhtar Donetsk, have now failed to score in all seven Champions League group stage games they have played between them this season. Shakhtar play Real Madrid in the Spanish capital at 19:45 Kyiv time this evening.
