Dynamo Kyiv take on the visitors Sturm Graz in the first leg of UEFA Champions League qualification semifinals. The match will be played on Wednesday, August 3rd at Stadion Miejski al. Unii Lubelskiej 2 (Lodz).
Dynamo held the first official matches of this calendar year last month. Due to the fact that at first there were long winter holidays, and then unprovoked war began in Ukraine, there have been no matches since December. Moreover, the opponent of the "white-blue" was strong and motivated - "Fenerbahce". And the Turks, led by Jorge Jesus, who bought a lot of pretty stellar newcomers, had an advantage throughout both matches. But, firstly, George Bushchan played reliably. Yes, he made a mistake, which did not allow him to finish the game in Istanbul with a victory in regular time. But at the same time, the goalkeeper saved a penalty, and just helped out a lot. In addition, in the second leg, the Ukrainians showed excellent use of their chances. In addition to the goals of Buyalsky and Karavaev (who once unsuccessfully tried to prove himself among the "canaries", at the same stadium), there were no particular chances. And in Lodz, in the 1st game, Dynamo did not have a single shot on target at all!
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Sturm Graz are 3-time champion of the country, however, the last time it was possible to climb so high was in 2011. In addition, the Austrian Cup has been repeatedly won (the last time in 2018). Quite regularly it turned out to play in European competitions, however, without much success recently. On a generally modest background, last season was good for the team from Graz. They were able to play in the Europa League group for the first time in a decade. True, there Sturm was an outsider in the quartet with Monaco, Real Sociedad and PSV. At the same time, in the championship, Christian Ilzer's wards took 2nd place, the best in recent times. This allowed them to return to the Champions League qualification. Under this signed a number of players, Tomi Horvath, Demaku, Schnegg and Oroz. But in general, this is a rather modest team of relatively little-known football players. Which in the new national championship started only with a 1-1 draw on the Wolfsberger’s field.
Once, in 2018, a friendly match was organized between the clubs. It won "Sturm" 2-0. Bookmakers consider Dynamo as the pair's favorite, despite the fact that the fight will only be formally home for him. But Lucescu is unlikely to give up pragmatic tactics, so let's focus on the option with "under 2.5 goals".
Prediction for the match: Under 2.5 scored goals.
