"Battle for Prestige": Where to watch the Europa League match between Dynamo and Galatasaray, the bookmakers' favorite, along with the final preparations.
Today, January 21, at 17:30 Kyiv time, Kyiv's "Dynamo" will face local "Galatasaray" at Rams Park Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, as part of the 7th round of the UEFA Europa League group stage. UNN provides details on where to watch the match, who the bookmakers favor, and the latest news from both teams' camps.
Stadium, Referee Crew, Broadcast
The match will be officiated by an Estonian referee crew led by 43-year-old Kristo Tohver. Assisting him on the sidelines will be his compatriots Silver Koiv and Sander Saga. The fourth official is Kevin Kaivoya, and the VAR referee is Marco Liiva.
Kristo Tohver is familiar to fans of Luhansk's "Zorya," as he officiated the match between Prague's "Slavia" and "Zorya" in 2023 during the Europa League qualification, where Luhansk lost 0:2.
Tohver has also officiated various matches for Ukraine's youth teams.
3Bookmakers are giving a solid advantage to "Galatasaray," with odds of 1.2 for their victory. The odds for "Dynamo" to win are set at 9.8, which is not surprising, as the Kyiv team has lost all 6 of their matches in the Europa League. A draw can be bet on with odds of 6.5.
The match will be broadcast live on the Megogo service.
Previous Matches
As previously mentioned, Kyiv's "Dynamo" has yet to win in the current Europa League season. The "white-blues" sit at the bottom of the standings and have lost all potential chances of advancing further. They have recorded 6 defeats and scored only 1 goal.
It's worth noting that the last time "Dynamo" played an official match was in December of last year, after which the Ukrainian championship took a break. At that time, Kyiv narrowly defeated "Veres" 1:0. However, they played 5 friendly matches during their training camp, losing once to German "Magdeburg" 3:1, drawing with Polish "Lodz" and winning the other matches.
In contrast, "Galatasaray" is performing strongly both in the Turkish league and the Europa League. In the Turkish Super League, the "Lions" are confidently leading, remaining unbeaten with 16 wins and 3 draws, accumulating 51 points and surpassing their closest rivals, fellow Istanbul team "Fenerbahçe," by 6 points.
Moreover, "Galatasaray" is in the leading group of the main stage of the Europa League, being one of the five teams that have not suffered a single defeat in the current European competition.
The "Lions" started with a home victory over Greek "PAOK" (3:1), followed by an away draw with Latvian "RFS" (2:2), despite leading 2:0 during the match. They then secured home victories against Swedish "Elfsborg" (4:3) and London "Tottenham" (3:2), as well as away draws with Dutch "AZ" (1:1) and Swedish "Malmo" (2:2). Notably, "Galatasaray," with 15 goals scored, shares the best attack among the 36 participants in the main stage with French "Lyon."
Additionally, Turkish forward "Galatasaray" Yunus Akgün shares the top spot as one of the best scorers in the Europa League (5 goals) alongside Rasmus Højlund ("Manchester United"), Samu ("Porto"), and Barnabás Varga ("Ferencváros").
4It's also noteworthy that the last encounter between "Dynamo" and "Galatasaray" took place in April 2022, when Kyiv convincingly defeated the Turks 3:1.
Before the Match
Dynamo's head coach Oleksandr Shovkovskyi mentioned before the match that his team would be playing against one of the giants of Turkish football.
Kyiv captain Vitalii Buyalsky emphasized that the match would be a "battle for prestige."
"I can say that this will be more of a battle for prestige, as we have no tasks left. We have the emblem on our chest and pride that we must showcase in tomorrow's game. I believe each of us will give our all. We will show that our current position is just a coincidence," said Buyalsky.
Before the match, it was revealed that "Dynamo" would be without key players - defender Denys Popov and midfielder Volodymyr Brazhko, who remained in Belek for recovery, where the team will return immediately after the match.
5Denys Popov
"Regarding your question, aside from Brazhko, Denys Popov will also definitely not be able to help us tomorrow (i.e., January 21). All other players are ready to take the field," stated Shovkovskyi.
6Volodymyr Brazhko
Additionally, during the winter transfer window, Kyiv players Volodymyr Shepelev and Oleksandr Andriievskyi left as free agents, with Andriievskyi already signing a contract with Zhytomyr's "Polissya." The "white-blues" also loaned out defender Navin Malysh to Poltava's "Vorskla."
"Galatasaray" coach Buruk Okan shared his expectations for the match: "Don't let Dynamo's position in the Europa League mislead you; they are leaders in the Ukrainian championship and have not lost in the UPL. Of course, there are differences from the Europa League, but they have not lost. I can say that our opponent is a good team."
He also mentioned that Eyüp Aydın, Roland Sallai, and Gabriel Sara would not play in the match.
"Our bench has become shorter. We are missing Eyüp Aydın and Roland Sallai. Tomorrow will be important for our bench, but we have 11 strong players. The players who will take the field have enough qualities to win such matches. We had planned for him to train today (Gabriel Sara - ed.), but we will see. We still have time to make a final decision on whether he will be in the squad," Okan said before the match.
Additionally, another controversial player, Mauro Icardi, will not be available for the Turks as he has been recovering from a knee injury since November.
7Mauro Icardi
Meanwhile, journalists have reported that Dries Mertens and Victor Osimhen - the main stars and simultaneously the unstoppable attacking force of "Galatasaray" - are expected to start against "Dynamo" from the first minutes.
8Victor Osimhen and Dries Mertens