Head coach of Dynamo Kyiv Alexander Shovkovsky commented on the draw with Turkish Galatasaray (3:3) in the seventh round match of the main stage of the Europa League of the 2024/25 season. During the meeting, the Ukrainian club was behind in the score 0:2 and 1:3, but managed to make a comeback and escape defeat. The “white-blues” coach summed up the results of the match in Istanbul at a press conference that took place immediately after the end of the game. “Unfortunately, according to the game scenario, we made mistakes at the beginning of the first half and also at the beginning of the second half, namely during standard positions - after corners. We understand that we will need to work with this. A separate story is, of course, the support that Galatasaray receives when playing at home in front of their fans, and this is a compliment for the Turkish fans. It's always a pleasure to play in front of crowded stands, and even more so when there's such crazy support. Unfortunately, this is not the case in our country due to the war that continues.. Speaking about the fans, I drew the attention of our players to the fact that it is important to cope with their emotions before the game so that they do not interfere with our actions when organizing both defense and attack. On the other hand, we talked about the fact that it is very important to make the right decisions in organizing the game, both in defense and in attack. And in this matter we had problems, especially in the first half, and in the second half of the match. We didn't make the decisions we agreed on.. I hope that this is precisely because of the emotional state and the crazy support that the stadium provided and because of the pressure that our players experienced during the match. We should have been a little calmer with the ball in the transition phase to the attack, because there were very good chances that we needed to take advantage of. The decisions made and technical defects did not allow us to successfully launch an attack. I'm not talking about the final actions, but I mean the stage when we had a great opportunity to carry out very effective attacks with high chances of scoring. And the main point is, of course, that even with an unfavorable score of 0:2 and 1:3 for us, we continued to play, tried to look for our chances and eventually found them and played for a draw. When analyzing any game, we should not always be attached to the result. Of course, it is very important, but sometimes the result may not objectively reflect the information. Of course, the first test points in the seventh round are not what we expected at the beginning. But we have what we have, unfortunately, the situation has developed this way, and this is a certain coincidence of circumstances. Today we took to the football field to show that the team has character, and no matter how the situation turns out, we will fight to the last. We go to every match, analyzing the opponent's actions. We are trying to make our own settings for the game and strive to play for the maximum result in any match.. The strategy may differ depending on the opponent, the situation, the circumstances, but in every game we try to win. After the break, we made two substitutions, we understood that they had to strengthen our game and stabilize the center. We counted on the individual qualities of Andrei Yarmolenko, his confidence and experience, so we entered the second half with a great desire to score more. Of course, when a substitute player scores two goals, this indicates that the substitution was successful. And Alexander delivered from the corner, after which Yarmolenko scored, reducing the score. So both replacements are important. I repeat to my players and they must understand that we have a starting lineup that takes into account many aspects, objective and subjective details. But our total squad consists of 28-30 players, and everyone must be ready to enter the football field at any moment,” the Dynamo official website quotes Shovkovsky as saying.. Having snatched a draw in the match with Galatasaray, the Kiev club won the first point in the current Europa League. Previously, the “white-blues” suffered defeats in the first six rounds, as a result of which they lost their chances of reaching the playoffs early. Now Dynamo continues to be in last, 36th place in the overall standings of the main round of the Europa League. In the final round of the main stage of the Europa League, Shovkovsky's team will compete with the Latvian Russian Federation. The fight will take place on January 30 in Hamburg, Germany.. Let us remind you that in the updated format of the Europa League, 36 clubs play in a single league, where they must play against eight different opponents (four matches at home and four away). All tournament participants received 2 opponents from 4 different baskets. The eight best teams from the main stage of the Europa League will reach the 1/8 finals. The clubs that will take places from 9th to 24th in the overall standings will play double play-off matches for reaching the 1/8 finals. The rest will finish their performances in European competitions.