Q: You’ve had a chance to calm down a little bit. Do you think you overreacted? How are you feeling?

Aliyev: I feel great, why not? It’s football, what can you do! We played, we lost. As for my dismissal… The manner in which the match was officiated is just not the way it’s done in Europe or the Champions League.

Q: Your teammates (Stanyslav) Bohush, (Andriy) Nesmachniy think you were in the wrong, football experts have condemned your actions. How do you react to the criticism?

A: Let them criticize, I don’t pay any attention to it. The important thing is that I know I was not at fault. I just touched the referee, I didn’t move him. I wanted to take the free kick quickly because the keeper was off his line and I saw an opportunity to score. But the referee felt it was necessary to send me off. Let it be on his conscience! The opinions of the “experts” who criticize me do not not interest me.

Q: You sad some unkind words about the referee after the match. Do you regret it now?

A: I’ll repeat it again – he is a donkey! I am right! I have never backed off my words and I won’t start now. I don’t regret what I said, and I don’t think I overreacted.

Q: Do you know how many European matches you will miss? What do you think about a possible fine? (Club president) Ihor Surkis said that such actions must be punished financially…

A: Nothing is clear yet about the suspension, but one thing I can guarantee 100% – there will be no fine. Who brought up the idea of fining me, anyway? What, I get a red card and I should be fined? I don’t get that.

But how do you really feel about it, Sasha?

It’s hard to read that interview and not come away shaking your head. It’s even harder to imagine how a man who refuses to accept any responsibility for his actions is ever going to become a reliable professional footballer. For all the promise of his undeniable talent, a lack of discipline has held Aliyev back throughout his young career. There once was a feeling in the Dynamo camp that Sasha cared more about drinking and chasing girls than he did about football. Ukraine manager and former Dynamo star Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko refused to invite Aliyev to the senior team because of (drumroll) a needless red card he picked in a U-21 match. Aliyev worked hard to overcome those hurdles, only to face his demons again on the biggest of stages. The stubbornness and the fuck-all attitude of his candid comments underline the qualities that make Aliyev a fierce competitor on the pitch but may keep him from ever becoming a truly great player.

Dynamo did not play well enough to deserve a victory, and when Porto went ahead of Fenerbahce in Istanbul all three points were necessary to keep Ukraine’s Champions League hopes alive. But even with an injury-stricken squad and not a single viable substitute at Semin’s disposal, Dynamo matched Arsenal blow for blow. The hosts’ offense was stifled throughout the match, and only on set pieces did they look dangerous. Ismael Bangoura created the best chance of the first half but his sharp angle effort could only kiss the outside of the post. And it took a bit of stellar goalkeeping from wannabe Englishman Manuel Almunia to keep out Artem Milevskiy’s pointblank strike inside the final 10 minutes. Dynamo’s dreams of finally returning to the knockout round fully extinguished minutes later as Arsenal once again took advantage of the hapless referee.

I am generally not one to waste time discussing the performance of an official, but Alain Hamer has earned an exception. Mr. Hamer hails from Luxembourg, a country the size of my fist, and has had to take part in an “international exchange program” to be able to referee major European competitions. So the man has done a lot of work for a chance to ruin the beautiful game at the highest level. Mr. Hamer officiates a handful of matches a year in Belgium and France. You could say he is the substitute teacher of football referees. He was probably nervously paging through a brand new copy of Laws of the Game in the tunnel before kickoff. It would explain why he booked Milevskiy for getting bear hugged by Cesc Fabregas in the opening minutes. But Mr. Hamer clearly did not not make it to the chapter covering restarts. So when a drop ball was in order he improvised, and standing in between Aliyev and Fabregas, Mr. Hamer stuck the ball into Cesc’s midsection. The clever piggy that he is, Cesc took advantage of the ambiguity of the situation (is the ball live or is it a free kick?) and picked out Bendtner’s left arm from 40 meters away. Mr. Hamer would have been perfectly positioned to do his job if the sport in question was tennis, as he was at midfield looking nowhere in particular. The Luxem-bugger (is that a proper term?) capped his night by demonstratively standing in front of a Dynamo free kick and showing a straight red card to Oleksandr Aliyev as the midfielder tried to “clear” his line of sight.

Aliyev in particular will not want to be reminded of this match. Football is a game where reputation plays a huge role in officiating decisions, and the Dynamo playmaker will have to do a lot of work to shed the image he departed the pitch with. Wayne Rooney’s antics have made him a yellow card magnet whenever he leaves England, even though by all accounts Shrek has mellowed out a tad. William Gallas gets the benefit of a doubt from referees who see the great French defender of five years ago instead of an aging backline liability who plays opponents onsides and gets torched by the like of Bangoura. Now Aliyev will be stuck with the label of “that Ukrainian who played dead and shoved a ref” for years to come, or at least until he smashes in enough free kicks to make everyone ignore his transgressions.

As I go to drown my sorrows and stuff my face with turkey, I will leave you with these thoughts from Dynamo’s Andriy Nesmachniy, who missed the match through suspension:

I liked the way we played. We should have left London with points, but again, the last few minutes…

The teams that truly compete in the Champions League do so for 90+ minutes. We have not had many matches in the the UPL that are decided in the final moments. The drop in concentration is a disease we have to overcome.

Sasha (Aliyev) was in the wrong and deserved to be dismissed. He plays with a lot of emotion and that is something I understand. But you cannot touch an official, and we all know that. Overall I thought the referee was on the side of Arsenal. The hosts were playing rough from the start and the officials were letting it go. But Arsenal players were falling like sausages as soon as they were touched, and the referee instantly whistled for fouls. It’s clear no one likes us in Europe. Next time we will have to play well enough to not be in danger of the referee deciding the match.

London, Emirates Stadium

Referee: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg);
Assistant referees: Francis Crelo, Christian Holtgen (both from Luxembourg).

Arsenal (London): 1.Almunia, 4.Fàbregas – cap, 10.Gallas, 11.van Persie, 12.Vela (19.Wilshere, 77), 15.Denilson, 16.Ramsey (26.Bendtner, 69), 17.Song, 18.Silvestre, 20.Djourou, 22.Clichy.

Dynamo (Kyiv): 31.Bogush, 3.Betão, 4.Ghioane – cap, 5.Vukojević, 8.Aliyev,10.Bangoura, 11.Eremenko, 15.Diakhaté, 25.Milevskyy, 30.El Kaddouri, 32.Asatiani.

Goal: Bendtner (87).

Yellow cards: van Persie (31), Bendtner (87) – Milevskyy (17), Asatiani (39), Aliyev (50).

Red card: Aliyev (89).

Dynamo traveled to London without injured captain Taras Mykhalyk. Malkhaz Asatiani is the favorite to fill his spot in the back line. However the Georgian has not had any match practice since suffering an ankle injury, and manager Yuri Semin may instead turn to veteran Goran Sablic. Back at Semin’s disposal is holding midfielder Ayila Yussuf, who has been out of action since being injured against Arsenal back in September.

Arsenal will be missing Theo Walcott, who caused Dynamo all sorts of problems in their first encounter. The Gunners will also be without Samir Nasri and Bacary Sagna, robbing them of more killer pace on the flanks. Back in the fold are new captain Cesc Fabregas, as well as his ousted predecessor William Gallas.

Thankfully, Betao appears to be OK. It will not be lost on anyone that the attacker chose one of Dynamo’s three black players as the target of his frustrations. Never mind that Betao had just shut down Porto’s danger man Cristian Rodriguez for 90 minutes. While fan violence will always be a dark cloud hanging over the beautiful game, the apparent racial motivation makes this particular act that much more despicable. The irony of the situation is that when in a few years Betao blossoms as a player and asks for a transfer to a bigger club, the same people who would take a swing at him after a loss will assail the Brazilian for his perceived lack of loyalty.

In the face of such sad events, the results on the pitch become secondary. Dynamo fell victim to one of the oldest adages in football – if you do not score when you are supposed to, you will get scored on. It happened in their first group match against Arsenal, and it happened again on Wednesday. Dynamo had a handful of clear cut opportunities to put the match out of reach or retake the lead, but they could not take advantage of them. Moments before Lisandro Lopez took off on his last minute pilgrimage up the pitch, no fewer than four Dynamo players tried in vain to stuff the ball into the Porto net from close range. Before that, Ognjen Vukojevic hit the post with the goal at his mercy, and Oleksandr Aliyev failed to convert several golden chances throughout the second half.

Perhaps the most immediate cause of Dynamo’s failure to preserve a point was their reluctance to bring down Lisandro in the dying moments. In the aftermath manager Yuri Semin, as well as several ex-players like former captain and manager Anatoliy Demyanenko and his fellow 1986 Cup Winners Cup holder Vasiliy Rats, admitted that a tactical foul was in order. “In this situation (Valeriy) Lobanovskiy would have justified it,” said Rats of Dynamo’s late legendary manager. “Such decisions seem obvious in hindsight,” mused another ex-Dynamo defender, Serhiy Fedorov. “The players were trying to get the win and make it into the knockout round, and in the end did not have the energy or experience to prevent the outcome.”

With Arsenal inexplicably held to a nil draw at home by Fenerbahce, the situation in Group G remains clouded. All four teams still have at least a theoretical chance to advance. I will examine the possible permutations and how they affect Dynamo at a later time. For now, the focus shifts back to the Ukrainian Premier League and Sunday’s home fixture against struggling FC Lviv.

Perhaps it was a young team’s inexperience on the big stage that did in Dynamo on Wednesday. They certainly had the opportunities to put the match out of reach, as manager Yuri Semin knows too well:

You have to convert your chances in front of goal. Against Arsenal we had a two on one, today we hit the post, had another chance and got beat on the counter. We were tired and lost concentration. We allowed their forward to drag the ball for 50 meters and got scored on.

When asked whether he tried to yell to his players to stop the telling counter attack with a professional foul, Semin said, “I would if I thought they could hear me. The experience of Porto showed on that sequence. It is what we lack.” Semin refused to single out any of his players as responsible for the deciding goal. But it was one of his most veteran charges, captain Andriy Nesmachniy, who had every opportunity to bring down the streaking Lisandro Lopez. Even at the cost of a booking and possibly a dismissal, Nesmachniy had to deny Porto a scoring chance at that point in the match.

The evening started in promising fashion for Dynamo. After absorbing the early Porto pressure with their familiar Champions League 4-5-1 formation, the hosts dodged a bullet when Raul Meireles’s shot from outside the box beat Stanyslav Bohush but not the post. On twenty minutes Badr El Kaddouri’s pass found Tiberiu Ghioane at the edge of the area, and the Romanian squared the ball into the path of Artem Milevskiy, who with the first touch calmly rolled the ball between the legs of a defender and into the bottom corner.

Porto focused its attacks on the left flank, trying to isolate Cristian Rodriguez against Betao, whom they viewed as the weak link in the Dynamo defense. But while Rodriguez looked poised to get the better of the Brazilian, help would always arrive in the form of Roman Eremenko or Pape Diakhate.

Porto’s attacks continued to stall into the second half, and it was Dynamo that looked more likely to grab their second. As the visitors started to show signs of fatigue, Milevskiy created several chances for his pal Oleksandr Aliyev, but the midfielder could not turn them into the killer goal.

On the hour mark Semin introduced Ismael Bangoura for Ghioane. At the time I thought the manager smelled blood in the water and was going for the kill, but it was a forced change as Ghioane had picked up a knock in the first half and could not continue. The manager’s options were further limited by the absence of Milos Ninkovic and Malkhaz Asatiani. Instead of going to the 4-4-2 with two holding midfielders as the personnel on the pitch dictated, Semin tried to maintain the existing shape by putting Bangoura alone up top and pulling Milevskiy back closer to the midfielders. Bangoura was never able to work his way into the match, a lull allowed Porto to find their legs again, and ten minutes later they got their goal. From a free kick, Rolando escaped the marking of Ognjen Vukojevic to get on the end of a Meireles cross and equalize from point blank range.

With time running out and Porto players operating on fumes, Dynamo went forward in search of all three points. Milevskiy sent Vukojevic in on goal and the Croat avoided the defenders and beat the keeper only to clutch his head in disbelief as the ball hit the post. After what seemed like an eternity of the ball bouncing through Porto’s area with Dynamo players unable to latch on, the visitors came through with the sucker punch that knocked the wind out of Lobanovskiy Stadium. In the aftermath Lucho was sent off for a second booking as he pulled off his shirt to celebrate scoring the winner. It was little consolation for Dynamo as they saw control of their Champions League destiny cruelly snatched from their grasp.

Dynamo (Kyiv): 31.Bogush, 3.Betão, 4.Ghioane (10.Bangoura, 60), 5.Vukojević, 8.Aliyev, 11.Eremenko, 15.Diakhaté, 17.Mykhalyk, 25.Milevskyy, 26.Nesmachnyy – cap, 30.El Kaddouri.

Porto (Portugal): 1.Helton, 2.Bruno Alves, 3.Pedro Emanuel – cap (15.Lino, 77), 8.Lucho, 9.Lisandro, 10.Rodríguez, 14. Rolando, 16.Raul Meireles, 17.Sektioui (12.Hulk, 46), 21.Săpunaru (30.Pelé, 68), 25.Fernando.

Goals: Milevskyy (21) – Rolando (69), Lucho (90+2).

Yellow cards: El Kaddouri (31) – Pedro Emanuel (57), Hulk (58), Rodríguez (84), Lucho (87).

Red card: Lucho (90+3).

Dynamo and Porto appear to be clubs heading in opposite directions. The Portuguese outfit followed their home defeat to Dynamo with two shocking league losses, which dropped the three-time defending champions to sixth in the table. Meanwhile Dynamo has not tasted defeat in any competition in over three months. The run of form has seen the Kiev club leap from 46th to 21st in the rather meaningless but still entertaining world club football rankings. While it would be tempting to install Dynamo as clear favorites in today’s match based on both teams’ recent performances, nothing can be taken for granted when a desperate side of Porto’s quality comes to town.

With two points separating the teams in Group G standings, today’s match will go a long way towards determining who goes to the knockout round and who has to settle for the UEFA Cup. While Dynamo players have been insisting that they will be looking for a win, in truth any result except a loss would strengthen their chances of advancing. With a home fixture against woeful Fenerbahce to follow, a conservative approach to this match would be the smart play. Which is why, despite having both Ismael Bangoura and Artem Milevskiy fully fit, I expect manager Yuri Semin to stick with the 4-5-1 variant he has employed so far in the Champions League. The availability of both strikers gives Semin the flexibility to change the team’s shape should they fall behind, but I just don’t see him opening up the field for Porto from the start.

On the injury front, Malkhaz Asatiani has been ruled out with a knock he sustained a week ago in the cup match against Zorya. Milos Ninkovic was left out on Saturday because of a fever, but should be ready to go. Still, I expect Badr El Kaddouri to make an appearance in the holding midfield role as he has against Fenerbahce and Karpaty. If he stays out of the referee’s book early on he will do just fine. As for the players recovering from long-term injuries, the reinforcements won’t arrive in time to help Dynamo in this match. Semin said Oleh Husyev and Carlos Correa have “no chance” of appearing against Porto, as the midfielders just have not had enough match practice.

For his efforts between the posts in October, Stanyslav Bohush has been named Dynamo’s player of the month by his teammates. As long his workload stays light today, the White-Blues should have no problem earning a result. Shutting down Cristian Rodriguez should be the number one priority for Dynamo’s defenders. The Uruguayan looked dangerous cutting in from the right in the previous meeting, and Ognjen Vukojevic should be there to greet him any time he strays from the flank.

Fearless Prediction: Porto will not be able to unlock Dynamo’s defense, Roman Eremenko will thrive on the counter, and the hosts will score from a set piece that for once will not be a direct effort from Oleksandr Aliyev. Dynamo 2 – 0 Porto.

We’re very happy with this result because Dynamo were without a win in this competition for a long time, and because I think this is the club’s first victory in Portugal. Porto played very well but we managed to hang on and win. They have very good players with excellent technique on the ball but each and every one of my players excelled, especially the goalkeeper. We still have two home matches, and our objective is obviously to qualify and not just to finish third in the group.

The praise Semin heaped on his charges was indeed well deserved, and there’s little surprise Stanyslav Bohush was singled out by the manager. Dynamo came into the season with a large question mark between the posts. The failing form of veteran Oleksandr Shovkovskiy and the lack of experience among his deputies was seen as a possible Achilles heel of an improved squad. But after getting his chance in the first team, Bohush has piled up the clean sheets to silence the doubters. The 25 year old carried a nearly 700 minute league scoreless streak into the second half of Saturday’s match at Tavriya, and a late Arsenal goal is the only blemish on his Champions League record.

Unlike the shots fired his way, Bohush would be wise to deflect the accolades towards the central defenders playing in front of him. The early-season success of Dynamo was built on the broad shoulders of Taras Mykhalyk and Pape Diakhate. The duo has foregone the usual tribulations of an untested defensive pairing, finding a common language and becoming an impenetrable obstacle in front of the Dynamo goal. Diakhate has impressed with his aerial prowess and determination to make every ball into the box his own. The Senegalese has endeared himself to the fans with his willingness to sacrifice his body for the good of the team. The emergence of Ukrainian international Mykhalyk as the leader of the defense is probably the revelation of the season so far. Always blessed with the physical gifts necessary for the position, Mykhalyk has developed the knack to intervene in attacks at precisely the moment of danger. While he may have lost a tooth in Porto, Mykhalyk no doubt earned the respect of his opponents.

The introduction of Artem Milevskiy in the second half changed the style of Dynamo’s attack and served as a reminder of what has been missing from the mix for almost two months. Milevskiy’s ability to play with his back to the goal and hold up the play cannot be duplicated by any of his club teammates or compatriots. Even lacking match fitness, Milevskiy’s class was evident as he was able to keep Porto defenders at bay while waiting for the midfielders to join the counterattack. So irreplaceable is the striker that in his absence coach Semin was forced to attack the group stage with a lone forward. And no one is happier to have Milevskiy back in the fold than Ismael Bangoura. I am sure we have not seen the last of the 4-5-1, given the results it has brought so far, but at least now Semin has the opportunity to deploy his two best offensive players at the same time.

Artem Milevskiy made his return to competitive football, coming on as a sub for Ismael Bangoura to start the second half. Milevskiy started Friday’s UPL match against Zorya Luhansk, setting up Bangoura for the opener of a four goal salvo in the first 15 minutes, sending Dynamo on their way to a 5-0 stroll. It was a far cry from today’s battle at Estadio do Dragao, a tactical encounter that earned Dynamo their best European result in years. Match details and the goal are below, and I will have much more for you soon.

Porto, Dragão Stadium
Attendance: 37,000

Referee: Terje Hauge; Assistant referees: Jan Petter Randen, Kim Thomas Haglund (all from Norway).

Porto: Nuno, Săpunaru, Bruno Alves, Rolando, Lino, Fernando (Hulk, 46), Raul Meireles, Lucho, Rodríguez (Sektioui, 62), Lisandro, Mariano (Tomás Costa, 68).

Dynamo: Bohush, Betão, Diakhaté, Mykhalyk, Nesmachniy, Vukojević, Ghioane (Eremenko, 60), El Kaddouri, Ninković (Asatiani, 83), Aliyev, Bangoura (Milevskiy, 46).

Goal: Aliyev (27)

Booked: Rolando (65) – Nesmachniy (32)

We played attacking football, but we weren’t able to score. Sometimes you need luck. Of course, I’m not satisfied with the result. I think we deserved to win this game, everybody could see that. Dynamo defended the whole game.

I guess when you can’t write Fernando Torres and David Villa on your lineup sheet, attacking football means sitting on the ball in your own half while mixing in an occasional hopeless route one hoof. Did I mention they were the home team? To be fair to Aragones, he probably still thinks his Atletico Madrid side deserved the win against Dynamo in the 1986 Cup Winner’s Cup Final, 0-3 scoreline be damned! But enough about grandpa Luis, what did that whippersnapper Yuri Semin (at 61, he’s 9 years Aragones’s junior) think about the match?

We had difficulties in the first half. I had to make changes in order to quicken the tempo in the second half. The players were really tired in the final 20 minutes because they have played a lot of games and have travelled a lot. Today we gained one point, we didn’t lose two.

While it’s hard to comment on Semin’s tactical tinkering, since Dynamo stuck to the 4-5-1 the whole match, the decision to sub Ismael Bangoura for Maksim Shatskikh was perplexing to say the least. While Semin insists that “the situation begged for Bangoura to be replaced,” it is hard to see how removing your only legitimately mobile striker helps raise the tempo. I can only guess that Ismael got yanked for pulling away from a challenge with keeper Volkan Demirel around the half hour mark, leaving Semin visibly exasperated on the touchline. Whatever the real reason, introducing the very static and clearly rusty Shatskikh pretty much ended Dynamo’s chances of scoring from the run of play.

While the results of Dynamo’s first two Champions League encounters can be considered acceptable, the matches themselves have exposed the team’s flaws. With Artem Milevskiy sidelined, Semin has only one forward that he trusts against stiff European competition. I have to assume that Semin resorted to the 4-5-1 out of necessity, but it’s clear that Dynamo does not have the proper personnel to counterattack effectively out of the formation. Besides the obvious lack of a forward who can play alone up top, Dynamo is missing a top quality two-way center midfielder. Tiberiu Ghioane was handed the assignment against Fenerbahce, and spent most of the match chasing the ball. Ognjen Vukojevic was asked to do the same job against Arsenal, but does not yet have the offensive instincts for the position. There’s hope in the Dynamo camp that Carlos Correa can fill the role eventually when he’s fit, but the time line for his return is still cloudy.

On the bright side, the Dynamo defense has been up to challenge so far in the Champions League, and should improve with every 90 minutes. Taras Mykhalyk wore the armband with pride on Wednedsday, and was probably the best player on the field. Betao has looked like a gem of a summer purchase, and I anticipate him getting more involved with the offense as he gets comfortable. Stanyslav Bohush has had some shaky moments in net, but has made the stops when it counts, and was recently rewarded with his first national team call-up.

GRADES:
Bohush, 6.5: Came up huge in the goalmouth flurry to start the second half.
Betao, 6.5: Impenetrable wall on the right flank, as Roberto Carlos found out on several occasions.
Mykhalyk, 7.0: Player of the match for Dynamo. Was Daniel Guiza supposed to be a threat?
Pape Diakhate, 6.5: Dynamo’s own aerial defense system.
Badr El Kaddouri, 6.5: Solid end-to-end play, a real shame about the injury.
Vukojevic, 6.5: Seems to really relish playing the destroyer role. Left a trail of bodies in his wake.
Ghioane, 5.5: Not suited for the center mid role at this level.
Roman Eremenko, 6.0: Started slowly, eventually found his rhythm and created a couple chances.
Oleksandr Aliyev, 5.5: A forgettable performance, down to the comical slip when attempting to take a corner kick.
Milos Ninkovic, 6.0: Nothing spectacular, but mistake-free football away from home at this level is still valuable.
Bangoura, 6.0: Probably deserved at least 15 second half minutes.
Shatskikh, 5.0: Worked hard, but that just isn’t enough.
Andriy Nesmachniy, 6.0: If there’s one position where Dynamo has depth, it’s left back.

Dynamo will look to get back in the goals column when they travel to face UPL bottom-dwelling FC Kharkiv on Saturday. It should be a nice change of pace from the rigors of Champions League play.