For Kyiv's "Dynamo," the current Champions League campaign ended with a crushing 3:0 defeat in Leverkusen, where Sabo's charges were beaten by the German "Bayer." An absolute zero in attack, the inability of Dynamo's defenders to close down Voronin, and not the best match from Shovkovskyi – these are all the minuses of "Dynamo" that led to the Kyiv team ending its fight in the most prestigious European tournament, but it will continue to play in the UEFA Cup, where it will join "Dnipro" and "Shakhtar."

Now one can say a lot about how "Dynamo" deserved through its play to compete in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, but the fact remains a fact that if one takes into account the head-to-head meetings of "Real" and "Bayer" with the champions of Ukraine, everything is not in our favor.

And the defeat itself in Leverkusen looked quite natural, both regarding the result of the match and the play of the Kyivans. And although before the match Sabo assured that they were going to Germany for a victory, it was still noticeable from the players that they were primarily keeping a draw in mind.

However, no other result than a loss after practically the entire team fell out of the game was to be expected. Not a single player of Kyiv's "Dynamo" in the match against "Bayer" played at the level that would have been sufficient for a positive result. Neither the always active Rincon, nor the speedy Verpakovskis, nor the "hard worker" Husiev was noticeable – let alone the others, although to say that the players did not try – that also would not be fair.

Throughout the entire first half, Sabo's team never once hit the target of the hosts' goal, although they did try not to fall behind in the fast-paced game that "Bayer" offered.

The German team nevertheless had several good chances to score already in the first half of the game. Already in the fifth minute, the forward of the Ukrainian national team Andriy Voronin, having "laid down" several defenders on the turf, shot just wide of the post. Seven minutes later, Shovkovskyi parried a shot from Ponte from about 22 meters straight in front of himself toward Voronin, but at the last moment the "Dynamo" goalkeeper managed to knock the ball away practically from the feet of the "Bayer" forward. The assault on the Kyivans' goal was continued a few minutes later by Babic, who nearly lobbed Shovkovskyi, but the ball went slightly over the crossbar.

To all these attacks by "Bayer," the Kyiv team responded in the 30th minute with a dangerous cross from a Husiev free kick, which Rincon failed to connect with. Closer to the end of the first 45 minutes, Kleber should have scored, but his shot was blocked by Freyer.

"Dynamo" started the second half without substitutions, although already at that time it was noticeable that the Dynamo players lacked constructiveness and fresh blood in attack, but Sabo was waiting for a miracle that never happened. In the 50th minute, after a Kleber shot from distance, the ball deflected off a defender's leg and went slightly over the crossbar. A minute later, "Bayer" managed to open the scoring. Voronin delivered a corner from the left and Juan, jumping higher than the defenders, directed the ball with a header just past Shovkovskyi, who had poorly chosen his position... After the score became 1:0, the same Voronin could have scored again immediately, as in this match he did whatever he wanted with his "marker" Husyn and the "Dynamo" defenders. Andriy hit the post with a shot from the edge of the penalty area.

A fire near Shovkovskyi's goal arose again soon after, when Berbatov, having gone one-on-one with Shovkovskyi, beat him but got tangled in his own feet and shot on the turn past the empty goal...

A long-range shot from Rodolfo in the middle of the second half, after a slight deflection, was barely turned around the post by Butt. True, the most realistic chance to score in this match was had by the same Rodolfo, but his header from the goal line was cleared by Schneider. At a time when the Kyivans were squandering their, even so infrequent, chances, "Bayer" scored the second goal. Once again the ubiquitous Schneider gave a precise pass to Voronin, who only needed to stick out his leg to make the score 2:0. And so it happened.

Sabo was not helped to score at least a consolation goal in this game by Shatskikh either, who, coming on as a substitute 25 minutes before the end of the match, was remembered only for a simple shot straight at the center of the goal. The same applies to Cernat, who was called upon to strengthen the attacking positions but did not distinguish himself with anything special. "Bayer," meanwhile, with German pedantry, used their goal-scoring chances not so wastefully, and already in the 86th minute, Babic's shot from 19 meters after a deflection off Havrancic in his own penalty area once again forced Shovkovskyi to pull the ball out of the net of his own goal – 3:0. By the way, this goal can also be blamed on Shovkovskyi, who conceded the ball by falling not quite in time...

In the 89th minute of the match, a shot by Kleber that went just wide of the post ended all of "Dynamo's" attempts to score against "Bayer," and soon after the well-known Collina blew the whistle to end the match. Then Voronin in a friendly manner came up and patted the upset Fedorov on the shoulder, but there is no one to calm the "Dynamo" fans, although the UEFA Cup is not the worst option...

Group B

"Bayer" (Germany) – "Dynamo" (Ukraine) – 3:0 Goals: Juan 51, Voronin 77, Babic 86. "Bayer": Butt, Roque Junior, Juan, Novotny, Ponte (Balitsch 74), Berbatov, Freyer (Bierofka 82), Voronin, Babic, Schneider, Ramelow. "Dynamo": Shovkovskyi, Havrancic, Sablic, Kadouri, Ghioane, Rodolfo, Husyn (Fedorov 62), Husiev (Cernat 71), Diogo Rincon, Kleber, Verpakovskis (Shatskikh 67).

Tournament standings: 1. "Bayer" - 11. 2. "Real" - 11. 3. "Dynamo" - 10. 4. "Roma" - 1.