In the absence of several decent forwards in Europe at this stage of the tournament, you will not get far on sheer self-sacrifice and the talent of coach Yevhen Kucharevsky alone. And Dnipro had none of them before the game against the French. For Dnipro, Marseille was a team they were expected to get past. Nevertheless, the Dnipro players did everything possible not to let down the packed Meteor stadium, and they succeeded, if not with the result, then with a spirited game until the last second.
After a minimal defeat in Marseille (how can one not recall the dubious penalty now), the chances of success were 50-50. With the starting whistle and the Ukrainian team's focus on Barthez's goal, they seemed to have increased almost twofold. The very first attack of the Dnipropetrovsk side threatened danger for Marseille's goal. In the 3rd minute, Kostyshyn, pulled out to the flank of midfield, crossed to Rykun, who was playing as a forward, however, while the latter was still thinking about how to shoot successfully with his back to the visitors' goal, he was robbed by the Marseille defenders. Two minutes later, the same Rykun, taking advantage of a long pass from Mykhailenko, had a chance to go one-on-one with Barthez, but in a struggle with a defender he first committed a foul himself, and then was brought down by the Frenchman.
Marseille, having arrived in Dnipropetrovsk with a one-goal cushion, was not going to sit back in defense. And although Drogba was not in the starting lineup, Marlet and Mido operated at the spearhead of the attack. The first shot on target was on the visitors' account. In the 22nd minute Mido headed the ball, but Kernozenko saved this ball without any problems. Despite the fairly high speeds of both teams on a not-too-good pitch, there were not many goal-scoring chances in the first half. The most real one was for Jose Anigo's charges. In the 25th minute, after a corner kick, Marlet delivered a treacherous header, however Kernozenko stood rooted to the spot, and only Kostyshyn saved the day by clearing the ball from an already empty goal.
In general, having a number of chances to attack Barthez's goal, the Dnipropetrovsk players quite often held on to the ball too long, thereby wasting extra energy and this also affected the sharpness of the game not in the best way. Another of Dnipro's problems is the aerial game. The French won about 90 percent of the high balls. In this case it would have been better to play it low, in the extreme case to shoot from afar: the pitch is slippery, Barthez is bald, maybe something would have come off. The first truly real chance to score was had by Kostyshyn, who after a series of deflections in Marseille's penalty area shot powerfully from about 14 meters toward the top corner, but the ball went just wide of the post. In the last added minute of the first half, the assault on Marseille's goal was completed by Mykhailenko with a header — over the bar.
When Dynamo or Shakhtar play in European competitions, there is always a dilemma about whom the coach will use to strengthen the game after the break. In the Dnipro vs Marseille match, there was no such question. Kucharevsky had only 4 outfield players on the bench, and none of them was of an attacking nature. It was clear that in the second 45 minutes these eleven would have to fight for the prestige of Ukrainian football.
The start of the second half again began with attacks by the hosts, and the tension on the field grew with every second. Marseille's players, using fouls, tried to break Dnipro's attacking impulse. Somewhere around the 60th minute, Bey had something he did not like about how Kostyshyn played against him, and he tried to explain something to the Ukrainian with a grab around the neck, however this moment was noticed by the warlike-looking Maksymyuk, who, defending his teammate, nearly rammed the Frenchman. The passions on the field were soon extinguished. But Maksymyuk, who two minutes earlier had received a yellow card after a kick to the legs of Ferreira (the Frenchman was led off the field by the arm and never returned to the game), was replaced by Kucharevsky with Semochko. Most likely, Yevhen Mefodiyovych understood that Maksymyuk was too fired up at the moment, and playing for a win with ten men is a great luxury for Dnipro. Up to this point, it is worth noting two shots by Rotan, who, having moved to the center of midfield, became more noticeable. Moreover, after both shots by the candidate for the Ukrainian national team, the ball went not far from the target. In the 56th minute the visitors could have put an end to this too, but Kernozenko parried Batles's sliding shot onto a corner.
The 67th minute will haunt Nazarenko for a long time. How the Dnipro midfielder failed to hit the practically empty Marseille goal from 5 meters, he cannot say himself now. Rykun on the right flank, literally having fought his way through the French defense, crossed to the far post, where Nazarenko, unmarked by anyone, shot over the bar.... Such chances are given only once in matches like this. However, Marseille's defense, or rather the Dnipro players, did not want to believe that they would have to part with Europe. Moreover, they did it in such a way that the visitors practically forgot about attacking. Anigo decided to correct this situation by bringing on Drogba somewhere around the 70th minute. And it is worth noting that the evil genius of the first game gave Dnipro's defense a pretty good runaround, but no penalty was awarded against Kernozenko in this match, and therefore Drogba also left the field without a goal. In contrast to the Frenchman, Shelayev could well have become a real hero of Ukraine, but having come out practically one-on-one with Barthez, he delayed his shot and a defender prevented him from shooting accurately. The result was only a corner, although the ball went close to the post.
Somewhere from the 75th minute the Dnipropetrovsk players began a total assault on Marseille's goal. However, there was a lot of struggle, fatigue, and the result was not noticeable. Marseille, meanwhile, could have taken advantage of a mistake by Dnipro's defense, which allowed Meriem to shoot from a advantageous position, and only Kernozenko's brilliant reaction kept Dnipro's goal "dry."
In regulation time, and that is about three minutes before the end of the match, almost all of the team's players took part in Dnipro's attacking actions. Hrytsay shot dangerously from the edge of the penalty area. Rotan and Nazarenko shot from the corner of the goal area, but in both cases inaccurately. In the 4 added minutes the French did the only thing they did — they kicked the ball out of play. The UKRAINIAN players tried by any means to get the ball into Marseille's penalty area. In the last attack, Rykun, who had played to the end, was already lying down fighting for the ball against Barthez and two defenders, and nearly won the struggle (!!!). Nevertheless, a minute later the final whistle sounded. Radchenko exchanged shirts with Drogba, Barthez ran to hug his teammates, thanking them for the victory, a victory torch flared up in the sector of the French fans, and the Meteor stadium gave Dnipro a standing ovation. For the game, for the will to win, for the courage and for the hope that in the next European season Dnipro will play with at least such desire and the same result.
UEFA Cup. Round of 32. Return match.
Dnipro (Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) — Marseille (France) — 0:0 Dnipro: Kernozenko, Yezersky, Shelayev, Maksymyuk (Semochko 62), Kostyshyn, Radchenko, Rusol, Mykhailenko (Hrytsay 60), Rykun, Nazarenko, Rotan Marseille: Barthez, Ferreira (Johansen 62), Dos Santos, Flamini, Hemdani (c), N'Diaye, Mido, Meite, Marlet (65), Bey, Batles (Meriem 70).