Dynamo Kiev wins 3-1 against Olimpik Donetsk

Dynamo Kiev secured a 3-1 victory against Olimpik Donetsk on their own field. So a successful dress rehearsal for the Ukrainians who host Club Brugge in the 1/16th final of the Europa League on Thursday.

After a long winter break, Dynamo Kiev were scheduled to play their first official match since mid-December. During the winter mercato, the Ukrainian vice champion saw some players leave, such as Băluţă (back to Brighton), Tsitaishvili (Vorskla) and Biloshevskyi (Desna). New names include Sidcley (Corinthians), Kadiri (Arsenal Tula), Smyrnyi (Kolos Kovalivka) and Buletsa (Dnipro-1).

Dynamo Kiev, defending its leadership position in the Ukrainian Premier League against Olimpik Donetsk, went behind after 15 minutes following an Alvarenga goal. However, the home team did not get discouraged and equalized on the half-hour through Artem Besedin, the Ukrainian international who returned to action today after his doping suspension. In a tumultuous final stage, Nkeng and Lebedenko were still ruled out for the visitors and Dynamo Kiev made up the difference thanks to goals by Buyalskyi and again Besedin. Thanks to this win, Mircea Lucescu's team increases its lead to four points over first pursuer Shakhtar Donetsk, which plays Kolos Kovalivka later. (VM)

Dynamo Kiev: Bushchan - Karavaev, Kędziora, Popov, Mykolenko - Sydorchuk, Shaparenko (90+1' Andrievskyi) - Tsygankov, Buyalskyi (90+1' Lednev), de Pena (75' Rodrigues) - Besedin.
Goals: 19' Alvarenga (0-1), 30' Besedin (1-1), 77' Buyalskyi (2-1), 90' Besedin (3-1).