Bayer Leverkusen 1, Kyiv Dynamo 1

Kyiv Dynamo, of the 1999-2000 type, has already accustomed its fans a habit to uneven and lackluster play. And while Valery Lobanovsky's team has been able to save face by showing high class in the Champions League qualification tournament, we are gradually beginning to get used to negative results.

The public no longer flocks to Dynamo games. In principle, it is easy to understand Kyiv fans. The match versus Maribor was not thought of as highly complicated before it began. But too few spectators also came to see Dynamo in Rome and Leverkusen, although German and Italian fans know something about soccer. Why? Dynamo minus Shevchenko and Dynamo with Shevchenko are two very different things. And while we still tried to deceive ourselves in the summer, now the mere result has become the most vivid and unquestionable argument against Dynamo. In truth, the Italian and German supporters of their clubs did not go to the stadium for a different reason, of course. They are dissatisfied with the markedly worsened class of Dynamo's performance. Lobanovsky's pupils became uninteresting to the sophisticated Western audiences. While the whole of Europe treated Dynamo's loss to Maribor as a super sensation and then saw a lackluster game versus Lazio in Rome (also lost), nobody cared a red cent about the Kyivans during the latest away match versus Bayer. And rightly so. The Germans enjoyed total superiority: both in game tactics and statistics, for that matter. Ulf Kirsten's goal at the beginning of the second half was absolutely logical. Unfortunately, the same does not apply to the return goal scored by Andriy Husin. By all accounts, Dynamo did not deserve a draw in this match. Yet, Lobanovsky's team still has chances for eventual success, provided it wins its three remaining matches. Only then will the team be able to take one of the two top berths in its group and continue to play in the League of Champions. There is one more option: to challenge the UEFA Cup by coming off third in the group. Which is more realistic? This seems a rhetorical question. However, last year the Kyivans did their job well in a similar situation. So let us hope for better.