Thursday, April 16, 2009

Dynamo Kyiv end Paris Saint-Germain's UEFA Cup dream

Paris Saint-Germain's vision of advancing to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup ended with a thorough 3-0 defeat at the hands of Dynamo Kyiv. After a scoreless opening leg at Parc des Princes, the Parisians manager Paul Le Guen was confident, citing that "we'll qualify" for the next round.

Yuri Semin's Dynamo had other plans and struck twice in the first fifteen minutes effectively through les Rouge et Bleu tactical plans away. After Ismaël Bangoura beat Mickaël Landreau from twenty metres four minutes in to give Dynamo the 1-0 lead, the PSG goalkeeper's nightmere evening and possibly worst in his professional career continued with another dreadful effort that resulted in the second goal. At the fourteenth minute Ukraine internationals Oleksandr Aliev in-swinging cross from the right was headed high by Ceará but Mickaël Landreau came out to parry a ball and only managed to contact with the back of his fists, sending in backwards into the net for a shocking 2-0 Dynamo lead. Through the balance of the half Dynamo continued to dominate, presenting the majority of scoring chances but all the while limiting PSG's advances. The second-half started well for Paris Saint-Germain however a minute after the hour Ognjen Vukojević sealed the win for Dynamo Kyiv as he cleared a poorly played Oleksandr Aliev free-kick by the PSG 'keeper and sent the rebound into the net. Without further mark the match ground down with an emphatic 3-0 victory for Dynamo.