Dynamo kyiv lose in friendly against Olympique Lyonnais
The Ukrainian football team Dynamo kyiv faced, on Tuesday evening, Olympique Lyonnais (OL) in a friendly pre-season match, in Bourgoin-Jallieu (Isère). OL won 3-0, while in another game, the Lyon reserve team lost to a Dynamo B team by 3 goals to 1.
The Ukrainian diaspora from Nord-Isère and the Lyon region, including nearly 300 refugees from the war in Ukraine, came to support the club in the capital. These refugees have been taken care of for four months by several associations in the Lyon and North Isère region.
Before each of the two scheduled meetings for the evening, Iryna Sadetska, soloist with the Lviv choir and refugee in Saint-Pierre-de-Chandieu (Rhône) since March, sang the Ukrainian anthem a cappella. The players then observed a minute of silence. Each Dynamo player also entered the field with the Ukrainian flag on their shoulders.
Dynamo Kyiv, who were 2nd in their league and battling for the title with Shaktar Donetsk when the competition was halted in April due to the Russian military invasion of the country, are preparing to face Fenerbahçe Istanbul for 2nd preliminary round of the Champions League (20-27 July) with a first leg to be played in Poland, and not in kyiv.
After finding refuge in Romania, the club established its training camp in Switzerland where it has, before facing Lyon, played most of its twelve friendly matches played since the start of the war.
The Ukrainian football championship is due to resume at the end of August, announced on Monday the Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, Vadym Gutzeit. No national champion has been named after the final stoppage of last season.
Vadym Gutzeit also assured that the matches of the new season will take place on Ukrainian territory, but without spectators and in the obligatory respect of the decreed security rules. “During the air raids, matches will be interrupted and football players, coaches and staff will have to move quickly to shelter”said the Minister.
Much of the sports infrastructure has been damaged by strikes by Vladimir Putin’s troops and many foreign players have left Ukrainian territory since the start of the Russian invasion.