UEFA EURO 2016 (Marseille)

Tuesday 21st June 2016
UEFA Euro 2016 Group C
Stade Velodrome
Ukraine 0-1 Poland
Attendance: 58,874

Of all the grounds I was due to visit on this tour of the Euro's, this was the ground I was looking forward to the most. The Stade Velodrome is one of the most iconic stadiums in European, possibly world, football and it did not disappoint!

The ground was originally built in 1938, complete with a cycling track that gave the stadium its name, but the Stade Velodrome has been extensively redeveloped over the years increasing the capacity to over 67,000. The stadium used to have uncovered ends behind each goal but these have been rebuilt and all sides of the ground are now fully covered, the undulating roofs are an impressive site. One of the guys I was travelling with visited the Velodrome in the 1990's and he says it looks a lot better in its current form,

There must have been at least 35,000 Polish fans inside the ground today and they made some noise, it did make me wonder what the atmosphere would be like for an Olympique Marseille game.

The game itself was effectively a dead rubber as Poland were already through to the knockout stages, whilst Ukraine had already booked their flights home after two defeats, a 2-0 loss to Northern Ireland sealing their fate.

Second half substitute Jakub Blaszczykowski, pictured left whilst warming up, curled in a left-foot shot for the winner after 54 minutes.

Ukraine, perhaps playing with a little more freedom after elimination, had plenty of possession and attempts at goal but in truth Swansea City's Lukas Fabianski in the Polish goal was hardly troubled.

My visit to Marseille was very brief, as it was basically a quick stop off to watch the game en route from Lyon to Nice. I therefore did not get a chance to head into the city where there had been plenty of incident in the lead up to the England v Russia game 10 days previous. This game today was also classed as potentially high risk by the authorities but from what I seen everything was pretty good natured.

DYNAMO KYIV (NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadion)

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE ROUND OF 16 SECOND LEG, DYNAMO KYIV 5-2 EVERTON (6-4) ATTENDANCE: 67,553

Everton's latest Europa League adventure led me east to Ukraine. Ukraine has been in the news a lot over the past 12 months, given the political upheaval that is happening in the the East of the country. I have to confess to having doubts about travelling to this game but after much deliberation, I decided to go ahead with the trip.

I left a fog bound Manchester on a flight bound for Kyiv nearly two hours late, which was rather worrying as I had a connection to make in Amsterdam. Luckily this flight was also delayed so I just about got there. If it had gone off on time then things could have got interesting.

I therefore arrived at Boryspil Airport around 6pm local time, where I was greeted by a group of fellow Evertonians who I was meeting up with. It was a taxi for the journey to our hotel, which overlooked the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex.

Dynamo Kyiv now play their home games at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadion. The club moved here in 2011 after the ground was renovated in time for the 2012 European Championship, which Ukraine co-hosted with Poland. Spain beat Italy 1-0 at this ground to lift the trophy.

The closed block

The 70,050 capacity stadium was slightly reduced tonight after UEFA ordered a partial closer after crowd disturbances in Dynamo's last Europa League home game with Guingamp. The attendance of 67,553 was still a new Europa League record crowd (beating the previous record by 255, which was held by Manchester United).

Dynamo's previous home, which is now used for reserve and youth games, was named after the legendary manager Valeriy Lobanovskyi, under whose stewardship the club enjoyed their most successful period, winning countless domestic honours and two European Cup Winners Cup (in 1975 and 1986).

Statue to legendary manager Valeriy Lobanovskyi
outside the stadium named in his honour

After collecting our Match tickets (and free t-shirts) from the Everton officials in a local hotel, we headed over to the Lobanovskyi Stadion, via Independence Square, to take some photographs. It was there we bumped into a club official and she invited us in for a tour of the stadium, museum and fanclub area. A superb gesture and very gratefully received.

The club have a long and illustrious history.  After being founded in 1927, as part of the Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club have not spent a single season outside the top flight of whichever league they competed in. They have 13 Soviet League and 13 Ukrainian League titles to their name and legendary names such as Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov have won European Footballer of the Year whilst playing for Dynamo.

Dynamo are currently managed by another hero of the past in the Serhiy Rebrov, though to most British fans he will be remembered for his spell at Tottenham Hotspur, where he struggled to hit the heights but still managed to score his first goals in England against, of course, Everton.

The Toffees held a slight advantage going into tonight's game courtesy of a 2-1 first leg victory at Goodison Park last week, though it would be a tough ask to get any sort of result this evening, especially when you consider Dynamo have yet to lose on Ukrainian soil this season.

It was a chastening experience for The Toffees as Dynamo went nap to dump Everton out of the competition. 

Andriy Yarmolenko (21) started the rout with a superb curling effort before an equally fine strike from Romelu Lukaku (29) levelled things and at least gave the 850 or so travelling Evertonians a chance to have a jump around. That was as good as it got for the blues.

By half time Everton were 3-1 down. Lukasz Teodorczyk (35) and Miguel Veloso (37) giving the Ukrainians the advantage. It didn't get much better as Oleg Gusev (56) made it four before another wonder strike from Antunes (76) ensured it was Dynamo going through. Phil Jagielka's (82) header was of little consolation.

Taking nothing away from Dynamo's performance, Everton's wounds were largely self inflicted as, in my opinion, at least three of the goals were wholly preventable. It was a shocking defensive display, with Antolin Alcaraz being the pick of the ineptitude.

A few of the travelling supporters were understandably upset at the end of the game and did not hold back in voicing their opinions towards Roberto Martinez and certain players. 

Who knows where Everton's season will go after this but for Dynamo Kyiv it is a trip to Fiorentina in the last eight and, probably, another domestic title.

Despite all the scare stories I was told before leaving the UK, I enjoyed my brief stay in Kyiv and the locals we met were friendly and welcoming. I would like to wish Dynamo all the best for the rest of the season. The Europa League is much maligned but not by me. I have loved all my trips this season. Just a shame it will be a while before Everton take part again.