PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk won 1-0 against Italian club Napoli in the second-leg semifinal of the UEFA Europa League on May 14 at Olympic Stadium in Kyiv to advance to the final against Seville on May 27 in Warsaw. Yevhen Seleznyov scored the lone goal of the match in the 58th minute off a cross by Yevhen Konoplyanka.
This is the first time Dnipro will have advanced past the quarterfinal, semifinal and to the final of the Europa League.
The match was played during a steady rainfall, and Ukraine was handed six yellow cards, including one to Dnipro goalkeeper Denys Boyko. Napoli received three yellow cards.
Dnipro tied 1-1 in the first-leg semifinal with Napoli on May 7 in Naples, with David Lopez scoring for Napoli in the 50th minute, thanks to an assist from Lorenzo Insigne on the corner kick. Fresh substitute Seleznyov scored in the 81st minute after replacing Nikola Kalinic in the 80th minute, after Artem Fedetskiy sent in a low cross that was missed by Roman Bezus, but Selezyov tapped it in to level the score for Dnipro.
Ukraine was handed the only two yellow cards of the match – one to Jaba Kankava in the seventh minute, and another to Fedetskiy in the 44th minute.
During the second-leg quarterfinal match, Dnipro won 1-0 against Club Brugge of Belgium on April 23 at Olympic Stadium in Kyiv. The lone goal was scored in the 82nd minute by Yevhen Shakhov (a substitute for Bezus in the 46th minute). Dnipro tied 0-0 with Club Brugge on April 16 at Jan Breydelstadion in Bruges, Belgium, in the first-leg quarterfinal match.
In the Round of 16, Dnipro won 1-0 against Dutch club Ajax on March 12 at Olympic Stadium in Kyiv and Dynamo lost 2-1 against Ajax on March 19.
In the Round of 32, Dnipro won 2-0 against Greek club Olympiacos on February 19, and tied 2-2 on February 26 in the second-leg match.
Dynamo Kyiv was eliminated from the tournament after Dynamo lost 0-2 against Italy’s Fiorentina in its second-leg quarterfinal match on April 23 in Florence. Dynamo was down to 10 men after Jermain Lens was handed his second yellow card in the 40th minute of the match. The Italian club’s goals came at the 43rd minute by Mario Gomez and in extra time by Juan Manuel Vargas.
Dynamo tied 1-1 with Fiorentina in the first-leg quarterfinal on April 16 in Kyiv. Lens scored for Dynamo in the 36th minute, and a late equalizer by Khouma Babacar for Fiorentina tied things up.
In the Round of 16, Dynamo won 2-1 against Everton on March 12 at Goodison Park in Liverpool, England, and won 5-2 in the second-leg match in Kyiv.
In the Round of 32, Dynamo lost 2-1 against French club Guingamp on February 19 in the first-leg match at Roudourour in Guingamp, France, and Dynamo won 3-1 against Guingamp on February 26 in the second-leg match at Olympic Stadium in Kyiv.
Ukrainian Premier League
Dynamo Kyiv topped the Ukrainian Premier League (UPL) standings, with 19 wins, zero losses and five draws, with 62 goals for and 10 against. Dynamo will join Shakhtar Donetsk, in second place in the UPL, in the 2015-2016 UEFA Champions League. Dnipro, in third place, will be joined by Zorya Luhansk (fourth place) in the UEFA Europa League. This was the 10th time that Dynamo Kyiv had won the Ukrainian Premier League title.
Dynamo and Shakhtar advance to the Ukrainian Cup final on June 4 at Olympic Stadium in Kyiv. Dynamo won 4-1 against Olimpik Donetsk at Olympic Stadium in Kyiv on May 20 in the second-leg match of the Ukrainian Cup semifinal (with Miguel Veloso 4th minute, Andriy Yarmolenko 37th minute, Veloso 53rd minute, and Lens in the 90+2 minute scoring for Dynamo; and Oleksii Dytaliatyev scoring in the 76th minute for Olimpik), while Shakhtar tied 1-1 with Dnipro (for Shakhtar, Luiz Adriano in the 77th minute off a penalty kick, and for Dnipro, Kalinic in the 30th minute) at Arena Lviv.
Dnipro lost 0-1 against Shakhtar on April 29 in the first-leg semifinal, and Olimpik tied 0-0 with Dynamo. The UPL has two more match days – May 23/24 and May 30.