Manchester City v Dynamo Kyiv: Winter break, Escape to Victory and other key …
Rusty or rested?
The home leg against City will be Kyiv’s first game since their final group game against Maccabi Tel Aviv – a gap of 11 weeks!
That is due to the winter break in Ukraine, which runs from December 4 to March 2, apart from Champions League.
In that 11-week period, the Blues will play at least 14 games – and that will be 15 if they win the FA Cup third round tie at Norwich.
Cold comfort
It will be very, very cold. Current night-time temperatures in the Ukrainian capital are a couple below zero, and it will not be any warmer by the time City go there on February 24.
The fans need not worry, as they will be banned, but it will be a consideration for the players.
In 2011, in the Europa League last 16, the main roads were garlanded by icicles, and the Blues lost 2-0 on a hard, rutted, unpredictable pitch.
Myth makers
Kyiv is home to one of sport’s greatest, most heroic myths – the tale that inspired the classic footy movie Escape to Victory.
During Nazi occupation, several Dynamo players worked in a bakery and were invited to play German forces’ teams – the problem was that they kept winning.
According to the legend, the Nazi command saw the team as a rallying point for Ukrainian nationalism, and brought in a crack Luftwaffe team to play them and warned Kyiv they had better lose.
When they won, the disputed story goes, five of the players were murdered by the Gestapo.
Food for thought
City fans – and journalists – who went to Kyiv in 2011 were disappointed to discover that they could not find any restaurants serving the dish with which the city is most associated.
It appears that chicken kyiv was actually dreamt up in the Russian city of St Petersburg, by a French chef.
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Manchester City draw Dynamo Kyiv in the Uefa Champions League last 16
Those of us who dreamed of eating a chicken kyiv, in Kyiv – preferably with the traditional English accompaniment of oven chips and baked beans – were sorely disappointed.
Famous five
Despite their reputation for having a high turnover of players, Manchester City have five survivors from the last meeting between these two sides, in 2011 – the same as Dynamo.
The men who beat Kyiv 1-0 at the Etihad included Joe Hart, Vincent Kompany, Aleks Kolarov – who scored the goal – David Silva and Yaya Toure.
Not many of the Kyiv players will be familiar to English fans, with the notable exception of former Spurs favourite Niko Kranjcar – but has made just one appearance for them this season, in a Ukrainian Cup match.
The Kyiv danger man is Andriy Yarmolenko, a fast skilful winger who gave City problems back in 2011 and was singled out – and nullified – by Jose Mourinho in Chelsea’s 0-0 draw in Kyiv this season.
Will Kyiv’s three-month break be a blessing or a curse? Let us know what you think below
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