FC Dynamo Kyiv put their poor domestic form behind them in the UEFA Champions League 3rd qualifying round tonight as Maksim Shatskikh scored the only goal at the Olympic Stadium Asim Ferhatovic Hase to leave FK Sarejevo with it all to do when the tie concludes in Ukraine.
With his side sitting a lowly 11th in the Premier League after tallying only 6 points from their opening 5 games, Dynamo coach Anatoliy Demianenko responded by leaving Brazilian duo Diogo Rincon and Kleber on the bench and pushed the promising Michael into a more advanced position to support Shatskikh.
Save for a 4th minute opportunity for Admir Rasčić which was ruled out for offside, it was plain sailing for Dynamo early on and they scored what turned out to be the only goal on 13 minutes as Michael fed a lovely pass to Shatskikh who burst into the box and found the roof of the net with a fierce rising drive.
The early away goal allowed Dynamo to relax and the Ukrainian champions played some lovely controlled football to frustrate their hosts, who could have fallen further behind in the 20th minute had Muhamed Alaim not pulled off a wonder save to keep out a Andriy Nesmachniy cross-shot.
The Sarajevo goalie denied Michael when the Brazilian was one-on-one 10 minutes later, whilst Olexandr Shovkovskiy was enjoying a far more comfortable evening at the other end.
Sarajevo enjoyed the greater possession in the 2nd half without creating the clear openings which twice fell Serhiy Rebrov's way, the Dynamo forward squandering a header when well placed, and then narrowly failing to connect with a super pass from Michael.
Still, Demianenko was concerned and the introduction of Milos Ninković and Kleber for Oleh Gusev and Shatskikh enabled Dynamo to reassert control before Almir Turković volleyed straight at Shovkovskiy after 72 minutes.
Dynamo could have wrapped up the tie in the final minute as the impressive Michael drove a shot against the post, however they will remain confident of doing only that on home soil on 29 August and progressing once again to the UEFA Champions League group stage.
