On Thursday, July 23, at the Lublin Arena, Ihor Kostiuk’s team hosted PAOK in the first match of the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
As a reminder, in the previous round the White-Blues defeated Romanian side Universitatea from Cluj-Napoca, while for PAOK, who were taken over during the off-season by Italian coach Alessio Lishi, this was the team's first match of the season.
Both teams started the game actively. Dynamo’s very first attack resulted in a goal. Vladyslav Dubinchak played a one-two with Eduardo Guerrero, who operated in an unusual position for himself on the left wing of the attack, and delivered a low cross from the byline into the center, to the edge of the penalty area. Volodymyr Brazhko controlled the ball with one touch, set it up with the second, and blasted it into the net.
However, the visitors restored parity fairly quickly. After a long ball from deep, the PAOK players gained control of the ball, team captain Živković played a vertical pass to Giannis Konstantelias, who found himself one-on-one with Ruslan Neshcheret and finished past the goalkeeper – 1:1.
At the same time, the visitors lost their winger Ali early in the match, with Tyson, well known to Dynamo from his performances in the Ukrainian Premier League, coming on as his replacement.
For a while the Greeks seized the initiative, but gradually the game evened out and shifted to the visitors’ half. Nevertheless, towards the end of the first half PAOK took the lead. In the 38th minute, Dynamo were defending against a prolonged attacking move by the visitors. Volodymyr Brazhko tried to prevent the opponent from making a pass, but the ball ricocheted to Zafeiris, who found himself alone in front of the Kyiv side’s goal and scored from close range – 1:2.
At the beginning of the second half PAOK scored their third goal. The attacking move started on the left flank. Konstantelias played a low pass into the center to Santamaría, who was given enough space to shoot from about 23 meters, sending the ball into the bottom corner.
In the middle of the second half, Ihor Kostiuk made two double substitutions, refreshing almost the entire attacking line. It paid off, as Dynamo once again began creating chances near the visitors’ goal. First, after a pass from Lonwijk at the edge of the penalty area, Yarmolenko fired wide. Then, in the 77th minute, the Kyiv side scored their second goal. Kędziora passed from his flank into the center to Buyalskyi, who laid the ball back for Lonwijk, and he struck first time into the far bottom corner – 2:3.
Ponomarenko then had two consecutive chances to level the score. First, Matvii rounded a defender on the counterattack and found himself one-on-one with Pavlenka, but the PAOK goalkeeper won the duel. A minute later the striker again broke through one-on-one, chipped the goalkeeper, but the ball hit the post. Just before the final whistle, PAOK’s Guinean midfielder Kamara also struck the woodwork.
Despite having the upper hand in the closing stages, Dynamo could not find the equalizer and lost the first leg. The return match will take place exactly one week later in Thessaloniki.
UEFA Europa League. Second qualifying round. First leg
Dynamo (Kyiv, Ukraine) – PAOK (Thessaloniki, Greece) – 2:3
23.07.2026. Lublin. Lublin Arena.
Dynamo: Neshcheret – Kędziora, Bilovar, Mykhavko, Dubinchak – Brazhko (Rubchynskyi, 85), Pikhalonok (c) (Lonwijk, 55), Shaparenko (Buialskii, 68), Voloshyn (Redushko, 55), Guerrero (Yarmolenko, 68) – Ponomarenko.
PAOK: Pavlenka – Kenny, Chatzidiakos (Elustondo, 83), Michailidis, Jonathan Gómez – Santamaría, Zafeiris (Kamara, 77), Konstantelias, Živković (c) (Chatzidis, 83), Ali (Taison, 14) – Mythou (Jeremejeff, 77).
Goals: Brazhko (3), Lonwijk (77) – Konstantelias (13), Zafeiris (38), Santamaría (51).
Bookings: Ponomarenko (46) – Alessio Lichi (head coach, 28), Chatzidiakos (57), Konstantelias (63), Jeremejeff (88).
