Kostiuk Comments on Dynamo's Loss to Karpaty: 'Ponomarenko's Goal Was Unjustly Disallowed'
Igor Kostiuk, the head coach of Kyiv's Dynamo football club, expressed his disappointment following his team's 1-0 defeat to Karpaty during the 22nd round of the Ukrainian Premier League. Kostiuk was particularly frustrated with the referee's decision to disallow a goal by Matviy Ponomarenko after a video review.
The head coach of Kyiv's Dynamo football club, Igor Kostiuk, has commented on his team's recent loss to Karpaty, which took place during the 22nd round of the Ukrainian Premier League. The match concluded with a score of 1-0 in favor of the Lviv side, and Kostiuk did not hide his disappointment, especially regarding the referee's decision to cancel Ponomarenko's goal after reviewing the video footage.
Kostiuk believes that the VAR referee made a significant error, as he is convinced that Ponomarenko's goal was entirely legitimate. 'I believe that it was a clean goal. The VAR referee should not have even reviewed this episode. We watched the replay — the goalkeeper dropped the ball, and Matviy kicked it from under his hands. If there was a touch, then Matviy was the first to touch the ball and scored a clean goal. There was no need to look at VAR at all. But the referee made that decision. He viewed the moment in a static position, while such moments need to be viewed in dynamics to understand how the events unfolded,' Kostiuk stated, as quoted by Dynamo's press service.
Additionally, the coach shared his impressions of the team's overall performance during the match. He noted that Dynamo started the game poorly but managed to level the play as the match progressed. 'Emotionally, we failed at the beginning of the game, but then we leveled it out. We dominated, created chances, but unfortunately, we did not play aggressively enough in the finishing and could not score our goals,' Kostiuk emphasized.
This defeat marked Dynamo's first loss in the Ukrainian Premier League since December of last year, ending a seven-match winning streak for the team. Despite the setback, the Kyiv side remains in fourth place in the league standings, with a total of 41 points.
It is worth noting that earlier reports indicated that a legend of Kyiv's Dynamo was sentenced to six months of conditional imprisonment in the Czech Republic. This news also sparked widespread resonance among fans and the sporting community.
Thus, the match against Karpaty became a significant moment for Dynamo, which aims to return to winning ways in upcoming matches. Kostiuk and his team are hopeful for a swift recovery and improvement in their results in the championship.