Fenerbahce started the group stage in the Europa League with a 2-1 victory over Dinamo Kyiv. The Turks took the lead after more than half an hour via Gustavo Henrique, after which the Ukrainians tied the score in the second half via Viktor Tsygankov. For a long time, 1-1 also seemed to be the final score, until substitute Michy Batshuayi gave Fenerbahçe the three points just before time. As a result, the team of trainer Jorge Jesus, together with Stade Rennes, leads group B.
Fenerbahçe and Dinamo Kyiv already met in July in the preliminary round of the Champions League. Then the first game ended in 0-0, after which the Ukrainians managed to win 1-2 when visiting Fenerbahçe. In the end, Dinamo Kyiv lost in the play-offs of the Champions League to Benfica (0-2 and 3-0), as a result of which they also had to settle for a ticket for the group stage of the Europa League. Fenerbahçe therefore had the chance to take revenge on Thursday evening, starting with former NEC player Ferdi Kadioglu in the base. Enner Valencia, top scorer of the Turkish Süper Lig with six goals, started on the bench. The same applied to Dinamo Kyiv for Oleksandr Karavajev, who had scored the winning goal during the previous meeting in Istanbul.
The first chances of the game were for the home side. Attila Szalai, Henrique and Ezgjan Alioski all had the chance to score the opening goal, but goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan kept getting in the way. After more than half an hour it was still hit for the Turks, when Henrique nodded in a corner from Diego Rossi. Fenerbahçe was also dominant in the remaining minutes of the first half, but no more goals were scored.
In the second act, Dinamo Kyiv came out of his shell a bit more. First a header from Denys Harmash went over, but after more than an hour of play it was still hit. Vitaliy Buyalskyi found Tsygankov, who worked the ball from inside the penalty area into the corner behind goalkeeper Altay Bayindir. In the following phase, both teams went after the win, with Fenerbahçe taking the longest. A long throw-in came in injury time at the feet of Batshuayi, who scored the 2-1 from close range. The other game in group B, between AEK Larnaca and Stade Rennes, ended in 2-1 for the French. Fenerbahce will visit Rennes next Thursday, while Dinamo Kyiv will face Larnaca.