There are six UEFA Champions League playoff matches to be played this week, three of which will take place on Wednesday the 23rd of September. One of those games features KAA Gent and they will take on Dynamo Kiev at the GHELAMCO-arena.
The Belgian club come into the match having made a difficult start to their domestic campaign. KAA Gent are currently in 13th place with 6 points to show from their six matches played but they did manage to pick up a 1-0 victory at Excel Mouscron on the weekend. In fact, KAA Gent have lost only one of their last 5 games, one of which was a friendly.
🔵⚪ 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬 🔵⚪ ⚡️⚡️ALL IN FOR @ChampionsLeague!⚡️⚡️ #gntdyn #UCL #COBW pic.twitter.com/p1poXmtpB8— KAA Gent (@KAAGent) September 23, 2020
🔵⚪ 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬 🔵⚪ ⚡️⚡️ALL IN FOR @ChampionsLeague!⚡️⚡️ #gntdyn #UCL #COBW pic.twitter.com/p1poXmtpB8
This season, KAA Gent entered the Champions League at the 3rd qualifying round. They were drawn at home against Rapid Wien of Austria and won the match 2-1. Having opened the scoring close to half time, KAA Gent scored a second goal in the 59th minute before conceding themselves in the final moments of the game.
Trends show KAA Gent have been difficult to beat at home in the Champions League. They have won 3 of their last 4 Champions League matches on home soil, including some good victories over Valencia and Zenit. Both teams have scored in 5 of their last 6 home Champions League games.
Dynamo Kiev have recently started their domestic campaign in Ukraine and have made a solid start to the season. Dynamo Kiev have played 3 matches, picking up 2 wins and a draw. Their most recent game came over the weekend and Dynamo Kiev defeated Lviv 3-1 at home, scoring 2 goals in the final three minutes to secure maximum points.
Dynamo Kiev have struggled to progress beyond the Champions League qualifying rounds in recent years and will be hoping to change that this season. They entered the 2020/21 competition at the third qualifying round stage and defeated AZ of the Netherlands 2-0 at home. That result ended a run of 4 successive matches in the Champions League without a victory.
Away from home in the Champions League, Dynamo Kiev have found life tough. Trends show they have failed to win any of their last 8 away games in the competition. Most recently there have been defeats at Young Boys, Ajax, and Club Brugge. However, Dynamo Kiev have scored in 2 of their last 3 away Champions League matches.
Team news and KAA Gent have two players unavailable due to injury with Alexandre De Bruyn and Giorgi Chakvetadze unavailable. Ukraine forward Roman Yaremchuk is set to start against his former club.
Dynamo Kiev have no major injury or suspension concerns ahead of the game. Youngsters Viktor Tsygankov and Vladyslav Supryaha have been among the goals for Dynamo Kiev this season.
This should be a close game and we expect to see both teams finding the back of the net. However, the respective home and away records of the teams suggest we should see a narrow victory for KAA Gent.