Europa League managers look to refine legacies in semifinal clashes
LONDON --
Myron Markevych had been at Metalist Kharkiv nine years when he resigned in February 2014 at the age of 63. The club had been banned from European competition over match-fixing allegations involving the sporting director and was in financial turmoil. For Markevych, who had led Metalist to the quarterfinal of the Europa League in 2012, it seemed like the end - and at the cruelest time, just as he had turned Metalist into a side that looked like it might be able to challenge the Shakthar Donetsk-Dynamo Kyiv duopoly.
Just over a year on, though, Markevych is not merely back in management but will on Thursday lead Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk against Napoli in the semifinal of the Europa League.
Dnipropetrovsk, an industrial city on the banks of the Dnipro River, is not an obvious place for romance. But if Dnipro were to go on to win the Europa League it would be a fairytale story not only for the club, a relative minnow from a country engaged in a war on its eastern border, but also for their manager. Markevych may appear mild-mannered in interviews, a keen piano player blinking behind his rimless glasses, but over the past couple of years he has shown remarkable resilience.
Others, perhaps, might have taken time away from the game, but Markevych accepted the Dnipro job three months later, replacing Juande Ramos. Coaching is what he has done since injury forced him to retire as a player at the age of 28. His father, Bohdan, was also a football coach, although he tended to work with youth teams rather than being a manager.
His resume reads like a list of all those Ukrainian clubs who exist in the tier just below the big two. Markevych took Karpaty Lviv, the club where he had begun his playing career, to two Ukrainian Cup finals in the nineties. He finished third with Karpaty in 1997-98 and three times in a row with Metalist between 2006-07 and 2008-09. In 2012-13 Metalist were runners-up, an astonishing achievement, and they were second again when Markevych stepped down the following season.
"Napoli are a strong team," said Markevych, "but so are all the teams left in the race. In the quarterfinals Napoli eliminated Wolfsburg and that says a lot. But we are not afraid and at this level it is important to play with confidence and an awareness of our own values."
Markevych's Dnipro side are tough and hard-working; they have committed more fouls and collected more yellow cards than any side left in the competition. With the forward Roman Zozulya injured, the role of the winger Yevhen Konoplyanka becomes increasingly important. He is nearing his best form and links well with Ruslan Rotan, the left-sided of the two holding midfielders. In Zozulya's absence, the former Blackburn Rovers striker Nikola Kalinic leads the line.
Napoli's 4-1 win at Wolfsburg in the first leg of the quarter-final (the second leg finished 2-2) was a masterpiece of Benitez's planning, successfully stifling a side that have been prolific this season and picking them off on the break. Dnipro will be far less inclined to take the game to Napoli than Wolfsburg were, and the likelihood is that the game will be a cagey affair, a strategic battle between two experienced tacticians.
Benitez could become the first manager to win the Europa League/UEFA Cup with three different clubs. For Markevych, after a life toiling in the shadow of giants, this is probably a last chance for continental glory.
Over the past decade, the Europa League has been dominated by Spain and by Sevilla in particular. Under Juande Ramos, they won the trophy in 2006 and 2007, while Unai Emery is looking to defend the title he won last year; should Sevilla progress past Fiorentina and win the final they would move ahead of Juventus, Liverpool and Internazionale as the only team to win the trophy four times.
Fiorentina manager Vincenzo Montella watched Emery's team lose their 34-game unbeaten home record with a narrow defeat to Real Madrid on Saturday. "They are a very well-constructed team," he said. "Sevilla are a tough side who defend with good organization and know how to attack."
Fiorentina ended a run of four straight domestic defeats and moved back up to fifth place in Serie A with a 3-1 win over Cesena, a vital win, Montella said, "to get our heads right" before the semifinal.
